Crash log: Mac crashes are the fault in Sky Go app itself, and macOS 28 deadline approaching

[daviddale]

Like many people here I get "Sky Go quit unexpectedly" constantly on my Mac (M4 Pro, macOS 26.5.2, Sky Go 26.1.3). Rather than going round the uninstall and reinstall loop yet again, I went through the actual Apple crash report. It's worth sharing what it shows, because it explains why none of the suggested fixes work, and why this problem now has a hard deadline attached.

What the crash log shows:
1. The app is still Intel-only. The report states Code Type: X86-64 (Translated), meaning it only runs through Apple's Rosetta 2 translation layer. Apple Silicon Macs launched in November 2020. Nearly six years on, there is still no native build.

2. The crash is memory corruption inside the app itself. The crashing thread is macOS housekeeping: the system asked Sky Go to release some cached memory and, while walking the app's heap (szone_pressure_relief in libsystem_malloc), hit an invalid pointer, killing the process (EXC_BAD_ACCESS / KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS). In plain terms, Sky Go's memory was already corrupted and the operating system's routine cleanup simply exposed the damage. Other users on macOS 26 are posting crash logs with this identical signature.

3. The cause sits in the code Sky ships. The app bundles Electron 22 (end of life since 2023), a GStreamer 0.10 media pipeline (unsupported since around 2013) and Intel-only DRM player libraries, all translated at runtime.

This is why "uninstall and reinstall" achieves nothing. The defect is in the binaries Sky distributes, not in anyone's local caches or preferences. Reinstalling downloads the identical code, so the crashes come straight back.

Why there is now a deadline.
macOS 26.4 and later already display a warning on every launch that support for Intel-only apps is ending. macOS 27, due in September, is the last release with full Rosetta support, and upgrading to it actually removes Rosetta, so users will need to reinstall it manually just to keep Sky Go limping along. From macOS 28, expected autumn 2027, Rosetta is cut back to older games only, and Sky Go in its current form will not run on any up-to-date Mac at all. Sky has confirmed in support responses that no native Apple Silicon version has been announced. Yet the iPad app has been native on Apple chips for years, so the player technology clearly exists in-house. Sky even sells Apple Silicon MacBooks through Sky Mobile while shipping a desktop app that cannot run properly on them.

So, Sky, two straightforward requests:

1. Publicly acknowledge the Mac crashing issue and confirm this crash signature is with your app developers.

2. Commit, with a date, to a native Apple Silicon version of Sky Go (or a supported browser player) before macOS 28 ships.

If you're affected, please reply with your Mac model, macOS version and the Exception Type line from your crash report, and email the full crash logo to [email protected]. One person saying "it keeps crashing" is easy to ignore. Dozens of identical, evidenced crash reports are not.

This is getting a bit ridiculous now. Sky needs to resolve.

[ChrisG81]

Thanks for the post, I have sent my log to the email address.

[robcole2026]

it seems clear that sky dont give a rats **bleep** to their mac customers. Even on macos26 sky go is as buggy as hell. If you cant give us a working app how about free multiroom/whole home so we can add it to an Apple tv? £15 per month is a con

[ChrisG81]

Got a response but suspect it's GPT... I responded saying that they need to be ready for the new OS but haven't been ready for the new Apple silicon for years, I would be happy to beta test any developments.

Hi Chris,

Thank you for getting in touch and for providing such a detailed crash log. I understand how frustrating it must be to have Sky Go crashing on your Mac, especially when you're hoping for a fix soon.

Based on the information you've shared, it looks like you're running Sky Go (version 26.1.3) on a Mac with Apple silicon, using macOS 27.0. Please note that Sky Go requires Rosetta to run on Apple silicon Macs, and it is important to ensure Rosetta is installed. However, Sky Go is not supported on any beta or pre-release versions of macOS. If your device is running a beta or developer build, this could be the cause of the crashes.

What you can try:

1. Check your macOS version: If you are using a beta or pre-release version of macOS, we recommend rolling back to the latest public release, as Sky Go is only supported on official releases.

2. Standard troubleshooting steps:
   - Make sure you are not using any VPNs or ad blockers, as these can interfere with Sky Go.
   - Restart the Sky Go app:
     - Press option + command + esc.
     - Select the Sky Go app and choose Force Quit.
     - Reopen the app.
   - Restart your Mac.
   - Uninstall and reinstall the Sky Go app:
     - Delete the Sky Go app and any related installer files from your Applications and Downloads folders.
     - Remove the Sky Go folder from your user’s Roaming directory.
     - Download the latest version from https://www.sky.com/watch/sky-go  and follow the on-screen instructions.
     - Please note: uninstalling the app will delete any downloads you have saved in Sky Go.

