Claude Desktop now starts ~2x faster than it did a month ago.

Claude Desktop's reported startup improvement came from allowing the app to initialize at full speed while its window was still hidden. In the August 18, 2026 announcement, ClaudeDevs explains that background startup had triggered timer throttling and the JavaScript engine's power-saving behavior. Removing that slowdown, alongside smaller fixes, produced an approximately twofold improvement. The attached chart measures time until the chat input becomes ready after a background start, with separate Windows and macOS results. The user-facing change is a shorter wait before typing.