Having the same problem but want to share some more details… my case happening on an iPad Air 2 and an older iPad pro
I am having this same issue too, but adding some more details about this crash in case it helps our friends at Mojang narrow down what is happening and get it fixed. I've been watching pretty closely what the app does during startup, since this has now happened consistently on every attempt, and I have attempted it a ton of times.
I'm using an iPad Air 2 running iOS 15.8.8. Minecraft worked normally before the 26.50 update. I updated to 26.50 through the App Store, and immediately after that Minecraft stopped opening. When the 26.51 hotfix came out, I updated through the App Store again, but it made no difference at all. The crash behavior is the same on both 26.50 and 26.51.
Normally I use the iPad sideways with the Home button on the left. When I tap Minecraft, the red "Mojang Studios" screen appears for only a split second. The screen then turns completely white for about 1–2 seconds, and Minecraft closes back to the iPad Home Screen. It has done this on every single launch since 26.50. I have not been able to reach the Minecraft main menu even once since the update.
There is one additional clue that might be useful for anyone looking at this. Sometimes after it appears to crash, if you double-tap the Home button and open the iPad app switcher, Minecraft is still sitting there in the background rather than having completely disappeared. When this happens, the preview screen for Minecraft in the app switcher sometimes shows a black screen. Other times it might show the red Mojang screen. But if you then try to switch back into Minecraft from there, it will immediately close/crash completely.
I've also noticed that this happens a little differently depending on the orientation of the iPad. If I start Minecraft with the Home button on the right, the app seems to go through a couple of screen-orientation changes while trying to start. In that orientation it seems more likely (than if the home button is to the left) to end up temporarily stuck in the background/app switcher instead of immediately disappearing. Trying to return to it still causes it to crash.
Whatever it is is happeing very early during startup. It never gets far enough to reach the menu or select a world.
Everything was fine with this iPad playing Minecraft before 26.50. I don't know the exact Minecraft version I had installed immediately before 26.50, but I kept the game reasonably up to date and had no startup problems before this update.
As another FYI, a friend of mine I play Minecraft with - who has an older ipad Pro, is also having the same general problem after the update, so this is happening on more than one iPad.
Hopefully this can help anyone looking at this problem.
Jessica M
Having the same problem but want to share some more details… my case happening on an iPad Air 2 and an older iPad pro
I am having this same issue too, but adding some more details about this crash in case it helps our friends at Mojang narrow down what is happening and get it fixed. I've been watching pretty closely what the app does during startup, since this has now happened consistently on every attempt, and I have attempted it a ton of times.
I'm using an iPad Air 2 running iOS 15.8.8. Minecraft worked normally before the 26.50 update. I updated to 26.50 through the App Store, and immediately after that Minecraft stopped opening. When the 26.51 hotfix came out, I updated through the App Store again, but it made no difference at all. The crash behavior is the same on both 26.50 and 26.51.
Normally I use the iPad sideways with the Home button on the left. When I tap Minecraft, the red "Mojang Studios" screen appears for only a split second. The screen then turns completely white for about 1–2 seconds, and Minecraft closes back to the iPad Home Screen. It has done this on every single launch since 26.50. I have not been able to reach the Minecraft main menu even once since the update.
There is one additional clue that might be useful for anyone looking at this. Sometimes after it appears to crash, if you double-tap the Home button and open the iPad app switcher, Minecraft is still sitting there in the background rather than having completely disappeared. When this happens, the preview screen for Minecraft in the app switcher sometimes shows a black screen. Other times it might show the red Mojang screen. But if you then try to switch back into Minecraft from there, it will immediately close/crash completely.
I've also noticed that this happens a little differently depending on the orientation of the iPad. If I start Minecraft with the Home button on the right, the app seems to go through a couple of screen-orientation changes while trying to start. In that orientation it seems more likely (than if the home button is to the left) to end up temporarily stuck in the background/app switcher instead of immediately disappearing. Trying to return to it still causes it to crash.
Whatever it is is happeing very early during startup. It never gets far enough to reach the menu or select a world.
Everything was fine with this iPad playing Minecraft before 26.50. I don't know the exact Minecraft version I had installed immediately before 26.50, but I kept the game reasonably up to date and had no startup problems before this update.
As another FYI, a friend of mine I play Minecraft with - who has an older ipad Pro, is also having the same general problem after the update, so this is happening on more than one iPad.
Hopefully this can help anyone looking at this problem.