Products · Product
Wayland
Raised as a usability problem by 234 people on Hacker News over 11 years (2016–2026), in 155 threads.
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- 6Screen capture is noticeably slowUnreviewed
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Apps not adapting to fractional scaling look blurry or wrong-sizedUnreviewed
20162026- Chromium/CEF ignores system scale factor under Wayland, forcing workarounds2026-03-20
- Non-standard DPI monitors are hard to scale; fractional scaling makes the whole screen blurry2026-01-28
- Fractional scaling looks wrong in apps relying on XWayland; users must hunt for flags2025-11-15
Mouse cursor lags under load and feels laggy normallyUnreviewed
20162026- Mouse pointer lags slightly compared to X11, causing physical discomfort for the user2026-06-04
- Extra frame of input delay makes the desktop feel sluggish and frustrating2025-11-30
- Terminal windows feel laggy, with window movement trailing a frame or two behind2025-06-17
Screen sharing is very difficult to get working at allUnreviewed
20162026- Screen sharing does not work out of the box, needing manual Chrome flags and desktop file workarounds2024-10-07
- Screen sharing dialog options don't work and video playback freezes under Wayland2024-05-20
- Screen sharing and remote desktop break or stop working after updates2024-05-06
Visually impaired users struggle to run their accessibility toolsUnreviewed
20162026- Wayland makes it hard for a visually impaired user to run their accessibility tools2026-04-15
- Wayland adds input latency and requires window managers to be rewritten2026-02-01
- Alternative window managers will become hard to use under Wayland2026-01-12
Keyboard shortcuts break or cannot be configured after switchingUnreviewed
20162026- Keyboard shortcuts break or can't be configured after switching to Wayland2026-03-02
- Tablet configuration breaks or is tied to desktop environment when switching, making Wayland switch impossible2023-10-05
- Apps like Firefox and Discord need manual fixes to work on Wayland2022-10-11
Screen capture is noticeably slowUnreviewed
20162026- Desktop automation, screen recording and clipboard features are broken or missing under Wayland2026-08-20
- Screen recording, window positioning and multi-monitor calibration often fail or misbehave under Wayland2026-01-02
- No single screenshot method works across all Wayland desktop environments2023-11-29
Stuttering and frame-rate drops make the desktop laggyUnreviewed
20162026- Stuttering and frequent frame-rate drops make the desktop laggy to use2024-10-06
- Desktop and games are stuttery and unusable, Signal fails to render2024-03-01
- Desktop jitters and stutters across monitors, video playback disrupts scrolling on another screen2024-02-29
Apps cannot position their own windows, annoying for many utility windowsUnreviewed
20162026- Apps can no longer move their own windows, and the docs bury this limitation2025-11-14
- Desktop apps cannot position windows or warp the cursor under Wayland2025-06-17
- Apps cannot request or restore a specific window position, so windows reopen in wrong spots2024-03-07
Tablet shows two cursors and no longer drives the main cursorUnreviewed
20162026- Tablet shows two cursors and no longer drives the main cursor, which feels unintuitive2026-07-29
- On touchscreens, menus open wherever the cursor was last left2023-05-13
- Accidental palm touches send the cursor clicking somewhere after switching drivers2022-09-19
Multiple monitors and middle-click paste need fiddling to workUnreviewed
20162026- Basic things like cursor, windows, multiple monitors and clipboard don't work properly2023-06-30
- Copy/paste, screen sharing and blue light filters stop working under Wayland, and video players crash the desktop2022-04-21
- Applications crash, and multiple monitors and middle-click copy-paste need fiddling to work2019-09-22
Electron apps fail to render, with flicker and HiDPI problemsUnreviewed
20162026- Flicker, glitches, Electron apps fail to render, and HiDPI problems on Wayland2024-07-17
- Chromium blurry under XWayland and Wayland config troubleshooting hours of frustration2022-06-16
- Missed inputs, flickering, and broken color in xWayland games and apps2021-12-14
Copy and paste between different application types works badlyUnreviewed
20162026- Copy and paste often fails, so the user has to copy twice for it to work2026-03-15
- Content disappears from clipboard when the copying application closes, frustrating users2022-10-25
- Copy and paste between different kinds of applications works badly2021-02-02
Firefox window stops updating while still accepting clicks and keypressesUnreviewed
20162026- Firefox stops responding to mouse clicks after interacting with an unknown element2023-01-01
- Firefox windows lag and stay unresponsive, can't type in address bar2022-09-19
- Firefox window stops updating while still accepting clicks and keypresses2022-07-01
New windows open on random screens with wrong scalingUnreviewed
20162026- New windows open at random screens; window scaling wrong for its monitor2024-04-08
- Windows show at 200% or 50% size on one monitor, usually unusable2022-09-18
