After opening AltTab, it seems like the Next Window shortcut is pressed a few times without the user doing anything

[SamadiPour]

Describe the bug

Since a few weeks ago, I have been experiencing drifting when the mouse is hovered over an item. It only happens when the mouse is over an item, and not when it's inside or outside of the frame.
When I hold down the Command key and press Tab once (push and release instantly), the selector drifts through the items, sometimes until it reaches the mouse and sometimes until it reaches the end.
The Mouse hover option under Also select windows using is disabled.

Screenshots / video

Screenshot.2024-01-19-jK5O4SMZ1.mp4

Steps to reproduce the bug

Your environment

• AltTab version: 6.64.0
• macOS version: 14.2.1

[warrenseine]

I experience the same issue with the same environment. I reverted to 6.63.0 and the weird behavior is gone.

I suspect this is related to this commit.

[lwouis]

Thank you @warrenseine for sharing this message.

@SamadiPour does v6.63.0 also fix the issue for you?

I don't see how the issue would be related to the commit though.

@SamadiPour on your video, I see some flickering on the right part of AltTab's window. I'm wondering if you are not suffering from #1840. Could you please show the top menubar of your screen, when the issue happens? If there are 2 AltTab icons, that's the source of the issue right there.

[SamadiPour]

@lwouis Just tried v6.63.0, and it seems like I can't see the issue anymore. I will test more to make sure.

Also, flickering might be because of video compression or the recorder. I didn't see any flicker while using it. I also checked the processes and top menubar, and there was only one instance running.

[SamadiPour]

Update: I have not experienced the issue since downgrading to v6.63.0.

[ankushagarwal]

I can confirm that this happens to me as well. I am on the app version 6.64.0. I am on the latest macOS Sonoma version 14.2.1

https://www.loom.com/share/76a2006f084b4b52880ec7a25879958e

[ythosa]

the same problem

[esserrge]

I had this problem on Sonoma 14.2, it does not seem to happen after upgrade to 14.3. Running alttab 6.64.0 on both versions.

[agmitron]

The same here

[Warkanlock]

Same here; it's getting annoying, but I don't want to just throw the issue to maintainers. I'll be happy to contribute if any core maintainer could give me to the issue!

[lwouis]

@ankushagarwal from your video, I wonder if this issue is related in any way to the mouse. Can you reproduce the issue without moving the mouse at all, with the mouse outside the AltTab UI?

Same question for @SamadiPour: can you reproduce the issue without having the mouse hover AltTab?

It looks to me like it could be about key repeats, and maybe external keyboards or software keyboard remappers.

[warrenseine]

I do use BetterTouchTool, but only to bind shortcuts.

I use the trackpad and generally don't touch it while alt-tabbing. But it's possible that the cursor is on top of one of the window tile when I alt-tab. I'll monitor.

Also, I'd like to re-iterate that it's very much likely a regression in 6.64. I reverted to 6.63 and didn't have the issue for a week, then I accidently auto-updated back to 0.64 and the bug started again. I re-installed 6.63 once more.

[lwouis]

I'm suspecting that it is not a regression introduced in v6.64. I suspect it because the only code change that could potentially impact is 3b0194d, and I can't imagine how it would interact with the use-case here. I may be missing it, but I could also be guessing right, in which case the issue is not about AltTab, but about something with your environments.

Many people have thought AltTab was bugged, and later realized that the root cause was their external keyboard, software remapper, rare keyboard layout, key repeat settings, etc.

In the case that the issue would be a regression from AltTab, it would be important to establish if indeed the mouse position or movement is involved, or if it's purely a keyboard event issue. The code change only deals with keyboard events, which is why I'm suspecting that the mouse may not have anything to do with the behaviors we see on the various videos.

[np25071984]

I experience the same.

Noticed strange thing about the app switcher window - when there are two apps (Slack and Mictosoft Teams in my case) and the mouse cursor is somewhere around the switcher area, after I pressed app switch combination the switcher window remains on the screen. Having hard time reproducing it yet but it is definitely the thing. Have caught it many times so far. I believe it is relevant to the topic.

[micpiatek]

Can confirm that I was experiencing the same issue on 6.65.0 and reverting back to 6.63.0 fixed it. Whenever I would move my mouse when using AltTab, the selection window would spaz out and be completely unusable until after restarting the app.

Similar issue that was closed here #3168

[harshmandan]

Same problem here.

I couldn't switch windows using alt+tab whenever the mouse was over the switcher UI, even if I did not move the pointer, the switching would glitch out and wouldn't work.

To make it work I have to move the cursor away from the center (to be specific, outside the switcher overlay) and then alt-tab would work fine.

Reverted to v6.63.0, it's working fine now.

[RecuencoJones]

I've been trying 6.63.0 for a couple days and thought it was fixed but apparently it technically isn't, I still get the option drifting but way less often than with latest version.

