Messages app crashes on launch on macOS Tahoe 26.3

Question

Messages app crashes on launch on macOS Tahoe 26.3

MacOS 26.3 Messages app crashes every time on launch. It started doing this on MacOS 26.1 or 26.2. I still get message notifications in the upper right corner. But, if I click on the notification banner or launch Messages from the Dock, nothing shows up and the crash reporter window pops up. I've submitted many crash reports to Apple. It's very frustrating because I frequently use Message on my Mac and now it is not working.

I deleted the iChat plist file from ~/Library/Preferences and restarted my Mac several times. Messages still crashes.

I deleted ALL the iChat and Messages plist files from ~/Library/Preferences and restarted my Mac several times. Messages still crashes.

24 inch iMac M1, 2021, 16 GB RAM

MacOS Tahoe 26.3

iMac 24″, macOS 26.3

Posted on Feb 19, 2026 7:21 AM

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Answer 1

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zibberfitchy2 Author

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32 points

Mar 11, 2026 6:34 AM in response to zibberfitchy2

Here's what worked for me. I was able to get Messages working again.

Disable iCloud messages sync (I didn't clear the entire thing, the "this device only" option)
Reboot Mac in Safe Mode.
Quit the Messages app, ensure it's fully closed out.
Launch Activity Monitor. End any processes with "message" in the name.
Open ~/Library/Messages in Finder. Back up and purge all the contents. I made sure the folder was empty.
Open ~/LibraryPreferences in Finder. Delete any files with "iChat", "iMessage", or "message" in the name.
Reboot in Normal mode.
Open Messages. You should see an empty Messages window. If you still have the Finder window open from step 3, you should see it re-generate a few of the folders/files you just purged.
Close Messages.
Re-enable iCloud messages sync.
Wait a while then open Messages. You should see your messages.

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Answer 2

Mar 6, 2026 2:14 PM in response to zibberfitchy2

I've got Messages back up and running again, here is the order of operations that seemed to work:

1) Disable iCloud messages sync (I didn't clear the entire thing, the "this device only" option)

2) Quit the Messages app, ensure it's fully closed out.

3) Open ~/Library/Messages in Finder. Back up and purge all the contents. I made sure the folder was empty.

4) Open Messages. You should see an empty Messages window. If you still have the Finder window open from step 3, you should see it re-generate a few of the folders/files you just purged.

5) Re-enable iCloud messages sync.

6) Wait like 5 days (my backup was like 12GB for reference). Opening and closing Messages seemed to make it worse... I basically left the app in a quitted state, and used iPhone Mirroring for my needs in the meantime.

7) ...

8) Profit? At some point, it just started working like normally. e.g. I got a notification, clicked on it, and messages was back to normal.

This is really jank (not sure exactly how many days or how much time it takes to sync) and I still am not sure why it *** out, but at least its working again.

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 3

Feb 19, 2026 3:48 PM in response to zibberfitchy2

I'm in the same boat, except I actually get the crash reporter. Cleared Messages Cache folder, as well as the above steps to no avail... Nothing seems to get it to _not_ crash, however I do still get notifications for messages.

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