- Windows don't restore position or resize properly when switching monitors2022-07-06
Remote desktop sessions do not work, forcing users to abandon their setupUnreviewed
20162026- Remote desktop sessions don't work on Wayland, forcing users to abandon their setup2025-11-14
- Remote desktop over RDP on Wayland is almost unusable for the user2025-06-25
- Remote support tools can't send input to running applications under Wayland2022-05-21
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Windows don't remember their size and position between sessions, forcing users to rearrange them2026-09-24
- Blocks assistive tools from highlighting, moving text, or reading window info, making the desktop unusable2026-09-13
- Breaks features people need, such as window positioning and mouse control2026-08-24
- Desktop automation, screen recording and clipboard features are broken or missing under Wayland2026-08-20
- Tablet shows two cursors and no longer drives the main cursor, which feels unintuitive2026-07-29
- Mouse lags and stutters when using Wayland2026-06-21
- Mouse pointer lags slightly compared to X11, causing physical discomfort for the user2026-06-04
- PiP windows on Wayland can't receive keyboard, pointer or touch input, so mute buttons don't work2026-06-02
- Can't place game windows on specific displays, forcing workarounds like KDE window rules2026-06-02
- Encounters weird bugs and corner cases with basic usability on Wayland2026-06-02
- Wayland makes it hard for a visually impaired user to run their accessibility tools2026-04-15
- Each compositor supports different interfaces, so developers must handle many variants2026-03-24
- Simple tasks like taking screenshots need a convoluted maze of desktop portals2026-03-22
- Low-level Wayland API is hard for application programmers to use, requiring asynchronous handling2026-03-22
- Wayland client API docs poorly explain dispatch and roundtrip functions, confusing developers2026-03-22
- Design is impractical and hostile to developers and users2026-03-22
- Hardcoded gestures had to be patched out; text window scrolls up and down at some scaling levels2026-03-20
- Cannot drag browser tabs to reorder them under Wayland2026-03-20
- Chromium/CEF ignores system scale factor under Wayland, forcing workarounds2026-03-20
- Connection approval pop-up auto-hides after seconds, so remote access is unreliable without local interaction2026-03-20
- Pen input glitches and stops working until the driver is restarted2026-03-20
- Tab switching between windows randomly gets stuck, forcing reboots2026-03-20
- Copy and paste often fails, so the user has to copy twice for it to work2026-03-15
- Keyboard shortcuts break or can't be configured after switching to Wayland2026-03-02
- Wayland adds input latency and requires window managers to be rewritten2026-02-01
- Dialogue boxes don't fit on the low-height screen and no panning is available to reach them2026-01-30
- Non-standard DPI monitors are hard to scale; fractional scaling makes the whole screen blurry2026-01-28
- Alternative window managers will become hard to use under Wayland2026-01-12
- Buggy video playback, crashes when changing monitors, laptop fails to wake with external monitor2026-01-04
- Must log out and back in to test each extension change2026-01-04
- Wayland flickered badly and was unusable with Nvidia graphics2026-01-04
- Constant weird glitches and basic things don't work when using it2026-01-04
- Screen recording, window positioning and multi-monitor calibration often fail or misbehave under Wayland2026-01-02
- Movies stop playing unless the mouse is jiggled every few minutes2025-12-25
- Eye trackers, voice control and screen readers don't work on Wayland, making it hard for accessibility users2025-12-25
- Half-baked portal implementations behave slightly differently, making the desktop a poor experience2025-12-16
- Extra frame of input delay makes the desktop feel sluggish and frustrating2025-11-30
- Users cannot capture game moments to share, blocked by design2025-11-29
- Crashes freeze the desktop, and monitors reset to odd resolutions needing manual fixes2025-11-29
- Switching to desktop 1 makes VS Code print stray characters until Esc is pressed2025-11-25
- Getting keyboard layout, remapping, and automation working together is fragile, complicated, and needs manual workarounds2025-11-21
- Desktop was borderline unusable for years2025-11-21
- Fractional scaling looks wrong in apps relying on XWayland; users must hunt for flags2025-11-15
- Apps can no longer move their own windows, and the docs bury this limitation2025-11-14
- Remote desktop sessions don't work on Wayland, forcing users to abandon their setup2025-11-14
- Accessibility tools are hard to use on Wayland, blocking users who rely on them from switching2025-11-05
- Hard to find working VNC or remote desktop setup on Wayland compared to X2025-11-03
- Screen reader modifier keys pass through to compositor; forms misread, awkward to use2025-11-03
- Under Wayland it is almost unusable for disabled users, and was better a few years ago2025-10-07
- Permission popup appears on the physical display and cannot be clicked remotely2025-09-12