[warrenseine]

Yes, same here. I've reported that it was ok in 6.63.0, but after a few days / weeks, I've noticed the behaviour too.

[lwouis]

It looks like my hypothesis was right then.

The issue is either with some external factor like third-party hardware or software, or it's an AltTab issue with has been here for a while, before v6.63.0.

[harshmandan]

I degraded to 6.63.0 after running into this problem and I posted about it here.

I also wanted to share the video of what I was seeing. So I recorded my screen with the degraded version 6.63.0 working normally, then I installed 6.65.0 but I could not reproduce the behavior I was facing before. It's super weird. It has been only a day and If it returns I'll record and add a video here.

Regarding external factors, I use BetterTouchTool (to map gesture on trackpad to open a link in a new tab) and I do use an external bluetooth keyboard.

So maybe it could be related to something external, 🤷‍♂️.

[lwouis]

Can anyone reproduce the issue without having the mouse hover the UI? I would like to understand if the issue is related to the mouse hovering the UI, or not.

[broegaard]

I have also experienced something similar to this problem randomly through months (maybe years), but not with 6.65.0.

I have a gut feeling that it might have something to do with cpu load, but I cannot reproduce it.

[maximvl]

I've now completely quit Alt-Tab and this even happens on the native window switcher

I will keep an eye on it, but for me I was able to reproduce the issue consistently and all I did is install 6.65, close running Alt-Tab, start a new on and it's gone. No other changes, no reboot, no nothing and I haven't seen the issue for a full working day.
So maybe there are multiple things going on?

[lwouis]

Using AltTab when the CPU is under heavy load has been discussed here in the past. You may be interested

[ahmedmahmud]

@ahmedmahmud could you please share videos of the 2 scenarios?

Thank you 🙇‍♂️

Sorry for the late reply, I have recorded both scenarios

Scenario 1:

(Keylogger shows opt twice, but it stays held as shown on its "hold" indicator below)

scenario1.mp4

Scenario 2:

scenario2.mp4

I hope this is helpful :)

[maximvl]

Yesterday the issue appeared again, first time since 2 weeks (I haven't restarted the os yet).
I remember the discussion about high cpu load etc, but my resource usage level is relatively low, so all I did is restarted Alt-Tab and it's all good again. Maybe this helps to find the root cause.

[NayamAmarshe]

I've downgraded to 6.62 and it's working great now. Will report if I encounter the issue again.

[saitonakamura]

the build from #3117 (comment) fixed it for me. I have repeat keys configured for vim modes

[ugurkellecioglu]

I downgraded to 6.63 and it was working all good for a long time, close to one month, today it started to happen again. I will restart my mac and see if that will help.

[ugurkellecioglu]

I downgraded to 6.63 and it was working all good for a long time, close to one month, today it started to happen again. I will restart my mac and see if that will help.

[lwouis]

Given the inconsistencies in experiencing the issue on various versions of AltTab, i'm now suspecting that it's either:

• Caused by a change in macOS
• It was always there but only happens to a few people/setups, and not consistently either

It's impossible for me to make a fix as long as the root cause is not understood. To understand the root cause, the best would be that i can reproduce locally, which is not the case today. Second best would be that someone here who can reproduce it often work with me to debug it, in a screen-sharing type of session.

Thank you

[warrenseine]

Not adding much, but I just want to re-iterate that we appreciate your work! I also totally get that it’s impossible to debug without reproducing locally (most of us are probably developers too). Cumulating all the feedback, at some point, we’ll find a pattern and a root cause.

I know it’s not ideal, but since the workaround of disabling key repeats seems to be good enough for most, maybe it can be turned into an option?

[lwouis]

Hi @warrenseine,

since the workaround of disabling key repeats seems to be good enough for most, maybe it can be turned into an option?

It doesn't work for some people, which seem to prove that it's unrelated. People have shared that the issue was fixed by the build I shared, but other people have shared that it was a downgrade that did it, or a restart, etc. There is no clear pattern, which seems to indicate that the root cause is elsewhere.

[josephwynn-sc]

Edit: Nope, 3 weeks after upgrading, it has started happening again. Weird!

I upgraded from Sonoma 14.2 to 14.4 about 6 hours ago, and so far I have not had the issue. It used to happen for me almost every time I opened AltTab.

I will edit this comment if the issue happens again for me on 14.4.

Edit: 2 weeks later and still looking good. I would recommend that anyone experiencing this issue updates to Sonoma 14.4 or higher.

[AlexeyKupershtokh]

I'm on Sonoma 14.4.1 right now with alt-tab 6.63.0 installed (downgraded from 6.68.0).
I have Karabiner installed for CapsLock remapping.

The bug is reproduced for me sometimes. I notices that when it does, alt-tab lags for approx 300-500ms on opening (after pressing cmd+tab).
In other cases alt-tab window is opened nearly immediate and the problem doesn't reside. Probably there's some race condition or performance issue that causes such effect.