3. Check compatibility:
   - You can check if your device and operating system are compatible with Sky Go by visiting our https://www.sky.com/help/expert/articles/app-desktop-lookup. 

A few important notes:
- Sky Go is not supported on beta operating systems. If you are running a beta version, this is likely the reason for the crash, and we recommend using the latest official macOS release.
- We do not have information about when or if support for future macOS versions will be added, but your feedback is valuable and will be passed on to our technical teams.

If you continue to experience issues on a supported version of macOS, or if you have any other questions, please let us know. We're here to help.

For future reference, you can find troubleshooting guides and support for Sky Go on our https://www.sky.com/help/home.

Alternatively, you can contact our Customer Service Team on [removed]  between 9am to 9pm, where one of our colleagues will assist you further.

I hope this information has helped with your enquiry. If you require any further assistance, you can respond to my email.

Kind regards
Lalitha

Sky Help Centre
https://www.sky.com

Moderator Actions: removed phone number

[daviddale]

Thanks Chris for posting that reply, it's useful for everyone to see what comes back. It also demonstrates how this issue is being handled, because that response was clearly generated from a script without anyone reading the crash log you sent. Two tells: it instructs you to remove the Sky Go folder from your user's Roaming directory, which is a Windows location that does not exist on macOS, and the help links at the bottom are mangled. A Mac crash report has been answered with Windows instructions.

On the substance, three things need saying.

First, the beta explanation doesn't hold. Even if you are on the macOS 27 preview, this exact crash happens on the current public release. I'm on macOS 26.5.2, a fully supported build, running Sky Go 26.1.3, and I logged five crashes inside ninety minutes with the identical signature: EXC_BAD_ACCESS in szone_pressure_relief while macOS handles a memory pressure event, in an Intel-only app running under Rosetta 2. Same fault, supported OS. The beta is not the cause.

Second, every step in that list has been done, repeatedly, and none of it can work:

1. VPNs and ad blockers: none in use, and the crash stacks contain nothing but Sky Go's own process and the libraries bundled inside it.

2. Force quit and reopen: in my logs the app died again 51 seconds after one relaunch and 19 seconds after another.

3. Restart the Mac: done routinely. No difference.

4. Uninstall and reinstall with all folders deleted (from ~/Library/Application Support, since Macs have no Roaming folder): done more than once. It redownloads byte-identical binaries, so the fault returns immediately.

5. The compatibility checker: my machine passes it. That is rather the point.

The underlying fault is memory corruption inside the app itself, exposed whenever macOS asks it to release cached memory. The app ships Electron 22 (end of life since 2023) and a GStreamer 0.10 media stack from over a decade ago, all Intel-only and translated at runtime by Rosetta. No customer-side step changes the code Sky distributes, which is why the same advice has failed for everyone in this thread.

Third, the one genuinely informative sentence in that reply deserves attention: Sky "do not have information about when or if support for future macOS versions will be added". Full Rosetta support ends with macOS 27, and macOS 28 removes it for ordinary apps. No information therefore means the Mac app currently has an expiry date and no announced replacement.

So, Sky: please stop routing this through device troubleshooting. Detailed crash reports are already with [email protected]. Log the signature with the Sky Go Mac development team, acknowledge it in this thread, and tell paying customers how and when the app will be fixed, and whether a native Apple Silicon build is coming before Rosetta goes.

Everyone else affected: email your .ips crash files to [email protected] and post your Mac model, macOS version and the Exception Type line from your report here. The evidence pile is what moves this.

Time is ticking, Sky. Please sort this out!

[Mic2904]

Send my logs just there. Its irritating... Cant remember last time the app worked without failing at least occasionally. I want to have the Open run in the background while I work.... i cant!

... well i can with my iPad 😉

[AMG2020]

For the last couple of months, my Skygo app keeps crashing (closing unexpectedly).  I launch the App on my MacBook and start watching something and then it crashes.  I get a crash report and the option to reopen Skygo.  This keeps happening.   I understand this is because Skygoinstaller will no longer be supported by an upcoming macOS release and get a message telling me to contact Apple to find out how to update to an Apple Silicon Version - cant find any info on this.  So you have all the info, I have:

MacBook Air M2 (2022)

macOS Tahoe 26.5.2

Sky Go 26.2.2

Rosetta 2 installed

Crash occurs whilst watching live or catch up TV

Crash report shows EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL).

Be grateful for any advice on how to rectify this.

[PRF]

Exactly the same issue and set up. Would be great to get a fix. 

[expectforviewer]

I've been suffering this issue for months now. 

Within the first half hour of watching the Belgium Grand Prix F1 practice session today it crashed three times on me.

