How to get crash reports from a macOS app

The short answer: macOS already writes a crash report every time your app crashes. It sits in the user's Library, and almost nobody sends it to you. Have your app find the newest one at the next launch and offer to send it with a bug report. This guide shows where the files are and how to do that in Swift.

Where are macOS crash reports?

In ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports, one .ips file per crash, named after the app and the time. Users can see them in the Console app under Crash Reports. Apple documents the format in Diagnosing issues using crash reports and device logs.

What is in one?

The exception: its type (for example EXC_BAD_ACCESS) and signal.
The crashed thread and its stack frames, which is where to start reading.
The app version and build, the macOS version and the Mac's model.
Every other thread and the loaded libraries.

Why do they not reach you?

Asking a user to open Console, find the right file and email it loses nearly everyone. Apple's own collection covers only App Store and TestFlight builds. For an app you ship from your own site, the app has to do the asking.

Step 1: Add the Swift package

Sign up (30-day trial, no card) and create an app. In Xcode, choose File → Add Package Dependencies… and paste https://github.com/gorgekara/snagfrog-swift. The macOS bug report guide covers the basics.

Step 2: Ask after a crash

import SnagReporter

let snag = SnagReporter(
    appSlug: "your-app",
    publicKey: "snag_pk_…",
    baseURL: URL(string: "https://snagfrog.com")!
)

// Once at launch: after a crash, ask whether to send a report.
Task { await snag.offerReportAfterCrash(logFiles: [logFileURL]) }

// The Help menu item attaches the newest crash report too.
NSApp.helpMenu?.addItem(snag.menuItem(logFiles: { [logFileURL] }))

offerReportAfterCrash, called once at launch, checks whether the app crashed and asks the user whether to send a report. Nothing is sent unless they say yes. A report sent from the Help menu also carries the app's newest crash report from the last 7 days. If you call report() yourself, pass includeCrashReport: false to leave it out.

Step 3: Read it in the inbox

A report with a crash is marked as a crash in the inbox. Opening it shows a summary of the crash report (exception, crashed thread, frames) above the full file, next to the log tail and the versions. If you use Claude Code, it gets the same summary and starts from the frames that belong to your app.

Limits to know

Sandboxed apps cannot read crash reports, so both calls do nothing there.
No symbolication: frames are shown as macOS wrote them.
Not crash analytics: there are no crash-free rates or trends, only the reports people send. For counting errors without a report, see the errors API.

Questions

Where does macOS store crash reports?

In the user's Library, at ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports, as files ending in .ips. The Console app lists them under Crash Reports.

Why do I not get crash reports for my Mac app from Apple?

Xcode shows crash reports only for apps distributed through the App Store or TestFlight, and for App Store builds only from users who agreed to share analytics with developers. An app you distribute yourself gets none that way, so the app has to ask the user to send the report.

Can a sandboxed Mac app read its own crash reports?

Not from that folder: the App Sandbox does not allow reading ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports. The SnagFrog Swift package therefore attaches crash reports only in apps that are not sandboxed; in a sandboxed app the calls do nothing and the rest of the report still works. Apple's MetricKit is the route for sandboxed apps, and the package does not use it yet.

Does SnagFrog symbolicate crash reports?

No. It shows the crash report as macOS wrote it, with a readable summary on top: the exception, the crashed thread and its frames. If your build keeps its symbols, the frames already have names; otherwise symbolicate with your dSYM as usual.

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