Photoshop, Apple Silicon, and Big Sur | macOS 11

Is Photoshop compatible?

macOS Big Sur

  • Photoshop 22.x is compatible with macOS Big Sur (version 11) with these known issues
  • Photoshop 21.x and earlier have not been tested for compatibility with macOS Big Sur (version 11)

Apple Silicon

  • Photoshop 22.3 runs natively on Apple devices with M1 processors with these known issues
  • Photoshop 22.x will run under Rosetta emulation mode on Apple devices with Apple Silicon M1 processors with these known issues
  • Camera Raw 13.1 or later will run natively or under Rosetta emulation mode on Apple devices with M1 processors.

Big Sur known issues

The following known issues are specific to macOS Big Sur. 

Important! Until these issues have been resolved, you may want to remain on your current macOS version or test in a non-production partition to ensure all your software and hardware is compatible.

If you do encounter issues not already documented here, feel free to report them on our feedback site.

Photoshop freezes on launch (macOS)

Issue

Solution

Photoshop freezes when starting up in macOS Big Sur and the splash screen displays "Loading Halide Bottlenecks..."

 

Background information: This can be caused by changed user account permissions and happens after upgrading to Big Sur from a previous macOS, or after migrating user accounts to a newer computer using Apple Migration Assistant.

Update to macOS Big Sur 11.2.1.

 

If Photoshop continues to freeze while starting up after updating to macOS 11.2.1, create a new administrator user account.

For help with this, see Set up users, guests, and groups on your Mac

Freeze while using Save for Web

Issue

Workaround

Photoshop freezes when attempting to overwrite a file using Save for Web

Use unique file names when saving with Save for Web.

Crash while using filters

Issue

Workaround

Photoshop crashes when you use filters like Flame, Picture Frame, Tree, or Liquify

Uninstall Photoshop and reinstall to the standard installation location.

This crash is a result of the Photoshop installation path being in a custom location that contains non-latin ASCII characters.

Fill with Pattern is disabled

Issue

Workaround

The Pattern option is grayed out when choosing Edit > Fill. 

The Photoshop engineering team is investigating a fix for this issue.

Cloud documents sync slowly

Issue

Workaround

While syncing Creative Cloud files or cloud documents, one or more files remain in a syncing state for too long or changes do not seem to sync

Apple Color Emoji font displays incorrectly

Issue

Workaround

When typing with the Apple Color Emoji font in Photoshop, the font faces get cut off at the top. 

The Photoshop engineering team is investigating a fix for this issue.

Native Apple Silicon compatibility

Photoshop 22.3 runs natively on Apple devices with M1 processors. See Photoshop for Apple Silicon.

Native compatibility issues

For the latest on features and limitations while using Photoshop in native mode, see Photoshop for Apple Silicon.

Are legacy versions compatible?

No. Unsupported versions of Photoshop were not designed or tested to work on macOS Big Sur (version 11) or Apple Silicon M1 processors.

Older versions use 32-bit licensing components and installers and will not be able to be installed, uninstalled, or activated after upgrading to macOS Big Sur. 

If you have already upgraded to macOS Big Sur, use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to uninstall older versions.

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