I have been using Anki for many years on my phone via the Mobile App as well as on my Computer and have never really had any issues with that system. But since I got a new MacBook this week, that has all the original data from the Mac I had before, I cannot open Anki anymore when I try to download it onto my desktop. I first tried it with the original app that was on my new Computer from transferring all my data, but when that didn’t work I figured I would try downloading it again on my desktop, but that doesn’t work as well.
I tried multiple times going to the Anki-Webpage, where I then download Anki for macOS 12+, which works without a problem. Then as instructed I save the file to my downloads folder, open it and then drag Anki to my applications folder at which point I doubleclick the icon to open the App.
But that last step never works. Usually when opening an app, the icon jumps up and down on your dock until the app is opened, but here the icon jumps exactly once and then nothing happens, there is no attempt to open the App anymore.
The problem is I specifically need this desktop version on my computer to make my flashcards because only then do I have the options to use specific things I need for my stem degree for example writing X^y or adding screenshot or lecture slides via the paperclip symbol and the option for that format only exists in the desktop app.
I have tried downloading it multiple times, I even tried it with the older versions of Anki even though I had the newest upgrade on my old Laptop when it worked perfectly.
If there is anything you could do to help me overcome this issue, I would greatly appreciate any tips and look forward to working together on this issue.
Was your old Mac an Intel-based Mac, and is your new MacBook an Apple Silicon Mac?
Could you please open the Terminal app and run the /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/launcher command? (That is the equivalent to double-clicking on the app icon to open it up, except that you will get to see any error messages that might appear.)
Please copy and paste the error messages you see, and we’ll continue troubleshooting from there.
(If the problem is due to one of the issues that other users have seen before, we might be able to fix it via the procecures in one of the below topics.)
I recently got a new macbook air (Sequoia 15.7.3) with a new M4 chip. When i try to open Anki, the app either bounces once on the dock and doesn’t open, or it just won’t open at all.
I have tried
restarting computer
deleting all the old anki files in Finder, including .apkg files
downloading the newest version of Anki for MacOS
putting some commands into Terminal based on what I have seen on the Forum and also what my friend suggested i try:
When you ran the /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/launcher command, you would have seen some messages printed to the Terminal window. Could you please copy/paste the messages here?
Edit: Added: And, could you please tell us, did you upgrade from an older, Intel-based Mac, transferring the files from your old Mac to your new MacBook Air?
Error: Failed to execute: /Users/xxx/Library/Application Support/AnkiProgramFiles/.venv/bin/python -c import aqt, sys; sys.argv[0] = ‘Anki’; aqt.run(): Bad CPU type in executable (os error 86)
And yes, the old Mac was a 2020 Intel-based Mac, and when I switched to this new Mac, I did transfer all the files using Migration Assistant.
Thank you. It appears there is some old Intel binary somewhere on your system that got migrated, and Anki is now trying to run it.
One workaround might be to install Rosetta to be able to run Intel binaries. But, I think that the better fix would be to find and remove/replace the problem Intel binary.
There is a typo in what you posted. It should be “AnkiProgramFiles”, not “AnkiPro/gramFiles” (with the extra slash character). If the typo was also in the command you tried to run, you might want to try running it again without the typo.
Now try re-running the /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/launcher command to see if the Anki Launcher runs. Within 1-2 minutes, a menu should appear in the Terminal, allowing you to install Anki by pressing “Enter”.
The “rm -rf” command removed the old Anki installation (and possibly the problem Intel binary), allowing the Anki Launcher to re-install Anki.
Error: Failed to execute: /Users/x/Library/Application Support/AnkiProgramFiles/.venv/bin/python -c import aqt, sys; sys.argv[0] = ‘Anki’; aqt.run(): Bad CPU type in executable (os error 86)
But, if it is the Intel version, then you’ll probably see the same error message you’ve been seeing.
If it is the Intel version, it might mean that the Anki Launcher is somehow re-installing the Intel version of python on your system.
