MacOS Catalina recently had a security update that possibly made Plex App for Mac stop opening. Now it just crashes. Wondering if the problem really is the update and if it is, is there an update coming that will fix the issue?
Thank you
Server Version#: 1.24.5.5173
Player Version#: 1.35.1.2632
Are you getting any error messages or is it crashing right on startup?
IIRC Iāve seen some related posts but they were mostly of the kind āitās not workingā - āme tooā.
Could you please share the latest Plex for Mac Log file?
Finder
G or select Go To > Go To Folder from the menu~/Library/Logs/Plex/ and click OK
Plex.log
If the app crashes on startup and Plex.log only shows dated timestampsā¦ can you execute the following steps to see if thereās any additional clues?
Finder and go to /Applications/
Show Contents from the context menu of the Plex appContents/MacOS/
Terminal
Plex from #3 into the terminal window and hit āTechnically this is like running your app from the UIā¦ except it might give an error message from macOS why it fails to start the app (without tracking it down in thousands of lines of system log files 
)
I am having the same issue since updating my Macbook with the latest Catalina updates ā¦
From Terminal:
Last login: Mon Nov 1 09:07:39 on console
% /Applications/Plex.app/Contents/MacOS/Plex
[2248:775:1101/132132.309197:ERROR:child_thread_impl.cc(219)] Invalid PlatformChannel receive right
zsh: abort /Applications/Plex.app/Contents/MacOS/Plex
%
final line in log file:
Nov 01, 2021 13:24:57.990 [0x112281dc0] DEBUG - [MPVEngine/mpv] libmpv_render: Loading hwdec driver āvideotoolboxā
I tried deleting the media server & app and re-installing the latest versions from plex.tv but no change.
Even tried installing older versions of server and app that I still had in my downloads folder but they didnāt work either ā¦
The web app works normally - itās ony the desktop app that crashes
Hi all. Thanks for the bug report. It certainly looks like the MacOS Catalina security update is somehow related, but we think it might possibly be related to a buggy GPU or GPU driver after the update. Could you try disabling hardware acceleration to see if that helps?
Thank you for the reply,
I looked into the Plex.log file, although it only shows dated timestamps like you said, I think, anyways here it is Plex.log (47.6 KB)
I also opened Plex via the terminal like suggested and this was the only message:
zsh: abort /Applications/Plex.app/Contents/MacOS/Plex
Thank you for the fast reply and I hope this can help you resolve my issue.
Hi thank you for the reply,
Iām sorry I donāt quite understand what you are saying, disable hardware acceleration where?
Hi there. FYI, I am seeing the same issue after the Catalina update, but do not have a Plex Pass and thus no hardware acceleration enabled. Hope this info helps.
Iāve attached my Plex.log, as requested. The crash occurs across different users, but does NOT happen if I start my Mac in safe mode.
Plex.log (48.6 KB)
Hope this helps, and thanks!
So was trying to figure out why it crashes and these two lines got my attention,
Application Specific Signatures:
Graphics kernel error: 0xfffffffb
So I guess itās a Graphics error.
I thought about turning my Mac on in safe mode and opening Plex App and well it worked it didnāt crash.
Does anyone have any ideas of why itās crashing now knowing this?
I know Moussa in his post said it could be a buggy GPU or GPU driver and I did turn off hardware acceleration off in my Plex Media Server witch is in a Synology NAS but didnāt do anything.
Thank you
Server Version#: 1.24.5.5173
Player Version#: 1.35.1.2632
Same issue on my 2012 Macbook Pro (nonretina) running 10.15.7.
Interestingly, Plexamp 3.7.1 AND Plex HTPC 1.7.0 still work.
EDIT: I completely uninstalled with appcleaner, and a new install of plexapp crashes before the splash screen loads. Was able to reproduce a similar crashlog on my mac mini that never had plex player client installed before.
Cross posting this here in case it helps:
Cross-posting from
Server: 1.24.5.5173
Client: 1.35.1
MacOS: Catalina 10.15.7 (Mac mini late 2012)
crash_log.txt (145.3 KB)
Plex.log (55.8 KB)
Plex.1.log (55.8 KB)
I have this same issue after installing MacOS Catalina 10.15.7 (MacBook Pro, 13", Mid 2012)
The Plex for Mac app crashes, but the Plex Media Player still works.
Plex.1.log (50.2 KB)
Does someone of the Plex Team feel responsible to fix this issue?! The last reply from one of the team was 7!!! days ago!
Do you even think about fixing it?
Same issues. Player crashes after about a minute open.
Well, I just installed the new 1.37.0.2706 app, hoping this would fix the issue, andā¦
Nope. Same problem. Come on, Plex! PLEASE!!
Same issue for me. Running Catalina, and Plex crashes (Iāve also spotted the graphics kernel error in the error report).
I have the same issue. MacBook Pro Retina (Early 2013) on Catalina. 10.15.7
Iāve noticed that it only crashes when Iām on Battery power. I switched off the āautomatic Graphics switchingā and that seems to have solved the problem. Leading me to believe itās a graphics driver issue. I have the Nvidia graphics card in addition to the integrated intel graphics. By switching it off, it runs only the Nvidia chip, not the intel.
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1 GB
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB
Confirmed. Switching off āautomatic graphics switchingā (in the Energy Saver in System Preferences) fixes it for me too.
