MacOS Catalina review: Mac goes pro, makes iPad a partner. After languishing in the shadow of iPhone and iPad for over a decade, the Mac gets a wave of upgrades and a renewed identity. Sep 25, 2018 How to clear log files on a Mac manually. Open Finder and select 'Go to Folder' in the Go menu.; Type in /Library/Logs and hit Enter to proceed to this folder (pay attention to the use of “” — this will ensure that you’re cleaning user log files, not the system log files). Typically, when Apple apps are crashing or not working correctly on your MacBook and you have already tried the “Safe Mode” to no avail, you can recycle the associated preference files. For example, if the Mac App store is causing issues and you are unable to download any apps from the store, look for the following preference (plist) files. Dec 23, 2011 File Permissions Crash Course. Every file and folder on your Mac has a configurable set of permissions. Permissions control three types of access: reading, writing, and executing. You can mix and match any of the types to grant seven levels of access, as illustrated below. Mar 24, 2020 Press and hold the power button on your Mac for up to 10 seconds, until your Mac turns off. Turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold Command (⌘) and R to start up from macOS Recovery. While in macOS Recovery, use Disk Utility to repair your startup disk. If Disk Utility found no errors or repaired all errors, take either of these actions.
Let us begin with reassurance: even if some apps crash after you’ve upgraded your Mac to the latest operating system, there is still a chance it’s a temporary problem. We can’t advise you to wait it out though, because there’s also a chance something went very wrong.
That’s why in this article we’ll go over a bunch of reasons and solutions for your app crashing problem. We’ll review general app compatibility for Mac apps on macOS, because the good people of this world have already created a list of all the apps that work on this system and that don’t. If you find your problematic app on the list, you’ll know why it fails.
We’ll see what could be the reasons apps don’t work and how to find out if they will.
Application compatibility and feature support on macOS
One of the reasons your app crashes could be that it’s incompatible with the new macOS. What it means is that app developers haven’t updated it to run with the new system requirements. For instance, in macOS Catalina, Apple gave up the support of 32-bit apps — requiring developers to switch to the 64-bit infrastructure. If they don’t meet the requirement, 32-bit Mac apps won’t launch in Catalina.
If you don’t feel like looking through a nearly endless list of apps and just want to know if the majority of apps are ready for the new macOS, then yes, they are. Most popular apps are fully-functional on the new system. In case you have doubts, try looking into the About section and see when your app was last updated and to which version. That’s an instant answer to the question “Why do my apps keep crashing?”
What if I really need the incompatible apps?
![Mac folder additional protection app crash report Mac folder additional protection app crash report](/uploads/1/2/6/5/126550158/580632389.jpg)
The easiest advice is — find a compatible alternative. For instance, you can have a huge collection of quality, High-Sierra-compatible apps for all kinds of Mac tasks on Setapp. It’s a subscription service that gives you 150+ Mac apps for a single monthly fee. If you don’t like being nervous after every upgrade and enjoy running updated, compatible software, that’s your best choice. Setapp takes care of the compatibility, so that apps crashing stops being the problem.
An app crashes or doesn't open, what can I do?
Not every app is on Setapp, just yet. So you need a solution on how to fix app crash manually.
The first thing you need to do if you have apps crashing and refusing to work properly, is to make sure they are compatible. If your app is compatible but still crashes, there must be something else at work.
If the app crashes on launch
In this case, when you can’t click on About to see if it’s up to date, check developer’s website to see if you’re running the latest version. Sometimes apps quit unexpectedly and that is also a crash-like issue which you shouldn’t ignore, even if its occasional.
In macOS Catalina, you’ll see a message saying something like “app not optimized for your Mac.” This will (most likely) mean you’re trying to open a 32-bit app. Not gonna work, sorry.
If the app crashes during work
Maybe your Mac doesn’t have enough processing power/memory to run it at full capacity. You can try checking how your Mac is doing in real-time while the app works with iStat Menus. Download the app and use it to monitor hardware indicators, CPU load and RAM usage. Check which apps take up the most resources and decide if you can quit/uninstall them.
If the app prevents your Mac from launching
This app is probably features among your startup items — apps that start together with your Mac when you turn it on. If your Mac freezes or the app prevents other app from launching, try removing it from login items. To do it, open System Preferences > Users and Groups. Select your name and click “Login items” and remove the app in question.
App crashing no more
Your Mac can be home to any apps if you treat them well. Use Setapp as a solution to troubleshoot software issues.
You apps might be affected by the APFS system
Another reason why Mac apps keep closing may be APFS. The operating systems after High Sierra use Apple File System. If you’ve just switched, all your files on drives were moved from the old HFS+ to the new one, including apps that weren’t in your Applications folder.
In case the apps that crash are stored elsewhere on your Mac, like on your Desktop instead of the Applications folder and are installed there, they have been transformed into the new file system. And application files don’t do well with it, so if you’re launching your apps from Desktop folder or any other Finder folder (apart from applications) it’s entirely expectable for it to crash.
If you have the latest version and your app is compatible, there are a few things you can still do to try and fix the crashing.
- Get a Mac cleaning app like CleanMyMac X and run maintenance scripts. It’s a system-optimizing action that rearranges logs and removes temporary files which helps your new OS operate correctly.
- Use CleanMyMac to clean up your system and caches, which is another way of removing possible hindrances for software.
- Contact your app’s support team. Send a crash report, describe your situation and maybe there are some app-specific recommendations they can share with you.
- Look for an alternative. And, instead of buying new apps one by one, try Setapp subscription. You can simply type in what your app was for, like “email client” or “blogging”, and find a similar one. Setapp has 150+ applications for all possible tasks on Mac, and all of them are always compatible with the latest system.
That’s about it concerning your options. We know having your favorite software unresponsive is frustrating but there’s really plenty of fish in the sea. If the app you loved is no longer supported on the new system — like outdated software in macOS Catalina — maybe it’s time to find a new, better one for the job.
We hope this guide has been of help, we’re trying to keep it up to date, so if you noticed inconsistencies, please make sure to tell us about them so we could fix it. Thanks and take care.
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Yesterday my Mac suddenly crashed into a screen with blue (and white) lines. It wouldn't respond to anything, so I powered it down and tried to boot again. However, it will not boot. It will show the Apple logo, request my password and after a while (with the Apple logo and the spinning wheel) it just shows a blank screen (grey), while the CPU fans are spinning like crazy.Sometimes will it not even get this far and stop doing anything before requesting the password. The guest mode has the same problem.
I basically tried everything to fix it; the recovery option will also show the blank grey screen but nothing else (even after 30 minutes); the internet recovery downloads fine and then pulls the same stunt, so even the recovery will not work. I've tried save mode, which cannot start up (Filevault is activated) and seems to end mid-way through. Sometimes the safe mode crashes immediately after the boot starts with a kernel panic (/sbin/launchd failed, errno 2); after resetting the NVRAM it won't panic.
I've checked the hardware (T startup option, full check), which al seems to be OK. SMART status from the harddrive looks OK (checked with DiskWarrior). Starting in single user mode sometimes gets me through the password request screen and allows me to check the hard drive (fsck -fy). This seems to change permissions, however, after a reboot or exit command, the problem persists and starting up in single user mode and performing the fsck -fy command again seems to fix some issues. When I enter the exit command in safe mode, it'll start up fine, but when the graphic user interface starts, it'll give me the grey screen again (so a blank screen, while the CPU fans are at full power).
Sprint Protection App
Does anyone have any idea what I can do to fix this? Since even the recovery will not start (and neither will the internet recovery), I've got no clue what to do to fix this issue...
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)
Mac Folder Additional Protection App Crash Update
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