MacOS 15 laggy / delays with cut-paste

  • Unknown's avatar
    joebotha198 · Member ·

    Hi

    Since upgrading to MacOS 15, using the desktop version of Simplenote, I’ve noticed a delay / lag when cut and pasting things inside a note.

    Cut does not cause a delay, can keep typing and moving the cursor.

    As soon as I paste, it freezes up, can’t move cursor – probably about 5 seconds not responsive, then becomes interactive again.

    Is this a known issue?

  • staff-frank · Staff ·

    Thanks for reporting the lag and freezing issues you’re experiencing with the Simplenote Mac app after updating to macOS 15. We haven’t heard any other reports of this yet.

    Here are a few things you can try to troubleshoot the issue:

    1. Restart your Mac.
    2. Check for Simplenote updates.

    If these steps don’t resolve the issue, please provide the following information:

    • Specify the exact version of Simplenote you’re using.
    • Are there any other resource-intensive apps running in the background?
  • Unknown's avatar
    joebotha198 · Member ·

    Hi,

    I restarted the laptop.

    I logged out of the app, then deleted it, emptied trash.

    Then installed again from app store. Same issue.

    MacOS 15.0.1

    Simplenote 2.21 – I believe this is latest.

    Only thing interesting / special is that keyboard is set to Dvorak.

    Only really notice the issue for a few seconds after I paste something. Oh, I’m in Cape Town – so there could be some latency to where you host your servers… but the iOS / iPad apps work without me noticing anything.

  • staff-cara · Staff ·

    Thanks for that, @joebotha198! I tried to replicate your issue also with MacOS 15.0.1 and Simplenote 2.21, but I’ve been unsuccessful so far. I don’t notice any lag when pasting within a note.

    Do you notice the lag only when cutting and pasting in a certain note? Or does the lag occur regardless of which note you edit? For example, does the lag still happen on a new note with only a little content in it?

    If the lag only happens in one note, how much content are you cutting and pasting within it? You can give us a character/word count estimate.

  • Unknown's avatar
    joebotha198 · Member ·

    Hi

    Looks like the issue is a big note file. If I create a new note I don’t notice the issue.

    The note I was using has around 1400 lines. I’m guessing the Electron app is just inefficient. Hard to think 1400 lines of text slows down an M2 CPU for 5 sec.

    Please try to see if you can replicate the issue with a larger note, and figure out why it’s getting stuck processing a paste event.

  • staff-fred · Staff ·

    Looks like the issue is a big note file. If I create a new note I don’t notice the issue.

    Thank you for your confirmation! We’re aware of a known issue with Simplenote when dealing with a very large note. This issue primarily affects the sync process. I’m assuming that the delay you experienced might have been because the note needed extra time to finish syncing after you added or changed content in it.

    While we recommend having multiple smaller notes instead of one large one, we understand that you might have your reasons for keeping it as is.

    We appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Let us know if you have any more questions or if there’s anything else we can assist you with.

  • Unknown's avatar
    t4nvj88d2f · Member ·

    Hi – I’ve started experiencing the same immediately after upgrading to MacOS 15 Sequoia.

    Simplenote 2.21

    MacOS 15.0.1 (24A348)

    I use Simplenote all day, every day. I am a huge fan. Unfortunately, immediately after upgrading to MacOS Sequoia, long notes in the Simplenote mac app that were previously fine started to crash the Simplenote app. Spinning beach ball with force-quit as the only option. I started to chop up my long notes, but even this only works some of the the time.

    I’ve had to switch to the webapp as a result. The webapp seems to handle all my notes fine. Simplenote on my iPhone is also fine. It seems like the issue appears only with the mac app.

    Seems like this is the same known issue? Hopefully a fix is in the works?

  • staff-frank · Staff ·

    Hi @t4nvj88d2f

    To help us narrow down the problem, could you please clarify which version of the Simplenote app you’re using?

    There are two main options:

    1. App Store Version: Downloaded from the official Apple App Store.
    2. Electron Version: Downloaded directly from the Simplenote GitHub repository (https://github.com/Automattic/simplenote-electron/releases/tag/v2.22.2).
  • Unknown's avatar
    t4nvj88d2f · Member ·

    Hi Frank – thanks for the quick response.

    I’m using the App Store Version.

  • staff-frank · Staff ·

    @t4nvj88d2f I’ve tried to reproduce this issue on my MacBook, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to. This makes it a bit difficult to pinpoint the exact cause.

    To help us investigate further, could you please share the following information:

    1. Number of characters in your long note: Approximately how many characters are in the notes that are causing the crashes? You can click the ⓘ icon in the upper right corner to get this.
    2. Steps to reproduce: Can you describe the specific steps you take to trigger the crash? For example, are you opening a particular note, editing it, or performing any other actions?
  • Unknown's avatar
    lepage · Member ·

    Like t4nvj88d2f above, I’m a long-time Simplenote user (10 years, at least) and I’ve found the Simplenote app to be effectively unusable since the Sequoia upgrade. Every time I try to use it, it hangs/freezes. Yes, the problem in my case is probably linked to a very long note. But the note was long for ages before the Sequoia upgrade, and only started to cause trouble after the upgrade.

