Apple told developers today that they now have permission to stop supporting Intel-based Macs in their apps. This applies to universal apps on the Mac App Store that already require macOS 13 or later to run.
Before this, Apple didn’t allow it. If your app supported Intel Macs, you had to keep supporting them, even as a universal app built for both Intel and Apple silicon. That’s changed now. Developers can drop Intel compatibility entirely if they want to.
Apple explained the reasoning in its message to developers. Cutting Intel support means less work maintaining two versions of the same app. It also means smaller downloads and less storage taken up on people’s Macs, since the app doesn’t need to carry code for chips it no longer supports.
People who still use Intel Macs won’t lose access to apps overnight. If a developer drops Intel support, anyone running an Intel Mac keeps whatever version of the app they last downloaded. They just won’t get new updates going forward. So the app keeps working, but it stays frozen at that point.
This fits into a bigger shift happening across macOS right now. macOS Tahoe is the final version that will run on Intel Macs at all. After that, Apple moves on. The next release, macOS Golden Gate, works on only Apple silicon Macs. This includes Macs with an M1 chip or newer, or an A18 Pro chip or newer (in the case of the MacBook Neo).
Rosetta 2 is fading out as well. That’s the tool that lets Intel-built apps run on Apple silicon Macs through translation. Once macOS Golden Gate arrives, Rosetta stops working for most apps. If an app depends on it, it simply won’t open anymore. Apple is carving out one exception here, though. Some older games that rely on Intel frameworks and no longer get updates from their developers will still be allowed to run through Rosetta, since there’s no other way to keep them working.
Put together, all of this points in one direction. Apple is closing the door on Intel hardware, and it’s doing it in stages, first through developer policy changes like this one, then through the operating system itself.
