The Annoyance of the Crash Reporter
If you are a software developer testing beta applications, or if you simply have an older piece of legacy software that crashes frequently on macOS, you are intimately familiar with the Apple Crash Reporter window. Every single time the application force closes, a massive window appears in the center of your screen declaring “The application quit unexpectedly,” forcing you to click “Ignore” or “Report to Apple” before you can resume your work.
If you are running automated scripts that purposefully test application stability, these popups will interrupt the script and halt your workflow. Fortunately, you can completely disable this native macOS dialogue box using a simple Terminal command.
Disabling the Crash Reporter
The crash reporter is governed by a hidden macOS system preference (stored in a plist file). You can modify this preference using the defaults write command.
- Open the Terminal application (found in Applications > Utilities, or via Spotlight).
- Copy and paste the following command exactly as written:
defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType -string "none"- Press Enter.
The change takes effect immediately. The next time an application crashes, macOS will silently kill the process in the background. It will still generate a crash log file (which you can view in the native Console app), but it will never interrupt your screen with the graphical popup.
Choosing the “Server” Mode (Alternative)
If you are a system administrator managing a Mac mini server, you might not want the UI popups, but you might still want notifications. You can switch the Crash Reporter into “Server” mode. In this mode, instead of a massive blocking window in the center of the screen, macOS will simply display a tiny, non-intrusive Notification Center banner in the top right corner.
defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType -string "server"How to Restore the Default Behavior
If you finish your testing and want the standard Apple Crash Reporter windows to return, you can simply delete the custom preference key you created. macOS will immediately revert to its default factory behavior.
defaults delete com.apple.CrashReporter DialogTypePress Enter, and the standard popup behavior will be fully restored.