---
id: mac-desktop-app
title: Troubleshooting Mac Desktop App Issues
sidebar_label: Mac Desktop App Issues
custom_edit_url: https://www.internalfb.com/intern/diffusion/FBS/browsefile/master/xplat/sonar/docs/mac-desktop-app.mdx
---

Flipper is a work in progress and issues may occur. This page contains known issues associated with the Mac desktop apps and provides steps you can take to try to resolve them.

## Flipper won't launch on Mac

* If the window is appearing, try opening the Chrome DevTools within Flipper. To do so, from the View menu select 'Toggle Developer Tools' or press CMD+Option+I and check if there are any errors on the console.
* Launch Flipper from the command line using `/Applications/Flipper.app/Contents/MacOS/Flipper`. This should give you some logs, that might be helpful when debugging.
* Delete `~/.flipper` and try relaunching Flipper.
* Delete Flipper from your applications folder and redownload [Flipper](https://www.facebook.com/fbflipper/public/mac).
* If you're using `yarn start` to run from source, make sure all dependencies are installed correctly by running yarn install.

## Flipper shows weird render artifacts

This is a long standing MacOS + Electron issue outside our control. In general, restarting your computer fixes the problem.
For a quick, temporarily work around start Flipper with hardware acceleration disabled. Please note that this will consume a lot of CPU: `FLIPPER_DISABLE_GPU=1 open -a Flipper`.

## iOS Simulator fails to connect with error "Failed to find device..."

Try executing `idb kill` and restarting Flipper. See [this comment](https://fb.workplace.com/groups/flippersupport/posts/1288502608297061/?comment_id=1290222721458383&reply_comment_id=1290374518109870) for details.

## iOS Simulator missing from devices dropdown

* Check that `xcode-select -p` shows the same XCode version that you're using. If not, see xcode-select for how to select the correct version.

## iOS physical device not showing up

Make sure [`idb`](https://fbidb.io/docs/installation) is installed and configured in the Flipper settings.

## App on physical iOS device stuck in 'connecting...' state

Make sure you are building and installing the application from source.

## No plugins showing up for your device

* Check your device isn't on the list of [known incompatibilities](#known-incompatibilities).
* Make sure your version of Flipper is up to date.
* Make sure the mobile SDK you are using is relatively recent (<1 month old).
* Open Chrome dev tools within Flipper. To do so, from the View menu select Toggle Developer Tools or press CMD+Option+I and check if there are any errors on the console.
* Delete `~/.flipper`.
* **Uninstall** and reinstall the mobile app.
* Make sure the time and date are set correctly on your mobile device and desktop computer.
* If no app plugins are showing up, there may be a connectivity issue between Flipper and your app. Check [connection issues](#connection-issues) to see if anything is failing.

<OssOnly>

## Connection Issues
The Flipper SDK includes an in-app connection diagnostics screen to help you diagnose problems.

### Android

Replace `<APP_PACKAGE>` below with the package name of your app, for example, such as `com.facebook.flipper.sample`.

On a terminal, run the following:

```bash
adb shell am start -n <APP_PACKAGE>/com.facebook.flipper.android.diagnostics.FlipperDiagnosticActivity
```

This will only work if you added `FlipperDiagnosticActivity` to your `AndroidManifest.xml`. See [getting started](./getting-started/android-native.mdx#diagnostics) for help.

### iOS

You'll need to manually add this [ViewController](https://github.com/facebook/flipper/blob/main/iOS/FlipperKit/FlipperDiagnosticsViewController.m) to your app to see the in-app diagnostics.

</OssOnly>

## Known Incompatibilities

The following devices are known to be incompatible or face issues with Flipper:

* Some Samsung devices ([Tracking Issue](https://github.com/facebook/flipper/issues/92)).
* Genymotion emulators on Android 8+ are reported to have issues.

## File an Issue

Still not working? File an issue on [GitHub](https://github.com/facebook/flipper/issues) with the chrome DevTools logs and the output from the diagnostics screen, if relevant.
