The same issue also affects Photoshop on macOS Tahoe 26 an macOS Golden Gate 27 Beta. I hope the Adobe team is aware, I could not find a bug report for PS.

No, not specifically.

I initially opened a report describing the same behaviour across Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign, but it was later merged into this Illustrator discussion.

Since the issue appeared identical in all three applications, I assumed the Illustrator team would be able to share the findings internally once the root cause had been identified.

If it is still useful, I can also report the issue separately to the Photoshop and InDesign teams.

Philippe, they intend to convey the idea to them, even though the windowing system for Ps and InD is different, so the same fix can't be applied directly. Did you report the problem to those teams?

I confirm that it also works well for me with a MacBook Pro M1 Max using the Beta version 30.8 72.

Now that you have managed to find the cause and get around the problem you can also do the same with Photoshop and InDesign which have the same problem.

Just installed the beta, 30.8 72. First impression: it works notably faster than the official edition 30.6.
Panning and zooming artboard uses only around 70% GPU - drops to almost zero immediately when idle again.
It really feels snappy.

Can be a similar problem:
Memory usage continuously increases over time in Illustrator 2026 and is not released properly (macOS M4 Max)
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/51549737

Well, the plot thickens even more.
Consider this:
- Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop open - each with NO open document.
- All three have Application Frame turned OFF

Now, when I turn Application Frame *on* in PHOTOSHOP, there is a 20% rise on GPU use in ILLUSTRATOR. On top of the 20% rise in GPU on Windowserver. And Photoshop remains at 0% GPU use...

So Adobe can point its finger towards Apple Windoserver, but it's the programming frameworks of Adobe which need a total make-over. It is CAUSING Windowserver to go haywire. I suspect there's just a framework function- or object call under the hood that's reused by all Adobe apps. It hovers around the Creative Cloud/Bridge/CC-Library implementation which is woven throughout all Adobe apps. And its poor programming has been dragged along the apps since Adobe implemented the Application Frame feature. It wouldn't even surprise me if it is something of a "translation" error from the Windows version of the Adobe Suite, since they share the same programming frameworks. Anyway, a severe bug hampering workflows for over 9 months may be addressed already, I think.

BRILLANT! Thanks Joost Egelie.

I can finally run Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop concurrently just like the old days by disabling the Application Frame. GPU load behaviour is back to Sequoia days.

That said, Adobe should still figure this out as this is just a workaround. At least we have collectively found the culprit: The Application Frame. Not the connected display, not the ram, not the CC app version.

Thank you Philippe for your elaborate observations.
Although Windowserver is the proces using so much GPU, the bug remains with Adobe programs because they seem to trigger Windowserver into GPU hogging.

I'd like to add that turning off "Application Frame" for Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop also drops GPU to almost zero.

Also closing the CC Libraries tab drops a tiny bit of GPU usage.

I can confirm this issue on my setup.

Configuration:

* MacBook Pro 16” M1 Max (64 GB)
* macOS Tahoe 26.5.2 (also reproduced on 26.5.1)
* Latest versions of Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign

After a lot of testing, I found some interesting details that may help reproduce the problem.

What I observed

* The process consuming GPU is WindowServer, not Illustrator itself.
* Illustrator CPU usage remains very low.
* The issue is not document-related: it also happens with no document open.
* Photoshop and InDesign show the same behaviour.
* GPU usage is directly proportional to the visible area of the Adobe window.
* Reducing the window size reduces GPU usage.
* Moving part of the window outside the screen also reduces GPU usage proportionally.
* Minimizing the window (⌘M) or hiding the application (⌘H) immediately drops GPU usage to almost zero.
* Hiding all panels with Tab has almost no effect.
* However, pressing F to switch Illustrator’s screen mode immediately reduces GPU usage to a normal level.

This strongly suggests the issue is related to WindowServer compositing the Adobe application window, rather than document rendering or GPU calculations inside Illustrator.

Updating from macOS 26.5.1 to 26.5.2 slightly reduced the GPU usage on my machine, but the issue is still present.

I also opened a more detailed report with additional observations and tests:
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/51457714-very-high-windowserver-gpu-usage-on-macos-tahoe-wh

Hopefully this additional information helps reproduce the problem.

Hello,

I would like to report what appears to be a WindowServer / Adobe rendering issue on macOS Tahoe.

System

* MacBook Pro 16” M1 Max
* macOS Tahoe 26.5.2 (also reproduced on 26.5.1)
* External 4K monitor (60 Hz) AND internal display
* Latest versions of Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign

Symptoms

The issue is not caused by Illustrator CPU usage.

Instead, WindowServer continuously uses a very large amount of GPU while any Adobe window is visible.

CPU usage of Illustrator remains very low.

What I observed

* Opening Illustrator with no document at all immediately increases WindowServer GPU usage.
* Photoshop and InDesign show exactly the same behaviour.
* GPU usage is proportional to the visible surface area of the Adobe window.
* Making the window smaller reduces GPU usage.
* Moving part of the window outside the screen also reduces GPU usage proportionally.
* Minimizing the window (⌘M) immediately drops GPU usage to almost zero.
* Hiding the application (⌘H) also drops GPU usage to almost zero.
* Closing the application immediately returns GPU usage to idle.

