hey guys, my expressvpn app on mac keeps running into a problem where it stops halfway when it’s “connecting”, and i can’t cancel the connection as it seemingly freezes. i’ve restarted my laptop and reinstalled the app, but nothing seems to be fixing it. has anyone ran into a similar problem or knows how to fix this? thanks so much!
Apologies if you’re aware of this because it’s probably pretty obvious to most (but wasn’t to me for a long time)…
There is no auto update or check for update function on the Mac app. You have to go to the website and manually download a new version.
I had similar problems to what you’re describing for a long time until I realized I was running a version of the app that was almost a year out of date. Updating cleared it right up.
I have the exact same problem. The app gets stuck on “reconnecting”. The “cancel connection” menu item doesn’t work. You can’t QUIT the app other than by force-quitting it. If you try to change any settings (say, the protocol. Or whether it should stop all traffic if the VPN connection is lost), you get the error “please disconnect from expressVPN before updating settings”, which is FRUSTRATING because the REASON i’m trying to change settings is that I CAN’T disconnect.
So far, the only thing that gets my VPN connection back is to entirely reboot my mac after force-quitting expressVPN. I find myself doing that not quite daily. Maybe every other day.
I suddenly had the same problem starting a couple of days ago on my Mac mini. After a software update—I’m still running Catalina 10.15.7,
I can’t force quit the app, and end up having reboot the machine every time to get an Internet connection.
Same thing is happening to me- is it still stuck for you?
Oh ok, let me check that out! I always forget to manually update, thanks so much
Yeah, that’s exactly what happened with me too. I have to either restart my mac or reinstall the app, both of which are super inconvenient. I hope they fix this problem soon!
i’ve been using automatic! i’ll try another and see if it works, thank you!
that’s exactly what happened with me! i talked to support and they said it might be a temporary problem, and to contact them again if it doesn’t get better in a few days
Not really, it works on occasion after I restart my computer. But even if it works, it still gets stuck during connecting after a few tries
Looking at previous comments, I had to restart after force quit and then download the latest update. Seems a bit trash to have to do it that way. Complicating matters, I’m not in the US and the ExpressVPN website is blocked. I have to use another VPN (TunnelBear gives limited free data) to connect and download the file. Disconnect from TunnelBear, install the Express update and back in business. What a pain! I forget about this and lose so much productivity trying to troubleshoot until I’m about ready to throw the computer.
I had a similarly friendly, but unhelpful response from ExpressVPN support. I ended up updating my machine to Big Sur last night and the problem seems fixed. However, the update wasn’t easy—I ended up having to reformat the drive and do a clean install after the updated hung, but luckily everything was in the cloud so I don’t seem to have lost any important data.
You might want to wait until things get fixed for Catalina. 
Oh wow! I did update my system to Big Sur a couple days ago but it still doesn’t work great for me 
I guess I’ll see if they update the app anytime soon, thanks so much for your help!!
My VPN problems disappeared with the update, but now Big Sur keeps forgetting my monitors resolution—though that is relatively easy to fix. I can’t believe macOS doesn’t recognise third-party monitors properly.