    I’m on an M1 MacBook Air running Mac OS 15.0.1, using the App Store version of the app.

    Please fix this, Automattic – thank you. It’s caused a lot of frustration and lost time of late.

    (In the meantime, I will try as a workaround to break the long note into smaller chunks using the web app.)

  • Unknown's avatar
    joebotha198 · Member ·

    Hi, I recently upgrade my iMac to macOS 15, same story, was usable before – now it’s painfully slow – spinning beach ball. It’s a 2019 x86 machine – and it’s way more of a problem than using my M2 laptop, so the issue is probably CPU related.

    Maybe Electron app on macOS issue.

    Has anybody tested the github version? (I’m only used App Store versions)

  • Unknown's avatar
    t4nvj88d2f · Member ·

    @staff-frank thanks for attempting to reproduce. Answers to your questions:

    1. Number of characters in long note:
      • Current note: 107,455 chars (beach ball for approximately 30 sec)
      • The original note used to be ~500,000 chars (beach ball + full freeze up, force quit only option)
      • Prior to upgrading to MacOS Sequioa 15.0.1, Simplenote 2.21 handled the original long note without any issues or delays
      • Simplenote WebApp Version 1.8.2 (1920) has absolutely no problem handling this original long file
    2. Steps to reproduce
      • Fire up Simplenote 2.21 (Mac App Store)
      • Click on any long note
      • Make coffee. Either the beach ball will eventually go away or Simplenote will lock up and be unresponsive, and a force quit is the only way to start it up
      • Click on any another long note and the same will happen again and again

    Hopefully you can see from this and from @lepage and @joebotha198 examples that this is a real thing, and unfortunately, consistent and repeatable.

    Hopefully this will help with prioritizing a fix. I love Simplenote and I want to continue to use it 🙏

  • Unknown's avatar
    t4nvj88d2f · Member ·

    @staff-frank also, I’m using a fairly new M2 MB Air. It’s got 32GB RAM, lots of scratch HDD space, and all my other apps are super responsive. The issue is consistent across full reboots. So it’s highly unlikely that in my case, hardware is the issue.

  • staff-frank · Staff ·

    Hi @t4nvj88d2f,

    Thanks for your detailed response and for providing additional information about the issue you’re experiencing with Simplenote on macOS 15 Sequoia.

    I still haven’t been able to reproduce the issue on my MacBook. This time I created a note with over 500,000 characters of random text.

    To help us narrow down the potential causes, could you please share the following information:

    1. Could you describe the content of your long notes? Are there any specific types of content or formatting that might be triggering the crashes?
    2. Are you experiencing any similar issues with other apps on your macOS 15 Sequoia device?
    3. Could you try using a different internet connection? For example, if you’re using WiFi, switch to mobile data or vice versa.

    Thanks for your patience and cooperation.

  • Unknown's avatar
    t4nvj88d2f · Member ·

    @staff-frank thanks for the update. Answers to your questions

    1. Content of long notes: it’s 100% meeting notes. Just regular ascii chars. No special characters or formatting of any kind really
    2. Similar issues on other apps: No. Zero. All other apps are performing smoothly like they always have. By the way, worth emphasizing that Simplenote on my iPhone and iPad are just fine with large notes (>500k chars). Simplenote Webapp on macOS 15 is also just fine with large notes
    3. Different internet connection: I think we can rule out connectivity. Tested on home Wifi, hard ethernet, tethering on phone, multiple other location Wifi. Same results

    The result appears to be exactly the same.

    Seems like we’ve isolated down to a specific version of the software (Simplenote 2.21) on a specific OS (15 Sequoia) under a specific set of conditions (large notes > 40k chars)

    Other ideas?

  • mikerockwell · Staff ·

    @t4nvj88d2f thank you for the additional details!

    Since we’re having trouble recreating this issue on our end, it may be worth trying to uninstall and reinstall Simplenote on your Mac to see if that resolves the issue.

    Before doing so, I would suggest logging in to the web app to make sure all of your notes are present and up to date. If they are, you can log out of Simplenote’s desktop app on your Mac, delete the app, and reinstall it from the App Store.

    Please let us know how it goes!

  • Unknown's avatar
    t4nvj88d2f · Member ·

    @mikerockwell thanks for the recommendation.

    Unfortunately I’ve logged out, deleted and re-installed several times. But the issue persists. I just tried again for good measure, and still the same.

    Quick check: I’m simply logging out and deleting the Simplenote app itself from the Applications folder. Is there any step that I might have missed?

  • staff-frank · Staff ·

    Hi @t4nvj88d2f,

    It seems that the standard uninstall and reinstall methods haven’t quite worked.

    To ensure a complete removal of Simplenote and its associated files, I recommend using a third-party uninstaller tool like CCleaner. This tool can help clean up any residual files that might be causing the problem.

    Once you have done this, try a clean installation of Simplenote.

  • Unknown's avatar
    lmpogoda · Member ·

    Hi, I have similar problem: https://forums.simplenote.com/forums/topic/issues-with-very-long-notes-on-macos-w-sequoia/

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