I also think that I face the issue a bit less often than on 6.68.0.

Also I don't think mouse position is relevant.

[AlabasterAxe]

FWIW This was happening very consistently for me. I'm not sure which version I was on but I don't believe that the app indicated that there were any updates available. Once I downgraded to 6.63.0, I stopped experiencing the issue. I also tried with the special build from earlier in this thread and the issue stopped happening. Finally, I just downloaded the latest public version 6.67.0 and I'm no longer experiencing the issue.

When I was experiencing this problem it was definitely related to the mouse. It happened almost every time when the mouse was hovering over the alt-tab pane, but would never happen if the mouse was not over the alt-tab pane.

TL;DR: if you're experiencing this issue, try a clean uninstall and re-install with the latest build.

[NayamAmarshe]

FWIW This was happening very consistently for me. I'm not sure which version I was on but I don't believe that the app indicated that there were any updates available. Once I downgraded to 6.63.0, I stopped experiencing the issue. I also tried with the special build from earlier in this thread and the issue stopped happening. Finally, I just downloaded the latest public version 6.67.0 and I'm no longer experiencing the issue.

When I was experiencing this problem it was definitely related to the mouse. It happened almost every time when the mouse was hovering over the alt-tab pane, but would never happen if the mouse was not over the alt-tab pane.

TL;DR: if you're experiencing this issue, try a clean uninstall and re-install with the latest build.

The reinstall only works for a while, the issue appeared again for me.

[fatherofinvention]

Still happening on Version 6.68.0.

[jsh9]

Now whenever this issue occurs, I just uninstalled and reinstalled the app (of the same version). The issue would go away for a few days (sometimes up to a week or so), and then reoccur.

[ikfid]

oh, I see I am not alone.... 6.68.0, Sonoma 14.4.1, M2 Pro.
When the mouse cursor is in the middle of the screen, pressing command+tab just once results in advancing the window switcher through several icons after a delay of 1 second or so, such that you cannot navigate to the right window until this unwanted advancing is done.
when the mouse cursor is in the screen corner, this behavior is not observed.

[cupcakearmy]

It seems I'm having the same issue.

Findings

• When the mouse is not in the "switcher" area, everything is perfect and snappy
• When the mouse is in the "switcher" area
  • The menu is slower to open
  • Sometimes the selection jumps to the last window (without me pressing any additional key)

Basically the same as @ikfid

Demo.mp4

Is there any way to simply disable mouse in the settings?

Versions
Alt-Tab: Version 6.68.0
macOS: 14.4.1 (23E224)

[vsisl]

Hi there,

I have the exact same experience as @cupcakearmy :

When the mouse is not in the "switcher" area, everything is perfect and snappy
When the mouse is in the "switcher" area:

• The menu is slower to open
• Sometimes the selection jumps to the last window (without me pressing any additional key)

Versions
Alt-Tab: Version 6.67.0
macOS: 14.4.1 (intel)

The bug has been occurring for a while already. (I remember I updated both the OS and AltTab in the meantime.)

Second best would be that someone here who can reproduce it often work with me to debug it, in a screen-sharing type of session.

@lwouis I can help with that.

[shresth45]

It seems I'm having the same issue.

Findings

• When the mouse is not in the "switcher" area, everything is perfect and snappy

• When the mouse is in the "switcher" area

  • The menu is slower to open
  • Sometimes the selection jumps to the last window (without me pressing any additional key)

Basically the same as @ikfid

Demo.mp4
Is there any way to simply disable mouse in the settings?

Versions Alt-Tab: Version 6.68.0 macOS: 14.4.1 (23E224)

I was going crazy worried that there was something wrong with my mac hardware. But kudos to the efforts in this thread, these steps mentioned are very reproducible

[jim-alexander]

I've stopped using alttab because of this. Tried previous versions mentioned here and still the issue persists.

_I think when the mouse is over the window it happens more often if that helps 🤷 _

[samuelhwilliams]

I get this constantly. It's infuriating and I'm close to giving up on alt+tab as well because it makes it so unusable.

Having seen the comments in this thread and actively moving my mouse to the edge of the screen before alt+tab, it does seem to not happen when the mouse is off the alt+tab popup. Which is maybe a workaround for now..

Edit: this isn't a reliable workaround - I still get the issue. I do have a multi monitor setup like the person below.

Alt-Tab Version 6.68.0
MacOS 14.4.1 (23E224), ARM

[broegaard]

For a long time I did not have the issue, but now with sonoma 14.5 (23F79), the issue have re-emerged.

I think it is related two my multi monitor setup: If I open four windows of firefox and place two on each screen. The problem occur each time I switch to a window on the other screen (each time alttab moves to the other screen).

But if I go to Alttab->Preferences->Appearance->Show on and change the value from "Active screen" to "Screen including the menu bar" the problem seems to be solved.