Illustrator not working on new Apple Mac Pro M1 Chip

[Jana90]

Hi all, I know there a lots of questions like this out here but I still haven't figured out on how to make Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop work on a Macbook with the M1 Chip. 

Indesign and Lightroom both works fine for me, but Illustrator and Photoshop won't even launch. I tried uninstalling and installing the apps new, I am on the latest apple update (Big Sur 11.2.3), restarted computer etc. but the two apps still won't launch.

Any idea what else I can try?

[ZooN_]

Hi Jana!

I am using both Illustrator and Photoshop on an M1 MacBook Air and both applications work fine. Illustrator runs via Apple's dynamic binary translator called Rosetta 2 and Photoshop runs natively on the new Macs with the M1 chip since version 22.3.

I know this is not much help but I wanted to assure you there are no hardware incompatibily issues that could prevent those software from launching. Have you tried reaching out to the official support pages for help?

[Jana90]

Hi @ZooN_ 

thank you for your answer! That's really weird then that these apps won't work on my new M1 Macbook. Do you know if there is any way to check if Rosetta has actually been installed? I remember when I opened Illustrator the first time, that I got a popup saying it needs to be installed but I don't really remember that I went through an installation process and also can't find it anywhere on my laptop. I also can't find any link to downlaod Rosetta directly

And do you happen to have the links to the official support pages where I can ask for more help? I thought this here was the official support forum haha

[ZooN_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jana90 !

As far as I know you cannot download Rosetta 2 directly from Apple as it is more of a framework that gets installed automatically on-the-fly once you try and run an app with only Intel binary code available in it (you still need to click on the Install button in the pop-up dialog).

An easy way to check if you have Rosetta 2 installed is to see if you have any apps that are Intel only. If they run fine, then you definitely have Rosetta 2 installed on your system.

(You can check the application kind in the info panel; Intel apps run on Rosetta 2 and Universal apps contain both Intel and native M1 binaries.)

Having said that, the latest version of Photoshop should still launch on your Mac as it is already a Universal 2 binary, ie. it doesn't need Rosetta 2 at all to launch.

Have you tried using the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool? It is very thorough but it will reset all your Adobe apps settings so only do it if you're happy to start from scratch. I know it solved most of the issues I have had with Illustrator.

As for the official support channels, you can try on helpx.adobe.com and there is a chat window at the bottom right corner of the page.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Z

[Jana90]

Thank you so much for all of that! Super helpful and I will try all the suggestions 🙂 

[Ashutosh_Mishra]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your experience. You may also try the Adobe Illustrator beta version released for M1 devices. Please follow the instructions given on this community post(https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/illustrator-beta-for-apple-silicon-m1-devices-inviting-us...) & let us know if it helps.

Regards,

Ashutosh

[HA5ECF]

How about rather than forcing the Adobe users that are paying a small fortune for their products to flood their computer with dodgey software or use complicated work-arounds, Adobe fix their myriad of issues and comp everyone with an M1 chip until they do. This is appalling.

Also, it's not just Illustrator. All the apps have glitches and issues if you spend some time on them.

[WANNABUN]

It took me nearly 6 months for me to get Adobe to admit that the Apple Silicon, native version of AI does not image vector handles (after they told me that on an M1 Apple Studio. Nearly 12 months later still not resolved. So I arranged a discounted subscription until it is. Shame, because I would love to see a speed benefit of the Apple silicon handling complex (or evn simple) vector objects, as I do when rendering 3D models. But at the moment CS6 is more stable on an old Intel Macbook pro. It appears Adobe is going backwards in terms of industry standard software use. Let's see if Affinity do a Quark on them. But I'd prefer Adobe to get Illustrator right after using it since 88. IMO version 8 was the last relatively stable release (and that was in 1998). I remember the rush to buy up stock of v8 when version 9 launched the downward spiral of bugs and workarounds. 25 years and counting... We can live in hope.

