After updating to macOS Tahoe, my Matlab 2024b text in GUI becomes super blurry

The GUI texts in both Matlab R2023a and R2024b were sharp and clear in macOS 15.7. But after I updated my MacBook Pro 2020 M1 to macOS 26.0, the texts in both Matlab versions were blurry and I have not found a way to make them sharp. I have the reasons to keep the R2023a and R2024b so please help. Thanks.

[Dan Dolan]

Being utterly selfhish here, can you comment as to whether versions (2025a or b) look blurry or just the older ones? Are you using the new desktop in R2024b?

[John D'Errico]

(Ditto, in that I have some selfish interest here too.) I'd not be surprised if R2025b looks fine. (I was going to upgrade my Mac soon. But I have a pretty new Mac. Yours is moderately old. Well, these days, 5 or 6 years is starting to feel old. Sigh.) Anyway, the best thing to do is to talk to tech support for an answer to your question.

[Yilang]

I have downgraded to macOS 15.7 now and have not got a chance to test 2025a. I previously used matlab 2025a on macOS 15.x and the plotting is inconsistent in fontsize and window size. This is why I kept using matlab 2023a and 2024b. I notice that besides the blurry problem, the plotting window size is also behaving incorrectly for matlab 2023a and 2024b versions on macOS 26.0. This resulted in the eventual downgrading system-wide.

[Bo Li]

What version of Java do you use with MATLAB R2024b? This can be found by calling "jenv" command in MATLAB.

A Java 11 version is mentioned in the requirement page for MATLAB R2024b on Apple Silicon Macs in case you are using Java 8:

https://www.mathworks.com/support/requirements/apple-silicon.html

[Yilang]

I was using Java 8 when the problem happened. I have updated the environment to Java 11 but I currently do not bother to upgrade the system again.

[kh]

@Yilang

plz tell me how to update java 11 and run jenv command display correct infomation，thank you so much！

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

We've done some analysis and think the issue is due to the combination of Java 8, macOS 26, and Apple Silicon. We haven't fully validated yet, but recommend that anybody having this issue verify that they are using Java 11 or newer.

This page gives system requirements and provides a link to install Java 11:  MATLAB on Apple Silicon Macs

You can use the matlab_jenv, or jenv, command to configure MATLAB to use the newer JRE version.

[Andreas Schrempf]

Thank you very much for the solution!

I can confirm that changing to Java 11 solves the problem on macOS 26 on an apple silicon (M2). But that the problem exists also on Intel macs. Downloading Java 11 for Intel https://corretto.aws/downloads/latest/amazon-corretto-11-x64-macos-jdk.pkg also solves the problem there.

Answer 2

[Michelle Hirsch]

We've done some analysis and think the issue is the combination of Java 8, macOS 26, Apple Silicon. We haven't fully validated yet, but recommend that anybody having this issue verify that they are using Java 11 or newer.

You can verify your current Java version with jenv. This page gives system requirements and provides a link to install Java 11:

https://www.mathworks.com/support/requirements/apple-silicon.html

[Dan Dolan]

Can anyone confirm if the issue is confined to MATLAB releases prior to 2025a and/or 2023b-2024b with the new desktop? I've given up using older MATLAB releases on Macs, at least for anything graphical, due to persistent crashes. Some people claim that certain versions of Java are better than others in this regard, but these sorts of changes never fixed the problem for me.

I spent a lot of time migrating graphical interfaces from legacy Java to JavsScript over the last six months. If blurriness is purely a Java issue, upgrading to macOS Tahoe shouldn't be a problem for MATLAB 2025a or later. Otherwise, it would be nice to know if I should tell my Mac users to stay with Sequioa until the problem is resolved.

[Michelle Hirsch]

We believe this is only an issue for releases 24b and earlier. We haven't seen or heard of issues with 25a and 25b.

Answer 3

[Dan Dolan]

I have confirmed that R2025b looks fine in Tahoe 26.0.1 while R2024a is blurry. Mac users should strongly consider upgrading to R2025a or later, with the understanding that there will be signfiicant pain transitioning legacy interrfaces from Java to JavaScript.