Twitter for Mac is crashing when launched, but there’s a fix

Server-side updates have become a common method for developers to test changes in a controlled manner. Many people side-load beta apps of private programs. So server-side changes act as a foolproof way to choose the number of enrolled users and other factors. This way, companies release the same app universally, and they deploy changes remotely to select users. Twitter is famous for using this testing mechanism, and its Mac app is the latest victim to a server-side bug.

A few hours ago, many users — including me — got locked out of the Twitter for Mac app. Whenever someone launches the application, it crashes on the spot, before even spotting its window. This bug seemingly affects all macOS versions, including Monterey and Ventura, since the the fault is in the Twitter app itself. The company has likely rolled out a bugged change remotely — which is causing the app to crash on the spot.

Fixing Twitter for Mac

An inconvenient workaround is reinstalling the app. It’s inconvenient because it only works for a few minutes. Afterwards, it applies the faulty changes from the sever and starts crashing again. Steve Troughton-Smith has shared on Twitter a more effective solution:

Twitter for Mac is crashing at launch; from what I can tell, it’s caused by the feature flags from the new ‘guest’ account? Removing the app.featureswitches.4.- guest – file in ~ Library/Containers/maccatalyst.com.atebits.Tweetie2 is enough to make it launch again

— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) August 2, 2022

It’s unclear if this faulty, server-side change is affecting everyone or a select group of users. Considering that many of us are reporting it online, we can expect the company to address the issue sooner rather than later. In the meantime, you could either apply Steve’s fix or use the desktop web app.

Is this Twitter for Mac bug affecting you? If so, when did it start? Let us know in the comments section below.