Resizing windows on macOS Tahoe – the saga continues
A developer's meticulous tracking of macOS window resizing quirks reveals Apple's frustrating inconsistency. What started as a promising fix for rounded corner hitboxes in a Release Candidate was not only regressed but completely removed in the final macOS 26.3, reverting to the original square regions. This deep dive into a subtle UI detail showcases the author's dedication to understanding system behavior and highlights the often-perplexing development decisions of major tech companies.
The Lowdown
The ongoing saga of macOS window resizing continues with the release of macOS 26.3. The author, who previously highlighted issues with resize hitboxes, investigates Apple's supposed fix, only to find a frustrating back-and-forth in the implementation.
- The author developed a custom test application to perform a pixel-by-pixel scan around the bottom-right corner of a window, mapping areas that respond to mouse clicks for resizing.
- In the macOS 26.3 Release Candidate, Apple introduced a fix where resize areas correctly followed the window's rounded corners, an improvement over the previous square regions.
- However, this RC also saw a 14% decrease in the thickness of the horizontal/vertical resize areas (from 7 to 6 pixels, with the internal portion shrinking from 3 to 2 pixels), making them harder to hit.
- Surprisingly, in the final macOS 26.3 release, the entire fix was removed, reverting window resize behavior back to the original square regions.
- Apple's release notes were updated to reflect this change, reclassifying the problem from a "Resolved Issue" to a "Known Issue."
This meticulous analysis reveals that despite initial promises, the problem remains unresolved, with Apple seemingly backtracking on their own fixes, leaving users with the same resize challenges.