How to Band-aid Fix macOS Music App Freezing on Launch

by Rian

The app in question is the Music app bundled with every Mac, not to be confused with the streaming service from the same company. And unfortunately, I was not able to narrow down what causes the issue. Upon opening the app, none of the UI is working. The only recourse, even though the app is not “unresponsive”, was to quit it.

The answer is in the most bizarre place. If the window is displaying the library, perhaps “Recently Added”, normally it should not have the back button on the top-left corner. When the glitch occurs, the back button exists for an unknown reason. Press it and the problem resolves — albeit temporarily. It could happen again.

The Music app is not exactly in the best shape right now. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say it is behind its iOS counterpart, considering the lack of the Classical app. WWDC is right around the corner, so I suspect any major fixes wouldn’t happen anytime soon. My suspicion on what creates the phantom back button is the new Liquid Glass UI. Due to the lack of a major overhaul, I believe there are parts that have been left behind untreated.