Illustrator crashes on launch on macOS 26.2 (PDFSuite, Apple Silicon)

[Flamboyant_Dazzle9239]

Product: Adobe Illustrator

Versions tested:
Illustrator 29.8.3 (ARM64)
Illustrator 30.0.0 and 30.1.0 (ARM64)

Platform:
macOS 26.2 (25C56)
Apple Silicon (ARM64)

Issue description:
Illustrator crashes immediately on launch, before the UI is fully loaded.
The crash consistently occurs in PDFSuite on the main thread and is reproducible across multiple Illustrator versions.

This issue persists after reinstalling Illustrator, reinstalling macOS (clean install), clearing preferences and caches, removing third-party plugins, and rolling back to older Illustrator versions.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install macOS 26.2

2. Install Illustrator (29.8.3 or any 30.x version, ARM64)

3. Launch Illustrator

Expected result:
Illustrator launches normally and shows the main UI.

Actual result:
Illustrator crashes immediately on launch.

Crash details:
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Subtype: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS
Signal: 11
Crashed Thread: Thread 0 (main thread)

The top of the stack trace shows PDFSuite functions before returning to Adobe Illustrator, indicating the crash happens during startup initialization inside PDFSuite, not during file open or user interaction.

Additional notes:
No document is opened at the time of the crash.
The crash occurs before the UI initialization is complete.
The issue is reproducible on a clean system.
It appears specific to macOS 26.2 on Apple Silicon.
Likely related to PDFSuite initialization or invalid memory access.

Workarounds tried:
Reset preferences – no effect
Remove plugins – no effect
Reinstall OS – no effect
Downgrade Illustrator – no effect

No workaround found.

Impact:
Illustrator is completely unusable on affected systems.

Attachments:
Full macOS crash logs (RTF)

Keywords:
launch crash, PDFSuite, EXC_BAD_ACCESS, SIGSEGV 11, macOS 26.2, Apple Silicon

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Flamboyant_Dazzle9239,

Thanks for reaching out. I tried replicating the behavior on macOS 26.2, but could not. Would you mind trying the suggestions shared in this help article (https://adobe.ly/4q9namV) and checking if it helps? Also, kindly submit the crash report using your Adobe email address and share it here for quick tracking. Steps are shared here: (https://adobe.ly/3XVQYHT). We appreciate your time and patience in assisting us in resolving this issue.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[Neal Eaton]

I have the exact same issue with Illustrator 2026 v30.1 - it is completely unusable on M1 iMac running Mac OS 26.6.
Software crashes upon launch with a dialog box listing a slew if pulgins starting with AIRobin. Removed prefs files and it does the same thing. Also used CMD+OPT+Shift to generate new prefs files and still will not launch.
I downgraded to Illustrator 2025 v29.8.3 and it at least launches.

[Neal Eaton]

edit Mac OS 26.2 not 26.6 as stated in original post

v29.8.3 seems to be stable and loads all previously included Plug Ins as normal. Was able to use this version of software with no issues.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Neal Eaton,

I'm sorry to hear you're having similar trouble with Illustrator. Could you try the suggestions shared earlier and check if they help? If the problem persists, kindly share a screenshot of the error message so we can check it with the team.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav