How To Update Roblox On Mac

Tips
1

Roblox on my Mac won’t update properly and keeps giving me errors or just gets stuck loading. I’ve tried reopening it and restarting my Mac, but nothing seems to work. Can someone walk me through the correct way to update Roblox on macOS, and let me know if there are any common Mac-specific issues or settings I should check to get it working again?

2

Had this happen on my Mac a few months ago. Roblox kept “updating” forever or throwing errors. Here is what fixed it, step by step.

  1. Quit Roblox completely

    • Press Command + Option + Esc
    • Force quit “Roblox” and “RobloxPlayer” if you see them

  2. Delete the Roblox app

    • Go to Applications
    • Drag “Roblox.app” or “Roblox” to the Trash
    • Empty Trash

  3. Clear Roblox cache files

    • In Finder, top menu: Go > Go to Folder
    • Paste:
      ~/Library/Caches/
    • Delete any folders or files named “Roblox”
    • Then go to:
      ~/Library/Application Support/
    • Delete “Roblox” folder too if it exists

  4. Remove old Roblox plugins

    • Go to:
      ~/Library/Preferences/
    • Delete files that start with “com.roblox”
    • Example: com.roblox.RobloxPlayer.plist

  5. Check browser settings
    Roblox still uses the browser to start the player.

    • Try a different browser first, like Chrome or Firefox
    • Disable content blockers for roblox.com
    • Log out of Roblox on the site, then log back in

  6. Fresh reinstall

    • Go to roblox.com in your browser
    • Log in
    • Click any game and hit the “Play” button
    • Your browser should download “Roblox.dmg” or “RobloxPlayer.dmg”
    • Open the dmg, drag Roblox to Applications
    • Run the game again from the browser “Open Roblox” prompt

  7. Check macOS version and permissions

    • Roblox supports macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer
    • Check: Apple menu > About This Mac
    • If your OS is older, updates will fail
    • If your OS is fine, go to: System Settings > Privacy & Security
    • Make sure apps from “App Store and identified developers” are allowed
    • If you see Roblox blocked, click Allow

  8. Clear Roblox’s temporary web data
    Sometimes the web launch token gets messed up.

    • In your browser, clear cookies and site data only for roblox.com
    • Then log back in and try again

  9. Test a new macOS user account
    This checks if the problem lives in your user profile.

    • System Settings > Users & Groups
    • Create a new user
    • Log into that account
    • Install Roblox fresh and run a game
    • If it works there, your main account has leftover configs you missed

  10. Last resort: Reinstall Roblox Studio as well
    If you ever installed Studio, its files sometimes interfere.

  • Delete “RobloxStudio.app” from Applications
  • Delete “Roblox” folders from:
    ~/Library/Application Support/
    ~/Library/Caches/
  • Reinstall Studio from the website after Roblox Player works

If it still hangs on “Updating Roblox” after all of this, note exactly where it stops. For example “Updating Roblox 100 percent then nothing” usually points to permission or security blocks. “Updating Roblox stuck at 0 percent” is often network or firewall.

Quick network checks:

  • Try on another WiFi or hotspot
  • Disable VPNs or custom DNS
  • If you use something like Little Snitch or LuLu, allow Roblox connections

This whole process took me about 15 minutes, but after clearing Library files and reinstalling from the site, updates started working every time.

3

Roblox on Mac is weirdly fragile, so on top of what @cacadordeestrelas said, I’d look at a few extra angles that don’t involve fully nuking everything right away.

  1. Check if the updater is actually being blocked

    • Go to System Settings > Network
    • If you’re using a VPN, custom DNS (like AdGuard, NextDNS, Pi-hole), or a school/office network, try normal home WiFi or a mobile hotspot.
    • Some of those silently block the update endpoints so it just sits there “updating” forever.

  2. Look at Activity Monitor while it’s “updating”

    • Open Activity Monitor, search for Roblox and RobloxPlayer.
    • If CPU is basically 0 and Network is 0 for several minutes, it’s not updating at all, it’s just stuck.
    • In that case, force quit them and kill any process called Wine, mono, or security tools that might be wrapping it.

  3. Check disk space & file system issues

    • In Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage, make sure you actually have at least a few GB free. Roblox’s updater silently fails on low space like a champ.
    • If your disk is almost full, clear downloads / trash first, then try launching Roblox again.
    • Optional but helpful: run Disk Utility > First Aid on your main disk, then reboot.

  4. Gatekeeper specific check
    @cacadordeestrelas mentioned Privacy & Security, but I’d actually try:

    • System Settings > Privacy & Security
    • Temporarily set “Allow apps downloaded from” to “App Store and identified developers” (or equivalent)
    • If Roblox shows as “was blocked,” hit Allow and try launching it again right away.
      Sometimes the first run after update is blocked, not the update itself.

  5. Use a single browser and commit to it
    Swapping browsers all the time can leave old handlers lying around.

    • Pick one browser (Chrome or Safari usually work best).
    • In that browser, clear only roblox.com cookies and site data.
    • Then: log in → click a game → when it asks to “Open Roblox,” check “Always allow” if it gives that option.
      If it keeps trying to install Roblox again every time, you probably have multiple Roblox handlers registered from multiple browsers.

  6. Launch from Applications instead of browser first
    After reinstalling, don’t immediately hit Play on the website.

    • Go to Applications
    • Open Roblox directly once
    • Let it patch/update itself if it wants to
    • Close it, then go back to browser and hit Play.
      This avoids the weird loop where the web launcher calls an app that hasn’t finished its own setup.

  7. Check for conflicting overlay or security tools
    If you have:

    • Antivirus (Avast, Norton, McAfee, etc.)
    • Network filters (Little Snitch, Lulu, Radio Silence)
    • Overlays (Discord overlay, screen recorders, fps overlays)
      Temporarily disable them and try again. Roblox’s updater is not exactly robust and will just give cryptic errors instead of telling you something blocked it.

  8. Look at the Roblox log to see what’s actually failing
    A bit technical, but useful:

    • In Finder: Go > Go to Folder
    • Paste: ~/Library/Logs/Roblox/
    • Open the most recent .log file with TextEdit.
    • Search for lines with “fail”, “error”, or “unauthorized”.
      If you see HTTP / certificate / SSL errors, that points to network, proxy, or clock issues. Which brings me to…

  9. Check your system date & time

    • System Settings > General > Date & Time
    • Make sure “Set time and date automatically” is on.
      If your clock is off by a lot, secure connections fail and the updater just chokes.

  10. If nothing works, try not deleting everything
    Slight disagreement with the full-wipe approach: completely clearing every Roblox file every time can be overkill. I’d try in this order:

  • First: network & browser clean up
  • Then: run from Applications once
  • Then: clear just Caches and com.roblox preferences
  • Only last resort: full delete of everything in Application Support, Caches, Preferences.
    Sometimes old Studio data is useful if you actually build stuff, so no need to obliterate it unless you know it’s the culprit.

If you can post exactly where the update hangs (0%, 100%, or a specific message) and whether you’re on Intel vs Apple Silicon and which macOS version, people can usually pinpoint it pretty fast. Right now it sounds like either network or security tools strangling the updater more than just a “broken install.”