[WANNABUN]

The above should have read:
It took nearly 6 months for me to get Adobe to admit that the Apple Silicon native version of AI does not image vector handles (and after Adobe told me that I had to upgrade to an M1 to run the latest version of OS and 'bug-fixed' AI). Nearly 12 months later still not resolved. So I arranged a discounted subscription until it is. Shame, because I would love to see a speed benefit of the Apple silicon handling complex (or even simple) vector objects, as I do when rendering 3D models. But at the moment CS6 is more stable on an old Intel Macbook pro. It appears Adobe is going backwards in terms of industry 'high' standard software production. Maybe Affinity will do a Quark on them. But I'd prefer Adobe to get Illustrator right after using it since 88.
IMO version 8 was the last relatively stable release (and that was in 1998). I remember the rush to buy up stock of v8 when version 9 launched (the downward spiral of bugs and required workarounds). 25 years and counting... We can live in hope. Unfortunately, hope doesn't hit that deadline at 2 in the morning when AI decides to crash again...

[WANNABUN]

Another 6 months + and still no resolution of the problem with the so called 'native silicon' version of Illustrator.
The Apple GPU can't image AI docs properly when using 'overprint preview' and switches all handle point colours to whatever the User Interface Brightness is set at. In my case always at the lightest grey; which makes the handles almost invisible on a white background. So I have to use CC2020 which at least can show layer colours. But I lose the speed benefit that I was hoping to get running SIlicon Native on an Apple Studio Ultra (with an Apple Studio Display). I never imagined (with the super fast Apple Silicon Macs) I would still be watching the rainbow wheel spin on basic redraws and AI crashing unexpectedly and randomly (by just selecting a swatch as one example). And having to use a buggy 6year old+ AI version to overcome the problem. Back to Adobe to get a refund on my subscription...

[Anubhav M]

Hello @WANNABUN,

We understand that encountering technical issues can be frustrating. Would you mind sharing some more details, like the exact version of the OS/Illustrator and a screen recording of the problem (https://adobe.ly/45DWL7T), so we can investigate this further?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[WANNABUN]

Hi Anubhav, I have only just seen your response.
I originally reported the GPU issue in 2022 (running the native silicon version of AI on an M1 Apple Studio).
Every time there is an update I have been hopeful that the bug will be fixed, as I create many high-end packaging artworks for print that require overprints of multiple colours and finishes.
Running the latest AI 2025 (29.0) now on an M2 Ultra Apple Studio (connected to a new Apple Studio Display), the problem has still not been resolved.
If 'Overprint Preview' is applied, any selected apend point defaults to the 'User Interface' colour rather than its layer colour.
This is using 'View using GPU'.
The view cannot be switched to 'View using CPU' while 'Overprint Preview' is applied (to switch from GPU to CPU 'Overprint Preview' has to be toggled off first).
'View using CPU' by default displays append points in the 'User Interface' colour with or without 'Overprint Preview' being applied.

Before suggesting the default 'try switching it off and on again' uninstall/reinstall of all apps and the OS, please can you confirm in your labs/office if this issue still replicates on an Apple Studio running the native silicon version of Illustrator. Or what set up you have that can run a native silicon version ofIllustrator without this bug.

It is frustrating to have to revert to older versions of software to simply view the colour of a layer clearly, a feature that had worked previously to the release of the Apple Silicon native versions.
One of your colleagues told me in 2022/23 that the problem was due to a problem working with Apple and the silicon chip.
I struggle to understand why 2 years later again, the problem still exists for software that used to lead the design and production industry.
If some of Illustrator's features no longer work with the latest Apple hardware, perhaps it would be better to make this clear to potential customers before they invest in either.
I was informed by Adobe that the only way to overcome the speed issues with Illustrator 2020 was to upgrade my hardware and OS, and having done so have experienced a more detrimental workflow/usability with the latest version of Illustrator.

I look forward to your response and the resolution of this problem.



  

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @WANNABUN,

Thanks for sharing these detailed insights, and I completely understand your frustration with this ongoing issue.

I tested this on an M1 Max MacBook Pro across all Illustrator themes (light, light/ medium dark, and dark) but couldn’t replicate the behavior you described. This suggests the issue might be specific to your machine’s settings or configuration.

Could you please try the following steps?

1. Create a New Admin User Account on your Mac.

2. Install Illustrator under this new account and test if the issue persists.

Additionally, if possible, please share a sample file where this issue occurs. This will help us investigate further and identify potential causes.

We appreciate your patience and are committed to helping you resolve this. Let me know how it goes or if you have any questions.

Best,

Anshul Saini