Slack Keeps Crashing? How to Fix It on Mac, Windows and Phone

If Slack keeps crashing, update it first, then open Help > Troubleshooting > Clear Cache and Restart in the desktop app. Those two fix most crashes, because they replace the files that break: an old app build after an OS update, and cached data from a channel or file Slack cannot render. If Slack still closes by itself, turn off hardware acceleration, then reset the app data folder. None of these steps delete messages, which live on Slack's servers. On a phone, update Slack and restart the phone; on Android, also update Android System WebView.

A crash also drops your status. Slack shows you away when the app closes, and after 10 minutes with no keyboard or mouse input on the computer.

Why does Slack keep crashing?

The Slack desktop app is built on Electron, a copy of the Chrome engine. That is why graphics drivers and cached web data cause most desktop crashes, the same as in a browser. If Slack opens to a white or grey window instead of closing, see Slack desktop app blank screen.

Fix Slack crashing on Mac and Windows

1. Update Slack and restart

On a Mac, click Slack > Check for Updates, or use the App Store if you installed it from there. On Windows, click the menu (three lines) in the top-left, then Help > Check for Updates. Then restart the computer, which clears a stuck Slack process that can crash the new window.

2. Clear Cache and Restart

In the menu bar, open Help > Troubleshooting > Clear Cache and Restart. Slack deletes its cached images and web data and reloads. If Slack crashes before you can reach the menu, use step 4.

3. Turn off hardware acceleration

Slack draws its window with the graphics card. With some drivers, external monitors or virtual machines this crashes or blanks the window. Look under Settings > Advanced for the hardware acceleration option and turn it off, then restart Slack. Slack stores the choice as useHwAcceleration in its local-settings.json file. To try it once without changing anything, start Slack with the GPU off:

# Mac: quit Slack, then start it once with the GPU off
osascript -e 'quit app "Slack"'
open -a Slack --args --disable-gpu

On Windows, run "%LOCALAPPDATA%\slack\slack.exe" --disable-gpu from the Run box (Win+R). If Slack stops crashing, the graphics driver is the cause; update it from your PC maker or GPU vendor.

4. Reset the Slack app data

When Slack crashes at start, before any menu opens, move its data folder aside. Slack builds a new one and asks you to sign in again. Your workspaces and messages come back from the server.

# Mac, Slack downloaded from slack.com
osascript -e 'quit app "Slack"'
mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/Slack ~/Desktop/Slack-data-backup
open -a Slack

If you installed Slack from the Mac App Store, the folder is ~/Library/Containers/com.tinyspeck.slackmacgap/Data/Library/Application Support/Slack.

# Windows, Slack installed from slack.com
Stop-Process -Name slack -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Rename-Item "$env:APPDATA\Slack" "Slack-data-backup"
Start-Process "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\slack\slack.exe"

The Microsoft Store version keeps its data under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages instead; reinstalling it resets it. Once Slack runs well for a day, delete the backup folder.

5. Reinstall Slack

Quit Slack, delete it (drag it to the Trash on a Mac, or Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Slack > Uninstall on Windows), and download it again from slack.com. A fresh install fixes a damaged app bundle, which an update cannot always do.

Slack not responding on Mac

A spinning wheel and "Slack (Not Responding)" in Force Quit usually means Slack is short of memory, not crashed. Each workspace you are signed in to runs its own set of web pages. Sign out of workspaces you rarely use, close large file previews, and quit Slack once a day. Why Slack uses so much memory, with numbers, is in why does Slack use so much memory.

To see whether macOS recorded a crash, open Console and look under Crash Reports, or list them in Terminal:

# newest Slack crash reports first; no output means macOS logged no crash
ls -t ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports | grep -i slack | head

What a Mac shows after Slack crashes: our check

We read the crash and log folders of Slack 4.52.171 (Electron 44.4.5) on macOS 26.5.2 on 6 October 2026:

$ ls -t ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports | grep -i slack | head
$ ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/Slack/Crashpad
attachments  completed  new  pending  settings.dat
$ ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/Slack/Crashpad/completed | wc -l
       0
$ ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/Slack/logs/default
browser.log  recorded-trace  webapp-console.log  webapp-console1.log  webapp-console2.log
webapp-service-worker-console.log  webapp-service-worker-console1.log  webapp-service-worker-console2.log
$ cat ~/Library/Application\ Support/Slack/local-settings.json
{ ..., "useHwAcceleration": true, ... }

Three things to take from it:

• • An empty result from the DiagnosticReports command does not prove Slack never crashed. Slack is an Electron app, and Electron's crash reporter, Crashpad, keeps its dumps in Slack's own Crashpad folder. On our Mac both places were empty, because this Slack had not crashed.
• • Slack's logs sit one level down, in logs/default. browser.log is the desktop app; the webapp-console files are the workspace pages. Slack support asks for these when you open a ticket.
• • useHwAcceleration is the switch that step 3 changes. true means the GPU draws the window. If you cannot open Settings because Slack crashes first, the --disable-gpu start above is the way to test it.

If Slack lags but does not close, the Mac-specific causes, including the Intel build running on Apple silicon, are in why is Slack so slow on Mac.

Slack app crashing on iPhone

Update Slack in the App Store, and update iOS in Settings > General > Software Update.

Restart the iPhone.

If it crashes on one conversation, open Slack on a computer and check for a large file or a message with an unusual preview in it.

Offload and reinstall: Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Slack > Offload App, then tap Reinstall App. Offloading keeps your sign-in data; deleting does not.

Slack keeps crashing on Android

Update Slack in the Play Store.

Update Android System WebView and Chrome in the Play Store. Slack shows parts of its screens through WebView, and in March 2021 a bad WebView update crashed Gmail and many other apps at once until Google shipped a fix.

Clear Slack's cache: Settings > Apps > Slack > Storage > Clear cache. Use Clear storage only if the cache does not help; it signs you out.

Restart the phone.

When it is not your device

If everyone on your team sees Slack crash or fail to load at the same time, check status.slack.com before you reset anything. Slack posts incidents there by feature (messaging, huddles, connections) and by region.

If Slack does not open at all rather than crashing after it opens, see Slack app not opening.

FAQ

Will resetting Slack delete my messages? No. Messages are on Slack's servers. Resetting the app data only signs you out on that device.

Why does Slack keep crashing on my iPhone? An old app or iOS version. Update both, restart, then offload and reinstall Slack.

Why does Slack keep crashing on Android? Often Android System WebView. Update WebView and Chrome, then clear Slack's cache.