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Question

Figma links not opening in desktop app from Safari (works in other browsers)

  • September 14, 2025
  • 10 replies
  • 526 views
Joe P-R

Hi Figma Community,

I'm experiencing an issue where Figma file links are not opening in the desktop app when clicked from Safari. Instead, they always open in a new Safari tab.

The core issue is that this problem is isolated entirely to Safari. If I click the exact same Figma link from Arc Browser, it works perfectly and launches the desktop app as expected.

Here are my system details:

  • Operating System: macOS Sequoia 15.6.1 (24G90)
  • Safari Version: 18.6
  • Figma Desktop App: 125.8.6 (reinstalled today)

Summary of the Problem

  • Expected Behavior: Clicking a Figma file link in Safari should trigger a prompt to open the link in the native Figma macOS app.
  • Actual Behavior: Safari ignores the ⁠figma:// protocol and opens the link in a new browser tab. No prompt appears.

Troubleshooting Steps I Have Already Taken

I have gone through an extensive list of troubleshooting steps with no success. The issue persists across all my attempts to fix it.

In-Figma Settings:

  • Confirmed that Preferences > Open links in desktop app is checked. I have also tried toggling this setting off and on.

Safari-Specific Troubleshooting:

  • Disabled All Extensions: I have disabled every Safari extension. The issue still occurs.
  • Cleared Cache & Data: I have cleared all Safari cache and website data for Figma.
  • Checked Website Permissions: I have checked ⁠Safari > Settings > Websites to ensure no permissions are blocking Figma.
  • Safari Profiles: The issue occurs in both my "Personal" and "Work" profiles. Critically, I also created a brand new, clean test profile in Safari, and the issue still happens there, suggesting it's not a profile-specific setting.

System-Level Troubleshooting:

  • Reinstalled Figma: I have completely uninstalled and reinstalled the Figma desktop app.
  • Forced Launch Services to Re-register: I have moved the Figma.app out of the ⁠/Applications folder and back in to force macOS to re-index the app and its URL handlers.
  • Reset Safari Preferences:
  • I ran ⁠defaults delete com.apple.Safari LSHandlers in Terminal, which returned "does not exist," confirming Safari had no custom override for the handler.
  • I manually removed the ⁠com.apple.Safari.plist file from ⁠~/Library/Preferences/ and restarted my Mac to force Safari to rebuild its preference files from scratch.

Given that the feature works in other browsers and that the issue persists in a completely fresh Safari profile after a full preference reset, this appears to be a deep, non-user-facing bug in how my instance of Safari is interacting with macOS's Launch Services.

Could you please advise if there are any other known solutions for this specific, persistent Safari issue?

Thank you for your help.

10 replies

Gayani_S
Figmate
  • Gayani_S
  • Community Support
  • September 15, 2025

Hey ​@Joe P-R, thank you for the detailed breakdown of the issue and for walking me through all the troubleshooting steps you’ve already tried, this is really helpful.

Before I connect you with our technical quality team, could you please double-check one more thing for me: after reinstalling the desktop app and clearing Safari’s cache, is the “Open links in desktop app” setting in Figma still toggled on? It may reset when clearing the cache, so I just want to make sure that’s ruled out.

If it is still toggled on, I’ll go ahead and escalate this to our technical quality team so you can share your Figma desktop app debug logs with them, and they can investigate further into what’s causing this.

 

Thanks again for your patience! 

Joe P-R
  • Joe P-R
  • Author
  • New Member
  • September 15, 2025

Hey ​@Joe P-R, thank you for the detailed breakdown of the issue and for walking me through all the troubleshooting steps you’ve already tried, this is really helpful.

Before I connect you with our technical quality team, could you please double-check one more thing for me: after reinstalling the desktop app and clearing Safari’s cache, is the “Open links in desktop app” setting in Figma still toggled on? It may reset when clearing the cache, so I just want to make sure that’s ruled out.

If it is still toggled on, I’ll go ahead and escalate this to our technical quality team so you can share your Figma desktop app debug logs with them, and they can investigate further into what’s causing this.

 

Thanks again for your patience! 

Hi ​@Gayani_S 

Yes, I can confirm “Open links in desktop app” is toggled on.

Thanks,

Joe

Gayani_S
Figmate
  • Gayani_S
  • Community Support
  • September 16, 2025

Hi ​@Joe P-R, thanks for confirming that. I’ve gone ahead and created a support ticket on your behalf. Your reference number is #1508897. Our support team will follow up with you shortly. In the meantime, it would be really helpful if you could download and share your Figma desktop app debug logs with the team using these steps: Download Figma desktop app debug logs.

 

Thank you, 

Gayani 

sarah333
  • sarah333
  • New Member
  • October 3, 2025

Hi,

 

I am having the same issue and have also tried the above steps, to no avail.

 

Thanks,

Sarah

Joe P-R
  • Joe P-R
  • Author
  • New Member
  • October 3, 2025

Hi,

 

I am having the same issue and have also tried the above steps, to no avail.

 

Thanks,

Sarah

Hey ​@sarah333 -

The only thing that fixed this for me was disabling iCloud Private Relay on my MacBook’s system settings.

Hope this works for you!

Joe

Jakub Kowalczyk

I have the same issue… I tried all the steps, and even disabling iCloud Private Relay didn’t work for me 😕 It’s very annoying, because it used to work fine before.

 

Jonas1
  • Jonas1
  • New Participant
  • November 24, 2025

Can confirm that I have the same issue. 

Gayani_S
Figmate
  • Gayani_S
  • Community Support
  • November 26, 2025

Hey ​@Jakub Kowalczyk, thanks for trying to disable iCloud Private Relay! I’ve just submitted a support ticket on your behalf. Your support ticket number is (#1616932), for reference. Someone from our support team should be in touch with you soon. 

 

​@Jonas1 could you please try:

  • If using any Safari extensions, can you try disabling these temporarily, then refresh the browser and check if this works?
  • Can you ensure you are upgraded to the latest version of Safari as well as the Figma desktop app?
  • Can you try disabling the 'Prevent cross-site tracking' feature as follows, then restart the browser and test this again? In the Safari Preferences > Privacy settings, can you try unchecking 'Prevent cross-site tracking'?

We have received reports in the past from customers who have said this did not work for them when Apple Private Relay is enabled. If this is enabled for you, could you please test disabling this, then quit and restart the browser and desktop app, and check if this works for you? 

Vladimíra Zahoráková

I have the same issue. When I open figma link via Safari, I can see only blank page and I have to replace https://www.figma.com/ with figma:// and after that the file opens in desktop app.

Gayani_S
Jonas1
  • Jonas1
  • New Participant
  • December 1, 2025

I have tried the same method as Vladimíra Zahoráková – but that will only open up the Figma app – not loading the actual file. I can add that my collegue has the same issue. 

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