Severe UI lag and search failure on macOS 26.1

Help
1

Steps to reproduce

  1. Update macOS from 26.0 → 26.1
  2. Launch Obsidian (v1.9.14)
  3. Observe that Obsidian gets stuck for a long time on “Loading plugins…”
  4. Even after starting in restricted mode (no plugins, default theme), the UI becomes extremely sluggish
  5. Search does not return any results (or takes minutes to respond)

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide?

Y – Tested in restricted mode, default theme, no snippets, local vault (no Sync).

Expected result

Obsidian should open vaults normally, with responsive UI and functioning search.

Actual result

  • App hangs for minutes on startup (“loading plugins”).
  • Once open, any UI interaction (clicks, scrolling, switching notes) triggers seconds-long delays.
  • Search index is broken — no results, even after full cache rebuild.
  • Developer Tools show continuous renderer blocking with
    • Recalculate style,
    • Commit,
    • Event: click,
    • Idle callbacks.
  • Performance profile shows long layout recalculation loops (6–7 seconds per cycle) with minimal JS activity.
  • Disabling GPU acceleration (–disable-gpu) and clearing cache did not help.

Environment

Obsidian v1.9.14
macOS 26.1 (Apple Silicon, M4 Max)
Vault on local SSD + Obsidian Sync
Hardware acceleration: disabled (tested both)
No third-party plugins or themes active

Additional information

  • Behavior started immediately after updating macOS to 26.1.
  • Identical setup worked flawlessly on macOS 26.0.
  • Attached: DevTools Performance trace showing repeated layout reflow spikes and near-constant renderer blocking (Recalculate style).
2

You didn’t include the output of “show debug info command”. Can you please prove it to us?

3

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.10.3
Installer version: v1.8.4
Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 25.1.0: Mon Oct 20 19:34:05 PDT 2025; root:xnu-12377.41.6~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T6041 25.1.0
Login status: logged in
Language: en
Catalyst license: insider
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: Blue Topaz v2025071401
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Custom theme and snippets: for cosmetic issues, please first try updating your theme and disabling your snippets. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community theme and snippets.

4

In the troubleshooting guide, you didn’t do this part:

  1. Make sure you are using the latest Obsidian version and that your installer is up-to-date. The app and installer versions don’t need to match, but they shouldn’t be too far apart.
    The installer update needs to be done manually. Download and reinstall obsidian from the website.

Can you try it?

5

This turned out not to be an Obsidian issue. After updating to macOS 26.1, macOS enabled iCloud offloading for my Documents folder (where my vault lives). Large parts of the vault were set to cloud-only, which made Obsidian appear frozen (“Loading plugins…”) and broke Search because files weren’t local.

After that, Obsidian works normally again.

The original report can be closed/removed. Thanks!