You call your Anki “updated” – but also say you’re using an “older” Anki version. What version of Anki is it? Has it been working and it suddenly stopped? Or did you just “update” to a different version and this version has never worked on your system?
Sorry I tried so many things for hours and my brain is fried.
I just a version from 2022 (can’t tell you which one), never updated it, but I wanted to download an add on today, but it didn’t work. So my friend told me to update anki and I did (the latest version), but it didn’t open. So I deleted my old version and tried lots of things as well as download some versions from last summer and 2024, because chat gpt recommended them, but none of it worked. Now I’m sitting here with no functional anki on my laptop
Got it. Are you sure downloaded the correct build of Anki for your chipset? Did you follow these install instructions – Install & Upgrade - Anki Manual ?
If so, and since you’ve tried a number of different versions at this point – I think it’s a good idea to try a fresh install. Go to these locations – Managing Files - Anki Manual – and delete the program folders. [Please note that I am not suggesting you delete your collection from your device! Your data is stored separately in your Anki2 folder, and you should leave that exactly how it is.] Then do a fresh download of the right build from the main site – Anki - powerful, intelligent flashcards – and follow the install instructions above.
If you continue to have problems after trying the suggestions above, please try running Anki directly from the Terminal app. If you are using the latest 26.05 version of Anki, the command: is: /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/Anki
Doing so will allow you to see the messages Anki prints as it runs, including any error messages. If you see error messages, please copy and paste them here.
I was just about to close the Terminal when it said, “Running processes: Anki is being closed. Are you sure?” But when I click on the app in Finder, it isn’t running.
What messages do you see in the Terminal when you run the /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/Anki command? And, how long did you wait before trying to close the Terminal app?
Edit: Added:
When I run the command on my M1 Mac Mini running macOS Tahoe 26.5.1, the Anki app starts and in the Terminal I see…
% /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/Anki
2026-06-24 15:08:57.030 Anki[54051:17570700] No Python NSLog handler found. stdout/stderr will not be captured.
2026-06-24 15:08:57.030 Anki[54051:17570700] To capture stdout/stderr, add 'std-nslog' to your app dependencies.
Starting Anki 26.05...
2026-06-24 15:08:57,845:INFO:aqt.mediasrv: Serving on http://127.0.0.1:53696
Starting main loop...
Qt debug: Compositor returned null texture
I’m wondering what messages you see when you run the command, how far you get before it hangs, etc.
Nothing unfortunately… I waited about 5 minutes and when I want to close the terminal again, ist says: If you close this window, this running process will be terminated: Anki
So, when you run the /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/Anki command, absolutely nothing gets printed in the Terminal? You don’t even see those initial Python NSLog info/debug messages?
If so, we know that the Anki command is indeed running. However, for unknown reasons it isn’t getting very far. It doesn’t even get to the “Starting Anki” part where the main part of the app starts running.
Could you please provide the output of this Terminal command: echo $0 ; ps -p$$ ; echo $SHELL
It prints the shell you are using in Terminal (in 3 different ways). I just want to check to see if you might be using a non-default shell.
On my Mac, I see that I am using the default zsh shell:
Could you also please provide the output of this Terminal command: which python3 ; python3 --version
It prints the location of python and runs python to have it print the version number. I just want to check to see where your copy of python is located and if it can be run successfully to print its version.
On my Mac, this is what I see:
% which python3 ; python3 --version
/usr/bin/python3
Python 3.9.6
