IPFS Desktop on macbook pro (Big Sur): stuck on "IPFS is starting.."

Hello,

I installed successfully IPFS Desktop 0.18.1on my kid’s macbook pro (Big Sur) using a dmg file. The same exact procedure on my macbook pro (also Big Sur) gives a perpetual “IPFS is starting…”. The installation itself went well. When launched, after a long time (10 minutes??) I get " Could not connect to the IPFS API…". I tried a few different versions of IPFS Desktop (0.17, 0.18.0 too), a few reboots, removed desktop firewall etc to no avail.

Any hints on where to begin troubleshooting ? May be log locations ? I checked error.log and combined.log - not much there. Thank you !