activitywatch: App doesn't open after installing it and opening it (Mac OS Big Sur)

I am on the latest ActivityWatch version.
I have searched the issues of this repo and believe that this is not a duplicate.

OS name and version: Mac OS Big Sur 11.4 (20F71)
ActivityWatch version: 0.11.0, downloaded from: https://activitywatch.net/

Describe the bug

I’m unable to open the app

To Reproduce

I installed the app from the DMG
copied app to apps folder
Clicked to allow it to open from security preferences
Clicked in security and privacy to give accessibility access to the app
And tried opening the app

Expected behavior

I expect the app to open

Unexpected result: The app doesn’t open, nothing happens at all… Very confused about why since its a clean install on a relatively new OS install without a lot of software installed… I’m happy to provide more info and a zoom to do a screenshare, If I end up using the software I’m also happy to donate $100+ to the project to thank you for the product and the help… hell if you just help me get it set up and working I’ll probably donating $100 to thank someone for the help.

Documentation

Additional context

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 3 years ago
Reactions: 8
Comments: 21 (4 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

Weird: opening it with double-click did not work, but it works with the terminal:

open /Applications/ActivityWatch.app

cyann on Sep 28, 2021

Same here. Just installed the App via Homebrew and also simply running the .dmg file. Both ways the app is unable to start.

arnaujc91 on Aug 9, 2021

Hey Glassnor, if you’re looking for a workaround on a M1 Macbook Air (BigSur 11.4) or any M1, the older version it’s still working. I’m using it myself, you just need to downgrade to v0.10.0. There are two options, one it’s installing the older .dmg directly from the previous link or if you installed it using brew, do the following:

Open a Terminal and edit the file using this command:

open -e /opt/homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-cask/Casks/activitywatch.rb

then comment the sha256 line and change it to version "0.10.0":

cask "activitywatch" do
  version "0.10.0"
  # sha256 "91deabd5844968467b5b6b3423e12654d4e339ba309f333c25d991a2e689fd96"

  url "https://github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch/releases/download/v#{vers$
      verified: "github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch/"
  name "ActivityWatch"
  desc "Time tracker"
  homepage "https://activitywatch.net/"

  app "ActivityWatch.app"

  zap trash: "~/Library/Application Support/activitywatch"
end

Finally, reinstall the older version:

brew reinstall activitywatch

I’m still researching why it’s not working, it appears to be the same problem on various M1 devices (#622). I’m a user too, hope this helps you.

ofou on Jul 5, 2021

FYI, I got it working by doing this:

Right-click on ActivityWatch, select View Package Content (or something similar, I’m not running the English version)
Open the Content folder
Open info.plist in TextEdit
Change the string <string>MacOS/aw-qt</string> to <string>aw-qt</string>
Save and try

cyann on Sep 28, 2021