Logic Pro keeps crashing or won't open: the fix order that works

Platform and version

Match the symptom to the first thing to check

A crash in macOS produces the same dialog whatever the cause, so the timing of the crash is the clue.

Diagnosis order: cheapest and most likely first

This list follows the order in Apple's article If Logic Pro for Mac isn't working, with the startup keys moved to the front because they take ten seconds and isolate the most common cause.

1. Restart the Mac and open Logic again. Do not skip this; a hung Core Audio driver survives an app relaunch but not a reboot.
2. Relaunch holding Control and choose Launch Without Audio Units. Apple documents this on its startup modifier keys page. If Logic is now stable, skip to the Plug-in Manager step.
3. Relaunch holding Control again and choose Don't Launch instead, which opens Logic with Core Audio disabled. If this is the only way Logic opens, your audio interface or its driver is the cause.
4. Relaunch holding Option so no project opens automatically. If Logic is stable with an empty project, the crash belongs to the project, not the app.
5. Boot into safe mode if Logic still fails to launch. On Apple silicon: shut down, hold the power button until Options appears, select the startup disk, then hold Shift and click Continue in Safe Mode. Safe mode clears caches and loads no third-party extensions. Test Logic there, then restart normally.
6. Check the Plug-in Manager for anything marked failed validation.
7. Reset settings, first in-app, then by moving the preferences file.
8. Test in a new user account (System Settings > Users & Groups). If Logic works there, the problem is in your user Library, not the app.
9. Reinstall only after all of the above.

Fixes

Use the startup keys

Open Logic Pro from the Applications folder and hold the key before the project opens. According to Apple Support, Control shows a dialog with three buttons: Launch (normal), Don't Launch (Core Audio disabled, no audio in or out, for testing an interface or driver), and Launch Without Audio Units (Core Audio on, all Audio Units off). Shift-Control opens Logic with only plug-ins that passed validation. Option skips every automatic startup action including loading the last project. Expected result: if any of these makes Logic stable, you have named the category of the fault. Source: Use startup modifier keys with Logic Pro for Mac.

Find the plug-in in the Plug-in Manager

Choose Logic Pro > Settings > Plug-in Manager (Preferences on macOS 12 or earlier). Click a manufacturer in the left column to filter. In the Compatibility column, anything reading failed validation or not authorized is a suspect. Select it and click Reset & Rescan Selection. If it fails again, deselect its Use checkbox so Logic ignores it, then check the manufacturer's site for a version built for your macOS and for Apple silicon. If Logic crashes before you can reach the Plug-in Manager, go to the Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, enter /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components, and drag the suspect .component file to a folder on the Desktop; check ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components too. Restart the Mac and relaunch. Apple's method when the culprit is unknown is to move every third-party component out, confirm Logic launches, then return them one at a time. Expected result: Logic launches, and the last component you returned before it failed is the cause.

Reset settings in the app

Choose Logic Pro > Settings, note anything you customized, then choose Reset All Settings Except Key Commands. Apple states this resets global settings, Control Bar settings, track header defaults and New Tracks dialog defaults, and turns off Advanced settings; projects, presets and patches are untouched. Turn Enable Complete Features back on in Logic Pro > Settings > Advanced afterwards.

Move the preferences file

If Logic crashes before you can reach that menu, do it by hand. Quit Logic. In the Finder choose Go > Go to Folder, enter ~/Library/Preferences and click Go. Select com.apple.logic10.plist for the one-time purchase version, or the file Apple names as com.apple.mobilelogic for the Apple Creator Studio version, and choose File > New Folder with Selection so the file is moved into a folder rather than deleted. If you upgraded from Logic 9 or earlier, move com.apple.logic.pro into the same folder. Restart the Mac and open Logic, which rebuilds a default settings file. Expected result: Logic launches with default settings; reapply your custom ones one at a time to find any that caused the crash. For control surface faults, do the same with com.apple.logic.pro.cs.

Re-download the Sound Library

Crashes when loading Apple patches, Drummer, or Apple Loops point at damaged or relocated library content. Choose Logic Pro > Sound Library > Open Sound Library Manager. If content shows as not installed or you have moved the library to an external drive that is not formatted APFS, reinstall it. To relocate it, use Logic Pro > Sound Library > Relocate Sound Library and choose an APFS-formatted drive. Apple's troubleshooting article notes that a Sound Library on a reformatted external drive must be reinstalled. Expected result: the patch or loop that crashed now loads.

Update macOS and your drivers

Open System Settings > General > Software Update. Apple's article asks you to confirm that your audio interface, MIDI interface, control surface and plug-ins support the current Logic Pro before anything else. Update the interface driver from the manufacturer, not from Logic. Expected result: crashes that began the day you updated macOS usually end when the interface driver catches up.

Reinstall from the App Store

Back up the current Logic Pro app and your projects first. In the Finder choose Go > Applications, drag Logic Pro to the Trash, then reinstall from the Mac App Store (Apple menu > App Store, search for Logic Pro, click the download button). Projects, the Sound Library, presets and patches live outside the app bundle and are not touched. Apple lists this as the final step. Expected result: a clean app bundle; if the crash persists after a reinstall and a settings reset, the cause is a plug-in, a device or a project.

Rescue a crashing project

Relaunch Logic holding Option so the project does not auto-open, then create an empty project with File > New (hold Option while choosing it to get the default empty project). Choose File > Import > Logic Projects, select the crashing project, and in the Import window tick only the tracks you need, leaving out the plug-ins column first. If the imported tracks play, import the plug-in settings afterwards, one group at a time, to find the one that crashes. For a project that opens but crashes in one section, save a copy, then remove plug-ins one at a time with No Plug-in in the slot until the crash stops. Expected result: a working project with the problem plug-in identified.

When to contact Apple Support

Apple's article sends you to the plug-in or device manufacturer for third-party products. Contact Apple when Logic crashes with no third-party plug-ins loaded, in a new user account, in a new empty project, on the current macOS, after a settings reset and a reinstall. Have the crash report ready: open the Console app, click Crash Reports in the sidebar, and copy the report whose name begins with Logic Pro. The first lines after Crashed Thread name the framework or plug-in that was running.

Verify the fix

1. Open Logic normally with no modifier keys. It should reach the Templates or Open dialog, or your last project.
2. Open the project that crashed and play it from start to end once.
3. Open each third-party plug-in window you use regularly, one at a time, and close it.
4. Record a short pass on an audio track and a software instrument track to exercise Core Audio and the instrument engine.
5. Quit Logic with Logic Pro > Quit Logic Pro rather than force-quitting, so your settings file is written cleanly.

If a plug-in failed validation and you turned it off, leave it off until the manufacturer ships an update, then validate it again with Reset & Rescan Selection.