Mac Mini M4, macOS recent, Apple Silicon.
Anki 26.09-mac-apple.dmg (216 MB / ~651 MB installed), also tried 26.08.1-mac-apple and 25.02.7-mac-apple-qt6.
Symptom: Dock icon bounces or does nothing. No window. Terminal:
/Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/Anki
hangs until killed. Process stays at ~32 KB RSS, 0.00 CPU.
lsappinfo find bundleid=net.ankiweb.dtop → empty
System Events does not list an Anki GUI process.
Could you please also provide the exact macOS version number you are using? Unfortunately, the description “recent” is ambiguous because there were a number of very-different versions of macOS released recently.
Were there any messages printed to the Terminal at all? If there were, please copy and paste everything you saw in the terminal when you run the /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/Anki command. Knowing the last messages printed might help figuring out at what point the problem is occurring.
Please also perform all the usual Troubleshooting Steps, including Step 2 where you run Anki in safe mode to disable all add-ons.
Is this the first time you’ve tried to run Anki on your computer? Have you been able to run Anki successfully on your computer in the past?
macOS version: Tahoe 26.5.2 (25F84), Mac Mini M4 (Apple Silicon).
This is not a new install. I first installed Anki about 11 months ago and have used it daily, with successful upgrades, until 26.09. iPhone Anki still works.
VoiceOver: I am not aware of using VoiceOver. I turned off VoiceOver / spoken accessibility features and tried again. Same result. I also use Samsung “OnScreen Control” on this Mac.
Safe mode: I held Shift while opening Anki. No window. Earlier we also started with a clean data folder:
mkdir -p /tmp/anki-test
ANKI_BASE=/tmp/anki-test /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/Anki
That also hung, so add-ons / prefs in Anki2 do not seem to be the cause.
Terminal: /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/MacOS/Anki prints nothing. No version line, no Qt plugin text, no traceback. It sits there until I press Ctrl-C (or kill -9). Same for 26.09, 26.08.1, and 25.02.7 (that last one uses lowercase …/MacOS/anki).
While it is hung:
ps aux shows the process at ~32 KB RAM and 0.00 CPU
lsappinfo find bundleid=net.ankiweb.dtop
→ empty
System Events does not list an Anki GUI process
Other checks already done:
xattr -cr /Applications/Anki.app
Privacy & Security set to Anywhere; also tried sudo spctl --master-disable
spctl --assess --verbose → accepted, source=Notarized Developer ID
codesign --verify --verbose=2 → valid on disk, satisfies Designated Requirement
26.09 app size ~651 MB; Contents/MacOS contains only the small arm64 stub “Anki”
Python.framework has no bin/python3; Versions/3.13/Python is a dylib (exec format error if run directly)
QT_DEBUG_PLUGINS=1 produced no output
echo software > ~/Library/Application Support/Anki2/gldriver6 did not help on 25.02.7
The hang started when the old launcher tried to install anki-release==26.9 and failed (package missing on PyPI). After that I installed the official 26.09-mac-apple.dmg from GitHub. The launcher error is gone; the new app simply never shows a window.
Happy to run any specific command you suggest and paste the full output.
VoiceOver is confirmed off. Safe mode (Shift held on launch) still only bounces; no window.
Also: the Applications icon has changed from the normal Anki logo to a generic rounded square with a grid (Finder placeholder). That appeared after reinstalling 26.09 / copying from mounted .dmgs. I can attach a screenshot if useful.
macOS Tahoe 26.5.2 is a version from June 2026. If you were already considering updating your OS to a newer version, you might want to do so and see if it changes anything. (For macOS Tahoe, I see that 26.7 is the latest version available.) I don’t know if updating OS might help for this particular issue, but doing so would at least provide your computer with the latest security fixes.
The fact that you do not see the usual Anki app icon leads me to wonder whether Anki is actually installed on your system correctly/fully. Does the same placeholder icon appear when you install Anki 26.08.1?
I’m wondering if manually deleting the Anki app from the Applications folder and then installing Anki from the .dmg file might help.
You mentioned “homebrew”. Is installing software via homebrew something that you’ve done in the past?
Other Mac users trying Anki 26.09 have reported significant lag and delay when starting the Anki app. How long have you been waiting for the app to launch? Could it be that the hang is actually the app taking a long time to launch?
Edit: Added:
Could you please provide a rough estimate of how many cards you have in your collection?
If it turns out that the hang is just the Anki app taking a very long time to launch, could you please provide a rough estimate of how many seconds/minutes it took for the Anki app to launch?
Edit: Added:
And, please try using the newly-released Anki 26.09.2 version instead. I’m not sure if it will make a difference for this issue, but for consistency it would be good to have everyone running the same/latest Anki version.
Safe mode also failed (icon keeps bouncing). Control-Command-F did nothing. Mission Control still shows no window. Anki appears in the Dock as running; I have to use Force Quit to clear it. Single LG Ultrawide 3440×1440, settings unchanged for years.
Yesterday, I downloaded the new Anki app via Github after the initial Anki update process failed. A few minutes ago, I deleted the earlier downloads and downloaded Anki 26.9.2 (Silicon) from the Anki web download site. Same behavior, bouncing icon and have to force quit. I temporarily brought the Mac’s defenses down and chose “From Anywhere” in Settings. Each time I attempt to launch, I wait for at least 2 minutes. The Anki icon in the Launch bar quits bouncing, but no Anki window appears. I also tried earlier 26.08,1, this brought the icon graphic back, but still wouldn’t launch.
If you ever get a chance, please try launching Anki and then wait, perhaps an hour or so or even overnight, to see if the Anki app eventually finishes launching. (I’m trying to determine if the behavior you’ve seen is an actual, indefinite hang or if instead it is a very long delay before the app eventually opens.)
I tried everything, also updated my Mac, but the problem is still there. It is not a whole white screen, just the Anki window which is white and after a while I can see my decks. During the use it is also laggy.
Switched to 26.08.1 and now it works without any issues…
Greta,
Thanks for replying. I also tried 26.08.1 but that version didn’t work for me either. I started Anki again and got the bouncing icon as before. After 3 minutes the icon stops bouncing and I’m waiting, as another person suggests, and see if it’s just lagging. The icon is present on the launch bar but no window is coming up. I’m using a Mac Mini M4 Silicon and Tahoe 26.5.2. Do you have a similar hardware and software configuration?
i use a macbook air M2 Silicon, had the same software (Tahoe) and then updated to Golden Gate 27.0, but the software update did not solve the problem. At least it was the downgrade on Anki 26.08.1 that worked
Thanks everyone! I was concerned about the consequences at first, but decided to do all OS updates on my Mac and now Anki is working correctly again. I don’t understand the hang up of Anki using the earlier OS, but it’s working now. For reference, I’m on an M4 Mac Mini and OS 27 Golden Gate and Anki 26.09.2. Maybe this will help someone else too.