Whenever I do the "2 finger pan" on my trackpad, the canvas jumps/stutters. I've tried everything to fix it - I'll post a summary I made with everything I've tried and hopefully it'll help someone else, but any other ideas would be appreciated as it drives me mad. It started out of nowhere. I'm on a Macbook Pro M4 (Tahoe 26.1) with the latest version of Photoshop.

All my other apps like Illustrator and InDesign are buttery smooth when I pan the same way. The only way I'm able to work in PS at the moment is by using a mouse and clicking and dragging while holding the spacebar - only then is it smooth.

Steps Already Attempted

Photoshop Versions

• Uninstalled and reinstalled Photoshop.
• Tried newer versions.
• Tried older versions (including 27.1 and earlier 25.x / 26.x).
• Problem persists across all versions.

Photoshop Settings & Preferences

• Disabled/Re-enabled GPU acceleration.
• Toggled Enable Native GPU compositing.
• Reset all Photoshop preferences using Cmd + Option + Shift on launch.
• Toggled Flick Panning (on/off).
• Toggled Overscroll (on/off).
• Disabled Zoom with Scroll Wheel.
• Disabled Rulers (Cmd + R).
• Verified issue persists even in an empty canvas.

macOS Settings & Trackpad Settings

• “Use inertia when scrolling” → turned off.
• “Look up & data detectors” → turned off.
• Tested with Scroll direction: natural both on and off.
• Disabled Three-finger drag.
• Disabled conflicting trackpad gestures.
• Restarted macOS between changes.

Testing Different Input Methods

• Two-finger trackpad pan = jittery
• Spacebar + drag on trackpad = smooth
• Mouse + spacebar drag = smooth

Hardware / External Display Tests

• Tested with external monitor.
• Tested without external monitor.
• No difference in results.

System / Environment Checks

• Ensured Low Power Mode is off.
• Closed all major background apps.
• Confirmed Illustrator and InDesign do NOT have the issue - only Photoshop.
• Verified no difference when running on internal display only.

Driver / Software Interference

• Fully quit G Hub, including stopping background processes in Activity Monitor.
• Retested Photoshop: issue persists.

macOS Tahoe System-Level UI & Gesture Features

• Investigated and disabled new macOS Tahoe multitasking / App Picker gestures under Desktop & Dock to rule out gesture conflicts.

• Force-quit WindowServer, Universal Control, and Handoff-related agents in Activity Monitor to test for background polling conflicts.

• Disabled “Shake mouse pointer to locate” under Accessibility > Display > Pointer.

M4 / Display / Refresh Rate Testing

• Identified potential conflict between ProMotion (120Hz) and Photoshop canvas panning.

• Forced display refresh rate to a fixed 60Hz (disabled ProMotion) for testing.

• Tested behavior related to Automatic Graphics Switching (where available).

Additional Workarounds Attempted

• Tested Photoshop after reboot with no menu-bar utilities running.
• Confirmed issue exists across macOS versions (current macOS Tahoe 26.0.1).
• Not related to GPU load or RAM (M4 chip, 48GB RAM).