With the release of macOS 26 Tahoe last month, users began noticing a major GPU slowdown issue in popular Electron apps, due to their usage of a particular private API. Now, the Electron team has fixed the issue, and said fix is beginning to roll out in popular third party apps that utilize the framework.
In short, Electron is a common app framework that allows developers to ship web app code as a native experience. Many apps like Discord, Slack, Figma, Visual Studio Code, and much more utilize Electron.
Prior to this recent Electron update, it overrode a particular private API known as cornerMask. Typically, private APIs aren’t meant to be utilized by third-party developers, and they’re generally built by Apple for specific use cases. If you do utilize a private API, you’re at your own risk, because Apple doesn’t test these APIs to the same degree they do the public ones.
That fact became very apparent after macOS Tahoe, where Apple changed something that caused all Electron apps to spike in GPU usage. This caused many users to notice slowdowns and excessive heat usage on their Mac after updating.
Developers begin rolling out fix
Recent Electron versions no longer utilize this private API, and developers have begun updating their Electron version to mitigate the issue. Thanks to this nifty tracker known as ShameElectron, we have an easy way of knowing which popular apps have updated Electron.
Those include Claude, Cluely, Discord, Docker Desktop, Figma, GitHub Desktop, MongoDB Compass, Notion, Obsidian, Pocket Casts, Signal, Slack, Super Productivity, and Visual Studio Code.
There are also a lot of major apps that haven’t yet updated their Electron version, including 1Password, Bitwarden, Cursor, Dropbox, Windsurf, and more. You can check out the tracker for a more comprehensive list.
All in all, if you’ve been noticing your Mac getting too hot or feeling laggy on macOS Tahoe, it might be worth checking if you have any un-updated Electron apps running in the background.
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