Illustrator is crashing on M1 Mac (macOS Big Sur)

[Julian5FC2]

Hi,

I am using Illustrator on a new Macbook Pro with M1 apple silicon. While using the software it often starts to randomly freeze and after a few minutes everything works again. Sometimes the whole mac is frozen for several minutes and Illustrator crashes completely. Not seeing anyone eelse reproting the problem und no issue desiriped my adobe on the M1 side i was wondering what could be rhe reason for this problem. Thank you!

{Renamed by MOD}

[Srishti Bali]

Hi,

Sorry about the trouble this issue has caused. In case you have a machine that is powered by M1 chip, Illustrator doesn't work natively, but it runs using Apple's Rosetta 2 technology which may cause few performance issues. For more details, please take a look at this help article (https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/apple-silicon-m1-chip.html).

We have recently released an update for Illustrator 2021 (v 25.1) which contains some stability fixes. If you are not already on v25.1, then we recommend you to update to latest version and let us know how it goes. If that doesn't help, please try the suggestions shared on this page (https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/resolve-slow-performance-and-unexpected-behaviors-in-illu...) and let us know how it goes. 

Feel free to let us know if you still need assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Regards,

Srishti

[Neeko0D45]

We think it has something to do with the GPU performance. This has helped a couple of us. Try it and see if it helps.

Under Illustrator Preferences
Click "Performance"

Uncheck "GPU Performance"
Set "Undo Counts" to 50   (not sure if undo counts has anything to do with it, but reduced it just in case)
Uncheck "Real-Time Drawing and Editing"

Since doing this, I have not experienced any system instability or crashing. Before, I was restarting my computer 10+ times a day to try to get some work done with Illustrator on the new Macbook M1.

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing this.  This might help other users as well.

Regards,

Srishti

[pablo_el_tipo]

Oh! Thank you very much. I hope this help. I've been working on Affinity Designer for few days because it was impossible to work 10 minutes in a row in Illustrator. And the worst thing was that everytime Illustrator crashed I had to restart my computer because the hole OS collapsed and it was a pain.

Thank you @Neeko0D45!

[Neeko0D45]

This solved the issue for me. It's been about a week and the program has been stable. It also works for InDesign if you experience any crashing. 

[edj51073987]

Was having not only instability, but tons of visual glitches on stroked gradients, this fixed everything at the cost of some smoothness. Huge thanks for the tip!
M1 version of Illustrator can't come soon enough!

[Srishti Bali]

Hi all,

Sorry about this trouble this issue has caused. As of now, Illustrator on M1 devices doesn't work natively, but it runs using Apple's Rosetta 2 technology which may cause few performance issues. For more details, please take a look at this help article ( https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/apple-silicon-m1-chip.html ).

We have recently released an update for Illustrator 2021 (v 25.1) which contains some stability fixes. If you are not already on v25.1, then we recommend you to update to latest version and let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Srishti

[rache1234]

Please make Illustrator and Photoshop native to Apple M1 chip!!! Cannot get any work done for uni or recreational purposes. So many complaints. Needs to be sorted

[michelew83603738]

We aren't Adobe employees here, but I am sure they are working on it.

[Neeko0D45]

I agree. The program crashes the entire operating system, but just the program. I have not had this much trouble with any other programs that are not native. It is difficult getting work completed.

[Ashutosh_Mishra]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about this. Adobe is actively working to build apps that run natively on Apple computers using the Apple Silicon M1 chip. Many of our existing apps can run on M1 devices using Apple's Rosetta 2 technology.

Please stay tuned on this help article(https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/apple-silicon-m1-chip.html) for more updates.

Regards,

Ashutosh

[Jonathan5CAB]

I know it has to use rosetta but this is ridiculous. I get the spinning whell every few clicks or taps of my mouse. The simpliest think will have the whole computer stall. Please help if there is anything that can actually help.

[Monika Gause]

Is iCloud turned on? And can you try and turn it off?

[Jonathan5CAB]

Icloud is not on. The app has not been connected to icloud.

[Warren Heaton]

Do you have any 3rd party Illustrator plug-ins or addons installed?

