Launching apps slower on M1 Mac Mini than Intel?

[DEMinSoCAL]

Got my new M1 Mac Mini setup. Added some initial apps, including the three Affinity apps (Photo, Publisher and Designer). I noticed that when I launch them, it takes quite a bit of time before their splash screen comes up (about 17 seconds each, to be exact). If I close and reopen right away, it takes a couple seconds. I checked my other Mac (a current Intel i7) and it takes 4 seconds to launch them initially. 17 sec vs 4 sec. - big difference.

So then I noticed my M1 Mini was on 11.0, not 11.0.1 so I updated. After the update, I launched the Affinity apps and they were just a few seconds (actually faster than the Intel Mac if I started them both at the same time). So I thought the issue was something with 11.0. I was excited that apps were launching so fast, faster than my more expensive i7 Mac.

That was last night. Today, I find the Affinity apps again are taking 17 seconds to start. Reboot, try again, same thing. Launch (17 sec), close the app, and relaunch is very fast (< 4 sec).

So why is it taking so long to launch the apps the first time (first time after a reboot or power on or after a long period of time since they were last launched)??

My other apps are fairly small apps and I do not notice them being slower. Anyone else seeing apps take longer to launch or anyone using Affinity can check how fast their apps launch on M1 system?

Ideas?

 

[coffeeplease]

Could it be Rosetta 2 translation happening since they are Intel apps? I would've thought that it only occurs once regardless of reboot, but maybe the translated app is discarded when the Mac shuts down.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Could it be Rosetta 2 translation happening since they are Intel apps? I would've thought that it only occurs once regardless of reboot, but maybe the translated app is discarded when the Mac shuts down.

I downloaded the new Universal versions of the apps (confirmed they were Universal).

 

[coffeeplease]

I downloaded the new Universal versions of the apps (confirmed they were Universal).

Ah. Might be worth reaching out to the devs of Affinity, at least until someone else can post their experience.

 

[brianmowrey]

Sounds like something is messed up with ocsp or with the apps auto-update checks. I would start by ruling out a connection issue. I think the easiest way would be to open network utility and ping ocsp.apple.com? And turn off auto-update on the apps if they have it on.

If the ping is nice and fast, and turning off auto-update doesn't fix anything, it still sounds like ocsp but some kind of conflict or permissions issue in your library. I would test in new User. If it doesn't replicate in new User, possibly something's just kinked up with your migrated setup.

Or try reinstalling the apps.

I would read up on the complications with reinstalling OS on M1 machines before jumping that gun.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Sounds like something is messed up with ocsp or with the apps auto-update checks. I would start by ruling out a connection issue. I think the easiest way would be to open network utility and ping ocsp.apple.com? And turn off auto-update on the apps if they have it on.

If the ping is nice and fast, and turning off auto-update doesn't fix anything, it still sounds like ocsp but some kind of conflict or permissions issue in your library. I would test in new User. If it doesn't replicate in new User, possibly something's just kinked up with your migrated setup.

Or try reinstalling the apps.

I would read up on the complications with reinstalling on M1 machines before jumping that gun.

I will check into those things. FWIW, it is not a migrated setup. It's from scratch. Brand new M1 Mini, apps downloaded from App Store. Nothing migrated.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Sounds like something is messed up with ocsp or with the apps auto-update checks. I would start by ruling out a connection issue. I think the easiest way would be to open network utility and ping ocsp.apple.com? And turn off auto-update on the apps if they have it on.

If the ping is nice and fast, and turning off auto-update doesn't fix anything, it still sounds like ocsp but some kind of conflict or permissions issue in your library. I would test in new User. If it doesn't replicate in new User, possibly something's just kinked up with your migrated setup.

Or try reinstalling the apps.

I would read up on the complications with reinstalling OS on M1 machines before jumping that gun.

UPDATE: The ocsp.apple.com pinged consistently around 20ms. That's good. The apps do not have "auto-update" because they are App Store apps, which I think therein lies the issue.

Affinity sells their apps on the App Store or directly from their site. So I downloaded the Photo app directly from their site as a TRIAL version and installed. Now i have both the App Store version and the standalone version.

Every time, the standalone launches immediately. The App Store version still takes forever the first launch after a reboot. So, something with the App Store version checking the licensing or ??? What is OCSP? This sort of sucks and makes me regret getting the App Store versions!

 

[acidfast7_redux]

Honestly, 17 sec sounds insane. I run some small usage app that are Intel-based and will even they're not that slow.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Honestly, 17 sec sounds insane. I run some small usage app that are Intel-based and will even they're not that slow.

Yes, it's very noticeable. That's why I started looking into it and comparing my M1 Mini to my Intel Mac.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Ah. Might be worth reaching out to the devs of Affinity, at least until someone else can post their experience.

Any idea how to do that outside of their forums on their site or is that how it's done?

 

[coffeeplease]

Any idea how to do that outside of their forums on their site or is that how it's done?

That, or you can try Twitter, they seem active on there.

 

[brianmowrey]

ocsp is the Mac checking with Apple whether a third party app's signature is still considered valid every time you open it. But it adds ~0 time to app opening because it's using Akamai caches

I think you are right that it is to do with having a previous version. This could be creating internal problems with conflicting caches or app support folders or app signatures for trustd yadda yadda yadda. If the apps include special uninstall instructions, following those and then reinstalling is worth a try

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

ocsp is the Mac checking with Apple whether a third party app's signature is still considered valid every time you open it. But it adds ~0 time to app opening because it's using Akamai caches

I think you are right that it is to do with having a previous version. This could be creating internal problems with conflicting caches or app support folders or app signatures for trustd yadda yadda yadda. If the apps include special uninstall instructions, following those and then reinstalling is worth a try

Like I've said before, no previous versions. I downloaded from the App Store a fresh Universal version of each of the apps. This was a brand new Mini M1 and I installed everything from scratch. No Intel apps yet.

