Since a recent macOS update (around one month ago), I’ve been experiencing a random issue on my MacBook Air (2023, M2). After the device enters sleep mode and I try to wake it, sometimes the screen stays black with only the cursor visible. The issue occurs randomly — not every time — but frequently enough to impact daily use. The system becomes completely unresponsive, and the only recovery method is a forced restart (holding the power button).
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Leave the MacBook idle until it enters sleep automatically.
2. Wait for 10–30+ minutes.
3. Attempt to wake it using the keyboard, trackpad, or by opening the lid.
4. Randomly, the system fails to wake properly: screen turns on, shows a black background with a movable cursor, but nothing else appears.
Expected Result:
The system wakes normally and restores to the previous desktop session.
Actual Result:
The system randomly freezes on a black screen with a visible cursor. No user interface or login prompt appears. Requires a hard restart.
System Information:
• Device: MacBook Air 13”, M2, 2023
• macOS Version: [Insert exact version, e.g., macOS Sonoma 14.5]
• Issue Since: Around one month ago (possibly after latest macOS update)
• Peripherals: [Mention any external devices if applicable]
• Reproducibility: Random (approximately 30–50% of the time after longer sleep)
Additional Notes:
• Issue is not consistent; sometimes the system wakes as expected.
• Occurs regardless of whether on battery or plugged in.
• No external monitors or USB accessories are connected when this happens.
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Our iOS app, when running as an iOS App on Mac, crashes consistently under the following scenario:
1. Launch the app on an external display.
2. Minimize the app window.
3. Disconnect the external display.
The app crashes every time under these conditions. The crash log shows the following call stack:
*** Assertion failure in -[UINSWorkspace _maximumContentSizeForWindowOnScreen:], UINSWorkspace.m:401
-[UINSWorkspace _maximumContentSizeForWindowOnScreen:]: screen parameter should not be nil
(
0 CoreFoundation 0x000000018e841df0 __exceptionPreprocess + 176
1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x000000018e306b60 objc_exception_throw + 88
2 Foundation 0x000000018fb6aa78 -[NSCalendarDate initWithCoder:] + 0
3 UIKitMacHelper 0x00000001a9a59110 -[UINSWorkspace _maximumContentSizeForWindowOnScreen:] + 184
4 UIKitMacHelper 0x00000001a9a3e748 -[UINSSceneViewController _usableScreenSizeWithSceneSize:shouldOverride:] + 412
5 UIKitMacHelper 0x00000001a9a3d55c -[UINSSceneViewController _effectiveScaleFactorForLayoutWithOverride:] + 88
6 UIKitMacHelper 0x00000001a9a3f3a8 -[UINSSceneViewController _updateZoomFactors] + 28
7 UIKitMacHelper 0x00000001a9a3f248 -[UINSSceneViewController _updateZoomFactorsAndDoLayout] + 24
8 UIKitMacHelper 0x00000001a9a3df80 -[UINSSceneViewController _doUpdates:] + 104
9 UIKitMacHelper 0x00000001a99ad460 -[UINSSceneViewController observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:change:context:] + 176
10 Foundation 0x000000018facb0d8 -[NSKeyValueObservance observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:change:context:] + 388
11 Foundation 0x000000018facb0d8 -[NSKeyValueObservance observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:change:context:] + 388
12 Foundation 0x000000018fa8f7b4 NSKeyValueNotifyObserver + 252
13 Foundation 0x000000018fb3c560 NSKeyValueDidChange + 388
14 Foundation 0x00000001903149a0 NSKeyValueDidChangeWithPerThreadPendingNotifications + 160
15 AppKit 0x00000001924673d4 -[NSThemeFrame _didChangeContentLayoutRect] + 76
16 AppKit 0x000000019246521c -[NSWindow _oldPlaceWindow:fromServer:] + 744
)
It seems like the system attempts to access a screen object that is already nil after the external monitor is removed. This leads to an assertion failure in UINSWorkspace.
Is there any known workaround or update planned to address this issue?
Thank you.
In the actual development, I found that I could not complete the setting of my icloud+ customised email domain name SMTP.
I tried to configure the SMTP of iCloud custom email according to Apple's document (https://support.apple.com/en-us/102525) but the error
I looked through Apple's support file, but I didn't find the specific configuration of iCloud + customised email SMTP.
Recently, while developing a network extension on macOS, I encountered a very interesting issue. When the App Sandbox entitlement is included, the NE (Network Extension) can be called and run normally. However, when the App Sandbox is removed, with everything else remaining unchanged, an error occurs. The logs are as follows:
Failed to find an app extension with identifier app.acmeVpnM.extension and extension point com.apple.networkextension.packet-tunnel: (null)
Found 0 registrations for app.acmeVpnM.extension (com.apple.networkextension.packet-tunnel)
If you add app sandbox, it will run normally.
this is my container app entitlement
this is my NE extension (without App SandBox)
I want to know the reason for this. App sandbox shouldn't be mandatory. How can I make my NE run in an environment without app sandbox?
help me please i cant remove little messed up pixels and they are getting more and more please help me!!
