Apple renders many apps unusable with update to macOS 28

The era of Intel Macs will soon be coming to an end. Because macOS 27 cannot be installed on any Mac that has an Intel processor instead of an ARM chip. However, there will also be restrictions for Intel software on modern Macs from next year. This is because macOS 28 will discontinue support for Rosetta 2, meaning that apps that have not been optimized for Apple ARM processors can no longer be opened.

Since macOS 26.4, Macs have displayed a warning when an app is opened that will no longer work from macOS 28 onwards. While many apps have already been optimized for Apple's ARM chips over the past six years, this is by no means the case for all apps. For example, the game launchers GOG Galaxy and Itch.io are still distributed as Intel apps. The same applies to OpenEmu, a popular app for playing retro games.

Popular tools such as the VLC media player or the SD Card Formatter, the official tool for formatting memory cards from the SD Card Association, have also not yet received a corresponding update. For paid apps such as Capture One, it may be necessary to purchase a license for a newer version in order to continue using the software after the update to macOS 28. To check which of the apps installed on your Mac have not yet been optimized for ARM chips, free apps such as Silicon can be used. Before installing macOS 28 next year, it is advisable to check whether urgently needed apps will no longer work after the update.