 

[brianmowrey]

I was referring to the trial you mentioned immediately before the ocsp question, not my conjecture about migration in my first reply, but since I didn't use a quote that was unclear

To round out the clarification, what I would look into is if the standalone, non-app store versions have a specific uninstall feature, and if so, that is what is worth trying. Though, it may require first deleting the app store downloads, then reinstalling the standalone, and then running the uninstaller. That kind of process is more typical with lightweight apps, but you never know.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I was referring to the trial you mentioned immediately before the ocsp question, not my conjecture about migration in my first reply, but since I didn't use a quote that was unclear

To round out the clarification, what I would look into is if the standalone, non-app store versions have a specific uninstall feature, and if so, that is what is worth trying. Though, it may require first deleting the app store downloads, then reinstalling the standalone, and then running the uninstaller. That kind of process is more typical with lightweight apps, but you never know.

The App Store version is the problem child. It was installed first. It has the launch delay.
The trial version (standalone) I installed after the App Store version and it seems to be working correctly.
Why would I want to uninstall it?

As it stands now, I have both installed, and will just use the trial (i used a 90 day trial key I got back in the spring when Affinity was giving them out as a COVID-relief deal) so I'm good for now. I'll try to contact Affinity about their App Store version as to why there is the delay at launch.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

ocsp is the Mac checking with Apple whether a third party app's signature is still considered valid every time you open it. But it adds ~0 time to app opening because it's using Akamai caches

I think you are right that it is to do with having a previous version. This could be creating internal problems with conflicting caches or app support folders or app signatures for trustd yadda yadda yadda. If the apps include special uninstall instructions, following those and then reinstalling is worth a try

I did find a good article explaining OCSP. Apparently, OCSP only checks standalone apps, not App Store apps, which is the opposite of my issue. The article mentioned huge delays when Big Sur was released with launching non-App Store apps. But in my case, it's the non-App Store apps that work properly.

I have posted on Affinity's support forum. Maybe others are having the same issue.

 

[nicolas_s]

Got the exact same problem on M1 MacBook Air.

First launch is slow, then it's a bit faster but still quite slow. After a moment, it becomes slow again.

It seems like only Affinity apps do that, other apps launch way faster, even apps that are still under Rosetta.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Got the exact same problem on M1 MacBook Air.

First launch is slow, then it's a bit faster but still quite slow. After a moment, it becomes slow again.

It seems like only Affinity apps do that, other apps launch way faster, even apps that are still under Rosetta.

Nice to know I'm not alone!

I don't have any other "large" apps. I might see if I can find some large Universal trial apps to try. (actually, i'm not sure why I'm assuming it only affects large apps. I'm probably wrong about that, but just think those take longer to launch).

If you have time, post on the Desktop support forum at Affinity. Also, get a trial of Affinity Photo or Designer from their site, install it ("keep both" when it asks during install) and try launching the non-App Store version.

 

[fgm453]

I also noticed this issue when launching Affinity Apps. I have affinity photo and affinity designer and both are very slow to open on M1 MacBook Air. Once it's "primed" it launches quickly as you'd expect. But on a fresh boot the icon bounces and bounces many times while opening either app. For the record, mine are from the App Store.

 

[James_C]

I can confirm that my copy of Affinity Photo bought from the Mac App Store does the same. First launch is around 17 seconds, but close and relaunch is very fast.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Affinity is aware of it (according to a forum reply from them on their site), and are working on it.

It wouldn't seem that it would be that difficult to fix since it only affects their App Store download, but it's been a couple weeks now and still no update.

 

[dmccloud]

Affinity is aware of it (according to a forum reply from them on their site), and are working on it.

It wouldn't seem that it would be that difficult to fix since it only affects their App Store download, but it's been a couple weeks now and still no update.

If fixing a few lines of code fixed the issue without affecting the program in other ways, you would have a point. However, it is often the case with apps such as those Affinity creates that changing a line of code in one area has spillover effects in other aspects of the program, so the programmers then have to look at other sections of the code to see what is happening and figure out how to address it.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

If fixing a few lines of code fixed the issue without affecting the program in other ways, you would have a point. However, it is often the case with apps such as those Affinity creates that changing a line of code in one area has spillover effects in other aspects of the program, so the programmers then have to look at other sections of the code to see what is happening and figure out how to address it.

Considering their non-AppStore version starts/works correctly (I'm using it now in 90-day trial mode and it launches almost instantly), then one would think that whatever code is tacked onto their website version to comply with AppStore needs is the issue. The actual functionality of the app is not in question, I would think.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

So for some reason tonight, the non-AppStore versions of Affinity are now taking forever to launch. Ugh.
I've got both non-AppStore and AppStore versions installed and both are doing the same thing in all three Affinity apps -- long launch times. Successive launches are quick but that initial launch after it hasn't been launched for a few minutes is slow.

 

[andyr77]

I can confirm the same. I have Affinity Designer from the AppStore and when launching it takes 15 seconds or so to get the splash screen. Subsequent opens are quick. I had used this app in the past on this MBP so it definitely wasn't a "first" run. It may have updated since or the MBP may have rebooted since last time....