I've now emailed [email protected] with the error report.

I'm running MacOS 26.5.1 on 2023 MacBook Pro.

[expectforviewer]

The silver lining of this issue is that I now have a new Badge on the Sky Community and I've levelled up!

Who needs to watch £100+ a month of live sport when you can enjoy such delights here?

[daviddale]

Update, 20 August: Sky Go 26.2.3 is out, and it changes nothing.

Keeping this thread current, because there has been a new release since I started it.

Sky Go updated to 26.2.3. It crashed again this morning, 8 minutes 49 seconds after launch, while sitting in the background. Same machine (M4 Pro), same fully supported macOS 26.5.2, and exactly the same crash signature as the five reports I sent in July: EXC_BAD_ACCESS in szone_pressure_relief on the libdispatch-manager queue, while macOS was handling a memory pressure event. That is six documented crashes now, across two versions of the app, all identical.

Here is the part that deserves Sky's attention. I compared what is inside 26.2.3 against 26.1.3:

- Code Type: still X86-64 (Translated). Still Intel-only, still running through Rosetta 2.
- Electron framework: still version 22.3.16, with the same build identifier as the one in 26.1.3. It was not recompiled.
- The GStreamer 0.10 media pipeline and the Intel-only DRM player libraries: same build identifiers as well. Untouched.
- One other bundled component did change, so this was a genuine rebuild, not a version-number bump.

In other words, Sky shipped an update and did not touch a single one of the components the crash reports point at. This is not a fix that was attempted and missed. Nothing was aimed at this at all.

Where the email route has got to: I sent five full crash reports to the apps address on 11 July with the analysis. Back came the same script Chris posted above, asking me to do things I had already done and had already said I had done. No case reference, no acknowledgement that the crash signature exists, and nothing to suggest a developer has read a single log. The sixth report has now gone the same way.

For anyone still being told this is something local to their machine, here are the timings from my six logs: crashes at 19 seconds, 51 seconds, and 8, 12, 21 and 26 minutes after launch. Some during playback, some with the app minimised doing nothing. It is not a particular programme, a particular action, or a setting. The app dies whenever macOS asks it to hand memory back, and how long that takes is just luck.

And the clock is still running. macOS 27 arrives next month and is the last release with full Rosetta support. Upgrading to it actually removes Rosetta, so people will have to reinstall it manually just to keep Sky Go limping along. From macOS 28, Rosetta goes for ordinary apps entirely and the current Sky Go stops working on any up-to-date Mac.

Sky: this thread has passed 1,400 views, several customers have posted the same crash, and there has still not been one response from anyone at Sky in it. Two things, please:

1. Acknowledge here that this crash signature is with the Sky Go Mac development team, and give us a reference we can quote.
2. Tell us how and when the app will be fixed, and whether a native Apple Silicon build is coming before Rosetta is withdrawn.

Everyone else: please keep posting. If you are new to the thread, email your .ips crash file to the apps address and post your Mac model, macOS version and the Exception Type line from your report here. Six crash reports from one customer are easy to file away. Sixty from twenty customers are not.

[eeWee]

There is only ONE way Sky will address this: anybody here who's a lawyer or has (free) access to a lawyer, sue Sky for "interruption of paid service" requesting refund and compensation.

I am no lawyer and don't have (free) access to one, but I am nevertheless going to call the support and request for compensatino because I'm paying an ADD-ON service that I cannot use. I travel a lot and SKY GO is an important part of my life.

[expectforviewer]

This was part of the last email I received in my correspondence with support about the app issue:

---

Regarding compensation, I want to clarify that Sky's automatic compensation policy applies only to a total loss of Sky Broadband or Talk services that lasts more than two working days after being reported.

Unfortunately, issues with the Sky Go app, while very disruptive, are not currently covered under this policy.

---

[daviddale]

What I genuinely can't get my head round is Sky's position on this. They already have a Sky Go app that runs natively on Apple Silicon. It's the iPad one, and it's been there for years. Same chip, same architecture as every modern Mac, and Apple set things up so that iPad apps run natively on Apple Silicon Macs by default unless the developer deliberately opts out. So a working native Sky Go for Apple Silicon exists right now, today, and the only reason Mac users can't have it is that somebody at Sky has ticked the box that keeps it away from us. 

I'm sure they will argue there is some sort of licencing reason why this can't be done, but technology is not the issue here. It's a business decision made by Sky. 

[eeWee]

And that's exactly where a lawyer can make good money: they sell a service (video broadcasting) and they give no other way but to use their (very crappy, in many ways, even when it works) app. The app is now totoally useless: we are therefore cut out from using the service we pay for.

A good lawyer would know the way to this.