Also, it's very hit-or-miss with running AI on the M1 as well as Big Sur right now.  

Have you tried the Illustrator beta?

For what it's worth, AI crashes immediately on my M1 Mac.  Still doing my day-to-day work on my Late 2013 Mac Pro.

[Neeko0D45]

We think it has something to do with the GPU performance. This has helped a couple of us. Try it and see if it helps.

Under Illustrator Preferences
Click "Performance"

Uncheck "GPU Performance"
Set "Undo Counts" to 50
Uncheck "Real-Time Drawing and Editing"

[gabisoriz]

Hello! 
I recently got a new laptop which is the new Macbook Pro 2020 with the M1 chip therefore the laptop is supposed to work perfectly. Unfortunately while using Illustrator or Photoshop I've been experiencing a lot of crashes in short periods which would continue for 5-10 minutes and a lot of the times I had to force quit or restart the computer (keep in mind that I'm doing nothing out of the ordinary but creating basic shapes) 
I read that this may be happening because Big Sur is relatively new but if you have any advices I would be much glad to hear them.

[Doug A Roberts]

"I recently got a new laptop which is the new Macbook Pro 2020 with the M1 chip therefore the laptop is supposed to work perfectly."

Unfortunately with new hardware, the opposite is often true. Adobe software currently works under emulation on the new M1 Macs, because it needs to be updated to support the new processors. This seems be causing significant problems for a number of users, based on topics I've seen here.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/will-adobe-illustrator-work-on-the-new-macbook-pro-with-t...

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/illustrator-is-crashing-whole-system-on-m1-mac/td-p/11616...

Adobe updates are due early next year which will supposedly provide native compatibility. I would wait until those at least before relying on an M1 Mac for work -- and even then, test your systems extensively before giving up your older Macs.

[Kat Gilbert]

I work on a Mac Pro with 12-core processor, 64 GB memory and recently upgraded to Big Sur even with many saying I should wait. Thus far I have had no issues with Photoshop or any of the other Adobe apps that I work with. That being said I have also heard that the new M1 Macs and Adobe do not work well together yet and as Doug stated it is being worked on and hopefully will happen soon as they are fully aware of the issue and know that many such as yourself are counting on a solution soon! 

If you have an iPad I have heard that Photoshop on that device is already pretty much M1 compliant. I do not know about Illustrator and I also realize that the work you have to do might not be accomplished on the iPad although the app there is very greatly in line with the desktop app.

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there,

Sorry about the trouble this issue has caused. We have recently released an update for Illustrator 2021 (v 25.1) which contains some stability fixes. If you are not already on v25.1, then we recommend you to update to latest version and let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Srishti

[gabisoriz]

I installed the update and fortunately there's a significant change! My laptop doesn't crash at all and if it does the crash lasts for seconds and then it's back to normal. Still my laptop is having some trouble while working with the programs since it heats up a lot. But overall the update is great.

[Srishti Bali]

Glad to hear you are back on track. Sometimes this heat up thing happens due to conflicting apps or permission errors on application folder. Please try the steps suggested here ( https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/kb/preferences-folder-read-only-error.html ) and let us know if that helps. 

[bennimushu]

December 11, 2020.   I just created my first design in Illustrator today on my new Macbook Air M1 however it was plagued by 5-10 min at a time of the notorious color wheel stuck spinning.  When can we expect an update to make Illustrator and all Adobe suite compatible with M1 Mac? I may have to return this laptop and just continue on my 2017 macbook.  Thank you.  

[Neeko0D45]

We think it has something to do with the GPU performance. This has worked for a couple of us m1 users.

Under Illustrator Preferences
Click "Performance"

Uncheck "GPU Performance"
Set "Undo Counts" to 50
Uncheck "Real-Time Drawing and Editing"

[Neeko0D45]

Sorry about the link to the amazon legos. Christmas shopping! Here is the directions in case it gets removed because of the link.

Under Illustrator Preferences
Click "Performance"

Uncheck "GPU Performance"
Set "Undo Counts" to 50
Uncheck "Real-Time Drawing and Editing"