[Updated] Google Earth on macOS Catalina won't start or crashing after latest Apple security update, issue escalated to devs

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on November 24, 2021) follows:

Google Earth, Google’s mapping system that allows you to navigate many locations through a globe, is presenting some issues on macOS Catalina.

Many users of Apple devices with macOS Catalina report that, after the most recent security update, the Google Earth Pro client won’t start or is crashing.

The latest version of the Google Earth Pro client for Mac devices is v7.3.4. According to the reports, the problems started after the security update v10.15.7 for macOS Catalina (available from October).

After installing the mentioned version, Google Earth Pro begins to crash. The app reportedly fails to load the graphics.

Google Earth Desktop 7.3.4 Mac OS 10.15.7 will not start after Apple Security Updates were applied

Hello. It seems that after Apple released security updates to Mac OS 10.15.7 (Catalina) on Oct 25, 2021, Google Earth Pro will not start. It sort of looks like it fails when it starts to begin building/loading the graphics. All attempts to clear cache, use safe mode, etc., via the Launch Repair Tool, have not resulted in a good start of Google Earth.

FWIW, when trying to start the web version of Earth, via Chrome, it says WebGL is not supported? But going to the webgl.org web site shows Chrome successfully running WebGL. If I try to start Earth using Safari, it does start, but says its running an experimental version (of Earth?) and does not appear to be very stable.
Source

Users report that everything they have tried to solve the problem has failed. This includes things like clearing cache, using safe mode, removing places, and even reinstalling the Google Earth Pro client.

google earth pro crashes after launch on mac book pro
I launched the repair tool and did all the procedures, including to delete my places. These I also deleted manually, without success. I also tried reinstalling several times. The software of the laptop is updated.

It opens the window of google earth and then while trying to open a pup-up in google earth it crashes.

Thank you in advance!
Source

A Google product expert confirmed that the reported issue was escalated to Google. For the moment, it only remains to wait for new information to emerge on the matter.

Thanks for this report Steve. There have been other reports of this, but I hadn’t realised there had been a security update for Catalina.

I’ll pass this on to Google.
Source

We will update this article to keep you informed about all the developments on the situation. So, stay tuned with us.

06:15 pm (IST): A Platinum Product expert on the community forums confirmed that the developers were able to reproduce the issue on the 2013 Mac Pro and the 2016 13″ Macbook Pro with touchbar.

Apart from that, here’s the workaround they suggested for the time being:

11:38 pm (IST): According to some users, latest macOS Catalina security update seems to have fixed the issue with Google Earth crashing. And those affected are recommended to update to the latest version and see if it gets resolved.

Featured Image: Google Play

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.