QGIS 3.44 macOS (Apple Silicon): crash on project download right after plugin (re)install (works after restart)

Description
After installing (or reinstalling) the Mergin Maps plugin in QGIS 3.44, logging in, and downloading a project via the Browser panel, QGIS crashes on macOS (Apple Silicon). After reopening QGIS, downloading works as expected. The same issue is when user creates a new project just after upgrading/reinstalling MM plugin.

Related / similar: https://github.com/MerginMaps/qgis-plugin/issues/866

Environment
Staging/PROD

Application (+ app version, build, operating system)

• QGIS version: 3.44 (Solothurn)
• Plugin version: unknown (installed/reinstalled from QGIS Plugin Manager)
• macOS: Tahoe 26.2
• Hardware: Apple M4 (Apple Silicon)

Steps to reproduce

1. Open QGIS.
2. In MM plugin download project.
3. Install Mergin Maps plugin (or reinstall an existing one) - sometimes QGIS crashes at this point, if not continue with next steps
4. Login to the plugin.
5. In the Browser panel, expand “Mergin Maps” and right click on a project.
6. Click “Download” (or create a new basic project).

Actual results

• QGIS crashes during the download attempt.
• After reopening QGIS, downloading the project works as expected.

Expected results

• QGIS should not crash; download should complete normally even right after plugin (re)install.

Screenshots or logs
N/A yet (can provide macOS/QGIS crash report if needed)

Conclusion
Created by GitHub Copilot and supervised by a human test analyst.