I can't update GarageBand

Alright, coincidentally today I had to set up a buddy's new MacBook Air which he has accidentally upgraded to Bug Sur (typo unintended but funny!), so I did a clean reinstall of Catalina for him. I was able to download his GarageBand 10.3.5 without any problems.

Just let them make that red update circle on App Store icon disappears and we’ll be happy. If it can’t be updated for Catalina why bother us still running Catalina..

I downloaded and installed Big Sur and I see this message still. I bought the iMac a few weeks ago

Or delete GarageBand and forget it exists.

Apple really working hard on alienating its core market.

It's showing up in my late 2012 Mac mini app store as well. It's too old to install Big Sur. It automatically downloaded and installed the newest versions of the iWork apps, but Garage Band just sits there telling me an update is available it won't let me actually do!

I called Apple Support to get another Apple disappointment....I bought an iMac in 2014 and in Nov 2020, Big Sur cannot be installed because that new macOS 11 only works from models from 2014 onwards. Shame on you Apple! Even your response was offensive, 'Trade in for a new iMac'. In October, my HDD stopped working...so now with an expensive replacement....I will be stuck forever with an outdated OS. I had faith on Apple products... I have a lot....but now I don't

I have this issue as well. I have a Mid 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro, with the 2.9 GHz Dual-Core i7 processor. It's running Catalina 10.15.7. No official release of Big Sur for these machines, which is not actually that unreasonable; it's an eight-year old computer, which has had full update support for that whole period. Fair enough. The machine's performance is still great, though; and I'm not planning an imminent upgrade. That having been said, I want the bug where it tries to instal an incompatible upgrade (GarageBand for Big Sur) onto a computer with Catalina before failing every time and leaving a notification showing a pending update in the App Store is insanely irritating. Please resolve this, Apple.

First, to everyone who is lamenting not being able to upgrade (and I use that term reluctantly) to Big Sur, take a look at the Big Sur section here and see what you're missing. Sadly, Big Sur has been an unmitigated disaster. Rushed out of beta and full of features nobody asked for and even fewer folks will use!

As for the Garage Band update issue. It's the App Store for God's sake, you're not landing a human on Mars. It would take two line of code to fix this issue, yet almost two weeks go by and nothing. And calling Apple Support you end up speaking with someone who is totally unaware that Big Sur is bricking systems, never mind that Garage Band won't update.

Not adding anything useful to the conversation, but I also have a Mac which is still very much in use which is too old to take Big Sur. No complaints about that, but sending repeated notifications to install an update which is not compatible is way below the benchmark for customer experience which got Apple where it is today, and uninstalling and reinstalling via TimeMachine or using the Trash can as a washing machine to get rid of the update icon are both worse options than ignoring the update notification.

Just posting to agree that this is incredibly frustrating.

I spent the last three days getting my 2013 MacBook Pro from a factory reset / wipe through several different OS updates so my father-in-law could use it for GarageBand (the only reason he wants a mac is to use GarageBand) only to learn that it's impossible? Why? I understand not letting GarageBand work on OS 10.1 or 10.2... but I've got 10.15.7... it's the most recent operating system as of a month ago. Why not just let people download the version of GarageBand that was available a month ago?!

I can't even download Big Sur, says it's compatible, then says cannot find update.

Same here

Totally agree

Same exact machine, same issue. Hate those red dots. Must be a way to clear it!

Same problem.