Restoring Fluid Animations
macOS relies on fluid animations to provide a sense of spatial awareness. When you open a folder, a window smoothly expands from the icon. When you use Mission Control, applications glide into place. When you swipe between virtual desktops, the screen slides horizontally. Some users enable the “Reduce motion” accessibility setting to combat motion sickness, or in a misguided attempt to speed up an old Mac.
When “Reduce motion” is enabled, all of these smooth, gliding animations are replaced with harsh, instantaneous cross-fade transitions. The screen simply blinks from one state to the next. If you find this blinking jarring, or if you simply miss the elegant, fluid physics of the macOS interface, you can disable this accessibility feature to restore the default animations.
How to Disable Reduce Motion
You can restore the default animations in the Display Accessibility settings.
- Click the Apple Logo in the top-left corner of the menu bar and select System Settings… (or System Preferences).
- Scroll down the left-hand sidebar and click on Accessibility.
- In the main pane, under the “Vision” section, click on Display.
- Look for the toggle switch labelled Reduce motion.
- Toggle the switch to the Off position.
The change is instantaneous. Try minimizing a window or swiping to a different Space (virtual desktop); you will immediately notice the smooth, sweeping animations have returned, making the operating system feel much more fluid and responsive.