User profile for user: yangxin
yangxin Author
User level: Level 1
26 points

MATLAB app missing after macOS 26.5.2 update

Title: MATLAB application bundle missing after updating to macOS 26.5.2 (25F84)

After updating my Mac to macOS 26.5.2, the MATLAB icon in the Dock became a question mark. MATLAB app also disappeared from the Applications folder.


The MATLAB is the right version (for apple silicon), newest version 2026a.


I did not manually move or delete MATLAB. This issue appeared immediately after the macOS update.

System information:

ProductName: macOS
ProductVersion: 26.5.2
BuildVersion: 25F84
Architecture: arm64

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: Mac16,7
Chip: Apple M4 Pro
Memory: 48 GB
Serial Number: [redacted]

Checks performed:

mdfind 'kMDItemFSName == "MATLAB*.app"c'

Result: no output.

sudo find / -name "MATLAB_R*.app" -type d 2>/dev/null

Result: no output after a full-disk search.

ls -ld /Applications/MATLAB*

Result:

zsh: no matches found: /Applications/MATLAB*


However, my MATLAB-related user files still appear to be present. Searching for .m, .mlx, .mat, .slx, and .fig files under my home folder returns many results, and I can manually confirm that my MATLAB project folders still exist.

So the issue appears to be that the MATLAB application bundle itself is missing or no longer reachable after the macOS update, while user data remains intact.


Questions:

  1. Has anyone else seen MATLAB disappear from /Applications after updating to macOS 26.5.2?
  2. Could macOS have moved, quarantined, or removed a third-party application bundle during the update?
  3. Are there specific system logs, migration logs, installation receipts, or “Relocated Items” locations that I should inspect?
  4. Should this be treated as a macOS update issue, a MATLAB installation issue, or both?


Additional context:

  • The update was performed on battery power.
  • The update completed successfully.
  • The Mac boots normally.
  • The issue was noticed immediately after the macOS update.
  • The Dock icon for MATLAB became a question mark.
  • User-created MATLAB files are still present.


MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.5

Posted on Jul 1, 2026 1:15 AM

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8 replies
User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
User level: Level 10
127,480 points

Jul 1, 2026 9:59 AM in response to yangxin

Any reason you cannot download/re-install the current MATLAB and use your existing license key?


As for searching macOS's unified logs, the following may/may not reveal what happened to MATLAB:

log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "MATLAB.app"' --start "2026-06-01" --info | grep -i "delete|remove" | more


Use an appropriate start date prior to the MATLAB disappearance, and ahead of the day you applied the macOS update.


Don't expect Apple Support to assist you with third-party applications.

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
User level: Level 10
127,480 points

Jul 1, 2026 4:56 AM in response to yangxin

Was your MATLAB installation based on an organization managing your Mac and MATLAB was provided by that orgainization? Leaving that managed environment may have triggered the remote removal of that organization's applications including MATLAB.


This is a WAG, but in all of the years of using macOS, I have never had a third-party application simply removed by the operating system update/upgrade process.


Have you been using Clean My Mac or other hazard software?

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User profile for user: steve626
steve626
User level: Level 6
16,459 points

Jul 1, 2026 9:50 AM in response to yangxin

yangxin wrote:
MATLAB was downloaded directly from the official MathWorks website, and I used a university account/academy license to activate it.

Without knowing how the university set this up, it is possible it is some sort of unique third party authentication and it might not be compatible with the latest MacOS. I would contact your university IT support to inquire about this.

I do have CleanMyMac installed, but I have not used it for a long time, and I have never used it to uninstall any Mac applications. I understand that CleanMyMac has an application uninstaller feature, so I cannot completely rule it out, but at the moment I do not have evidence that CleanMyMac removed MATLAB.

There have been untold numbers of problems reported in Apple Discussions with CleanMyMac. That might not be the cause of your issue but there are pieces of CMM that run in the background and can do things you might not be aware of. Keep in mind that the main purpose of CMM is to delete things, and this appears to be your problem. Not proof of a causal relationship, but in my mind as equally suspicious as the first item I mention above.


For instance, CMM might have detected the university license as some sort of undesirable system modification and taken some unwanted action to address it or quarantine it. I speculate here but things like that have been reported due to CMM. It's a black box app with little insight into how it works provided to users. But it has many "features" any of which could cause unwanted results.

Also, what would be the best way to ask Apple for help with this? Should I contact Apple Support, submit a report through Feedback Assistant, or both?

Apple Support does not address third party apps, and you have two here, Matlab and CleanMyMac. What Apple will suggest is the standard Apple approach of completely erasing and formatting the drive, then setting up with user accounts as before but no third party apps installed. Then you can just install and activate Matlab but I would suggest NOT installing CleanMyMac ever again. Then check that your Matlab files still work properly.

My user-created MATLAB files still appear to be present, so the issue seems limited to the MATLAB application bundle itself. However, this incident makes me concerned about how to verify that the rest of my data is safe.

Hopefully you have made backups regularly and can manually check and verify that the things that are important to you are still there.


And in the future avoid CleanMyMac whose main purpose is to delete things. When or if it malfunctions, things can be deleted that you don't want deleted.

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User profile for user: neuroanatomist
neuroanatomist
User level: Level 9
60,035 points

Jul 1, 2026 9:00 AM in response to yangxin

yangxin wrote:
I do have CleanMyMac installed

Many of us unaffectionately call that BrickMyMac because of the countless reports of problems it causes. It would not surprise me in the least if that was the issue here. Sadly, it's notoriously difficult to uninstall, typically the best way is to erase your Mac, reinstall macOS then restore only the user data from a backup.


Also, what would be the best way to ask Apple for help with this? Should I contact Apple Support, submit a report through Feedback Assistant, or both?

Contact Apple Support.


Official Apple Support


Apple will review submissions to the feedback pages, but they will not respond directly to those.

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User profile for user: yangxin
yangxin Author
User level: Level 1
26 points

Jul 1, 2026 8:25 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks for the reply.


To clarify, this is my personal Mac, not a Mac managed by my university or an organization. MATLAB was downloaded directly from the official MathWorks website, and I used a university account/academy license to activate it. As far as I know, the Mac itself is not enrolled in any organizational device management system.


I do have CleanMyMac installed, but I have not used it for a long time, and I have never used it to uninstall any Mac applications. I understand that CleanMyMac has an application uninstaller feature, so I cannot completely rule it out, but at the moment I do not have evidence that CleanMyMac removed MATLAB.


Is there any way to determine from macOS logs, installation logs, unified logs, or other system records whether CleanMyMac or another process removed /Applications/MATLAB_R20XXx.app?


Also, what would be the best way to ask Apple for help with this? Should I contact Apple Support, submit a report through Feedback Assistant, or both?


My user-created MATLAB files still appear to be present, so the issue seems limited to the MATLAB application bundle itself. However, this incident makes me concerned about how to verify that the rest of my data is safe.

Reply

MATLAB app missing after macOS 26.5.2 update

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