2025 Macbook pro no protection screen actual screen
create login_renamed_xx.keychain-db everytime restart
I have a sample document-based macOS app. I understand that you can open a new window or a new tab with some text.
import SwiftUI
struct ContentView: View {
@Binding var document: TexDocument
@Environment(\.newDocument) var newDocument
var body: some View {
VStack(spacing: 0) {
topView
}
}
private var topView: some View {
Button {
newDocument(TexDocument(text: "A whole new world!"))
} label: {
Text("Open new window")
.frame(width: 200)
}
}
}
Suppose that I have a path to a text file whose security-scoped bookmark can be resolved with a click of a button. I wonder if you can open a new window or a new tab with the corresponding content?. I have done that in Cocoa. I hope I can do it in SwiftUI as well. Thanks.
Using a 2014 MacBook Pro, I have a Sandisk SD card, it won't mount, I cannot format. Suggestions?
In our application we have two usecases for a Hotkey/Shortcut identification API/method.
We have some predefined shortcuts that will ship with our MacOS application. They may or may not change dynamically, based on what the user has already set as shortcuts/hotkeys, and also to avoid any important system wide shortcuts that the user may or may not have changed.
We allow the user to customize the shortcuts/hotkeys in our application, so we want to show what shortcuts the user already has in use system-wide and across their OS experience.
This gives rise to the need for an API that lets us know which shortcut/hotkeys are currently being used by the user and also the current system wide OS shortcuts in use.
Please let me know if there are any APIs in AppKit or SwiftUI we can use for the above
On a macOS machine running v15.0, I have a daemon run by launchd which subscribes to the sleep and wakeup notifications using the IORegisterForSystemPower method.
void PowerCallBack(void* refCon, io_service_t service, natural_t messageType, void* messageArgument)
{
switch (messageType)
{
case kIOMessageSystemWillSleep:
logger->Debug("Received sleep notification from macOS");
if (refCon)
{
//Handle Sleep
}
IOAllowPowerChange(root_port, (long)messageArgument);
break;
case kIOMessageSystemHasPoweredOn:
logger->Debug("Received wakeup notification from macOS");
if (refCon)
{
// Handle Wakeup
}
break;
default:
break;
}
}
void MacOSNotification::RegisterNotifications()
{
logger->Debug("Registering for notifications from macOS");
powerNotificationThread = [[NSThread alloc] initWithBlock:^{
// Notifier object, used to deregister later
root_port = IORegisterForSystemPower(this, ¬ifyPortRef, PowerCallBack, ¬ifierObject);
if (root_port == 0)
{
return;
}
logger->Debug("Registered for system power notifications from macOS");
// Add the notification port to the application runloop
CFRunLoopAddSource(CFRunLoopGetCurrent(),
IONotificationPortGetRunLoopSource(notifyPortRef),
kCFRunLoopCommonModes);
CFRunLoopRun();
}]; //END OF THREAD BLOCK
[powerNotificationThread start];
}
Using this mechanism, I am getting notifications for normal sleep and wakeup transitions like closing and opening the lid. I need these notifications to terminate/reconnect my connection to a cloud service when we go to sleep/wakeup respectively.
I have noticed from the power logs at /private/var/log/powermanagement that the after the sleep initiated by lid closing or clicking sleep in the top apple menu (both of which I can detect as they generate power notification), the macOS machine wakes up with the following message from powerd logs:
DarkWake from Deep Idle [CDNP] : due to SMC.OutboxNotEmpty smc.70070000 wifibt/
I do not get any notification for this wakeup and my application threads start running. This happens every 15 to 16 mins from my observation.
After this DarkWake, we go back to 'Maintenance' sleep in under a minute as can be seen by the following powerd log:
Entering Sleep state due to 'Maintenance Sleep':TCPKeepAlive=active
I do not get any notifications for this either.
Is there a way to track and get notified of these DarkWake -> Maintenance sleep cycles? At the very least I would like to log when we go into and come out of these states. Currently I just rely on seeing a 15 min window of no logs to know this must have a DarkWake -> Maintenance sleep cycle.
Also is there a way to make sure my application and its threads are not woken up by DarkWake (like an opt-out)? I would like to make it so that my application only runs when we are properly sleeping and waking.
Based on threads from past years, it is mentioned that a NEFilterDataProvider supports IPPROTO_TCP, IPPROTO_UDP, IPPROTO_ICMP and IPPROTO_IGMP.
[Q] What about IPPROTO_RAW? Is this something that would have been added recently?