Interesting finding

Pressing F in Illustrator (cycling through screen modes) dramatically reduces GPU usage.

Simply hiding the tool panels (Tab) does not change GPU usage significantly.

This suggests the issue is related to the window rendering/compositing rather than document rendering.

Additional information

* The problem occurs even with no document open.
* It occurs with the internal display only.
* The external monitor is not the root cause (only increases the workload proportionally).
* Updating to macOS 26.5.2 slightly improved GPU usage but did not solve the issue.

It seems WindowServer continuously redraws Adobe application windows while they are visible.

Has Adobe been able to reproduce this behaviour?

I can approve that this is still a problem, I'm on a specced out M4-Air with all software and operative system on latest versions. Running the Adobe Apps in the same desktop causes slowdowns which makes the apps unusable (zooming and panning in docs etc is grinding to a halt). Running a single Adobe app at once is super fast, and running the Adobe Apps in separate virtual desktops in MacOS helps.

Hi,

Yes I'm having an external monitor, hooked up with a USB-to-HDMI connector.
I've tried another resolution, but it didn't show any improvement.

this is my setup (sorry it's in Dutch, copied from System Information):

Apple M3:

Chipsetmodel: Apple M3
Type: GPU
Bus: Ingebouwd
Totale aantal cores: 10
Fabrikant: Apple (0x106b)
Metal-ondersteuning: Metal 4
Beeldschermen:
iMac:
Beeldschermtype: Ingebouwde Retina LCD
Resolutie: Retina 4,5K (4480 x 2520)
Hoofdbeeldscherm: Ja
Synchrone weergave: Uit
Online: Ja
Pas helderheid automatisch aan: Ja
Verbindingstype: Intern
PL2793Q:
Resolutie: 2560 x 1440 (QHD/WQHD - Wide Quad High Definition)
Ziet eruit als: 2560 x 1440 @ 60.00Hz
Synchrone weergave: Uit
Online: Ja
Rotatie: Ondersteund

USB 3.1 Bus:

Locatiecode: 0x01000000
Verbindingstype: Built-in
Driver: AppleT8122USBXHCI

Belkin USB-C to HDMI Adapter:

Locatiecode: 0x01100000
Verbindingstype: Removable
Fabrikant: Belkin
Serienummer: 0000000000000001
Verbindingssnelheid: 12 Mb/s
USB-fabrikantcode: 0x050d
USB-productcode: 0x012c
USB-productversie: 0x0001

@All Can you guys share what is your display setup? Do you have an external monitor? If yes, how many and what resolution? Does reducing the resolution help?

Disabled the Home Screen some time back as it was suggested by someone else before. No difference in performance. Going full-screen mode remains the only way around the absurd GPU load.

Hi Anmol Sud,

This setting was the first thing I disabled when I installed Illustrator, so I can confirm the issue is there without that option. RIght now I have an idle Photoshop in the background doing nothing, but using up 107% CPU and 94% GPU. When I'm in Illustrator the GPU gets overloaded and starts throttling.

Are the new AI functions in the Adobe suite perhaps piggyback-riding on idle processors and GPUs around the world?

I have turned off the Home Screen. I currently have Illustrator open in the background with no documents open - it's consistently using ~20% of the GPU and ~200% (!) of CPU.

I'm on an M1 iMac, which at this point is starting to show its age a little, but those numbers are absurd.

@All Can you guys try to disable the preference "Show The Home Screen When No Documents Are Open" and confirm if you still see the issue? It should be present in Preferences->General.

Anmol Sud
Adobe Illustrator Team

I can confirm the issue is partly an Apple performance issue. The Screenshot app puts extra strain on the GPU when highlighting selected areas in transparent blue., but the rise in use is only around 30% - not the full 100% as Illustrator et al. produce.

As the problems arose only when I accidentally installed Tahoe on the iMac M3 and persist after every version upgrade of either MacOS X or Adobe apps, I think Adobe can address Apple's unasked-for graphical update "Liquid Glass". I've tried shutting off every visual gimmick in the OS but the problems remain, so I think poorly written and inefficient core frameworks may be the culprit. However, users are not in a position to address this with Apple, but Adobe certainly may have the leverage.

After testing on my company’s MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini (running macOS 15), I observed varying degrees of change in GPU usage depending on the screen mode. I believe this is simply a matter of whether the difference in machine power affects performance or not.
Given that this issue persists even on macOS 15, I would like Adobe to remove window shadows in Normal mode to reduce the load.

By the way…
If you need to run Illustrator and Photoshop at the same time, using Mission Control to display them on separate desktops can help reduce the load somewhat.
However, it might be more appropriate for Apple to provide a fundamental solution.
After all, even the editing interface of the standard Screenshot.app is driving up GPU usage.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)