Question
FREE Adobe Reader asks me to login and then crashes when I don't
The basic Adobe Reader is supposed to be free, and has been for decades, but I've been dealing with this problem on my Macbook for months.
- Install a fresh copy of official Adobe Reader (free version) on Macbook from Adobe's website.
- It works normally for a few days or weeks.
- Then randomly at startup it starts prompting me to login with my Adobe account. (This seems to happen after the app notifies me it has auto-updated on its own)
- I click the "don't login" button or X on the login window, and the App shuts itself down. Cannot get past this: it's a terminal state as the app just crashes, so it becomes un-usable unless you login and pay seemingly.
- The only workaround is to Uninstall Free Adobe Reader, and go back to step 1.
I've had to do this so many times, I keep re-installing Free Adobe Reader over and over again just to be able to use it regularly . The problem seemed to start around June 2025 so I think it's a major bug in the software for Macs. I've seen some hints that others are dealing with this for a while, as seen here. I'm surprised others aren't more up in arms about it and this bug hasn't been identified by Adobe or patched yet.
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