Edit: Added:
To check whether the Anki Launcher is re-installing the incorrect Intel version:
1. Delete Anki:
rm -rf "/Users/$USER/Library/Application Support/AnkiProgramFiles"
2. Verify that Anki is deleted:
ls -l /Users/$USER/Library/"Application Support"/AnkiProgramFiles/.venv/bin/python
(This should result in a "No such file or directory" message, because the file should have been deleted by Step 1.)
3. Re-run the Anki launcher:
/Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/launcher
If we see that “Bad CPU type in executable” error message, it means that the Anki Launcher has re-installed the incorrect Intel version of python.
4. Verify that the incorrect Intel version of python is installed:
file /Users/$USER/Library/"Application Support"/AnkiProgramFiles/.venv/bin/python
(If the command says that the file is “x86_64”, that is the Intel version. The Apple Silicon version would instead say “arm64”.)
Update: I downloaded Rosetta after I was prompted to when trying to open the Spotify desktop app. It allowed me to download anki and it is functioning now. I’m wondering if this is an okay workaround, or will it create problems in the future? This is the code that ran:
Anki Launcher
1) Latest Anki (press Enter)
2) Choose a version
5) Allow betas: off
6) Cache downloads: on
7) Download mirror: off
8) Uninstall
> 1
Checking for updates...
Updating Anki...
Using CPython 3.13.5
Creating virtual environment at: .venv
Resolved 49 packages in 501ms
Prepared 40 packages in 11.46s
Installed 40 packages in 83ms
+ anki==25.9.2
+ anki-audio==0.1.0
+ anki-mac-helper==0.1.1
+ anki-release==25.9.2
+ aqt==25.9.2
+ attrs==25.3.0
+ beautifulsoup4==4.13.4
+ blinker==1.9.0
+ certifi==2025.6.15
+ charset-normalizer==3.4.2
+ click==8.2.1
+ decorator==5.2.1
+ flask==3.1.1
+ flask-cors==6.0.1
+ idna==3.10
+ itsdangerous==2.2.0
+ jinja2==3.1.6
+ jsonschema==4.24.0
+ jsonschema-specifications==2025.4.1
+ markdown==3.8.2
+ markupsafe==3.0.2
+ orjson==3.10.18
+ pip==25.1.1
+ pip-system-certs==5.2
+ protobuf==6.31.1
+ pyqt6==6.9.1
+ pyqt6-qt6==6.9.1
+ pyqt6-sip==13.10.2
+ pyqt6-webengine==6.8.0
+ pyqt6-webengine-qt6==6.8.2
+ pysocks==1.7.1
+ referencing==0.36.2
+ requests==2.32.4
+ rpds-py==0.25.1
+ send2trash==1.8.3
+ soupsieve==2.7
+ typing-extensions==4.14.0
+ urllib3==2.5.0
+ waitress==3.0.2
+ werkzeug==3.1.3
This may take a few minutes. Please wait...............
Anki will start shortly.
You can close this window.
Saving session...
...copying shared history...
...saving history...truncating history files...
...completed.
[Process completed]
I’m glad that the Rosetta workaround has enabled you to run Anki, because it was taking longer than I had expected to troubleshoot your issue.
I think that it’s an acceptable workaround for now, or at least until sometime later when you have more time to troubleshoot the issue at a more relaxed pace. I believe that Apple has said that Rosetta support will end with Mac OS 27 which will likely be released in September 2027 and supported until September 2030, so you have some time.
If you ever get a new computer in the future to replace this MacBook Air, you might want to consider starting fresh with it. That is, not migrating the contents of the old computer but instead manually copying over only the files you specifically want to keep, re-installing apps from scratch, etc. I believe that when Anki is re-installed on that computer, it should be the correct version and work.
FYI, the next troubleshooting steps I would have suggested would have been to run the env command to see if you had any environment variables for things like “arch”, “x86_64”, “i386”, etc., things that might be explicitly/incorrectly telling Anki that the computer is Intel-based.
Thank you for that information and for all your help! Do you happen to know if using the Rosetta workaround is inhibiting my 8bitdo zero 2 anki remote from connecting to the anki software? My remote is connected via bluetooth, and it is typing out the correct keyboard letters/numbers when I’m in a different app, but nothing is happening in anki when I use the remote.