I can't update GarageBand

My update icon returned. Ran Cleaner One Pro again and purged junk files and the red dot once again disappeared. Getting close to understanding what Apple System Log is generating the red dot. Unfortunately the App store is pushing out updates that cause it to return over time. So stupid.

"Should not" and are, are two different things. I also have the same problem. A fully patched Late 2013 iMac with 10.15.7. It is not supported to run Big Sur, but the App Store insists that I need to install the Garageband update. Attempting to update throws the error "We could not complete your update. GarageBand can’t be installed on “Macintosh HD” because macOS version 11 or later is required."

The conspiracy theory side of me wonders if this is a subtle marketing push by Apple to get you to purchase a brand new Mac. But, never attribute to malice that that can be adequately explained by incompetence.

Same problem here. I have an iMac (late 2013) which can't install macOS Big Sur, so I'm stuck with Catalina 10.5.7 for the time being. The App Store shouldn't offer to update an app that requires a newer macOS than the one I'm using.

It is exactly my problem too, i think it is very annoying to keep seeing an update that can not be done, and the worst thing is that according to technical support there is nothing that can be done to avoid it. I have disabled both, in the App Store and in the system preferences the automatic updates or even that it tries to to look for them, but it just keep insisting. So i made a GarageBand back up, then i have uninstalled it to install it again from the hard drive, the notification disappears but reappears as soon as I reboot. I'm not interested in upgrading my old iMac to Big Sur, but i don't want my current Apps to be affected by this either!

It is exactly my problem too, i think it is very annoying to keep seeing an update that can not be done, and the worst thing is that according to technical support there is nothing that can be done to avoid it. I have disabled both, in the App Store and in the system preferences the automatic updates or even that it tries to look for them, but it just keep insisting. So i made a GarageBand back up, then i have uninstalled it to install it again from the hard drive, the notification disappears but reappears as soon as I reboot. I'm not interested in upgrading my old iMac to Big Sur, but i don't want my current Apps to be affected by this either! Apple should solve this pesky Bug.

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.

The solution to make sure you've got a (Time Machine) backup, delete Garageband, restart your Mac, and restore Garageband from the (Time Machine) backup worked for me. No red '1' anymore in the icon of the App Store.

Although it's indeed a shame that there is no 'Skip update' option anymore (right-click on update mention) in the new App Store. It was absolutely present in the past to solve these kind of issues in older versions.

I bought a new 2020 iMac a few weeks ago and I do not want to update to Big Sur yet.

I am getting this error on GarageBand, Apple Remote Desktop, and some Topo Map app.

I find it very hard to believe that even Apple would do this to Catalina/Intel users and figure it is a defect in the App Store that will eventually be worked out. I recall the PowerPC to Intel migration being rocky in places too.

Or maybe Big Sur is the only version that can deal with dual-architecture Intel/ARM binaries. That would be stupid.

I was able to resolve this by simply moving GarageBand to the trash. The update indicator immediately went away. Then I immediately moved GarageBand back to the Applications folder, and haven't seen the update alert for that app since.

To download an older version of GarageBand on macOS Catalina, do so from your Apple ID accounts screen, at the bottom left of the Mac App Store Window. There may even be an agreement you need to accept for GarageBand to be associated with your Apple ID. If you don't need to accept the agreement, scroll down the list of your "Purchased" apps. You should see the old GarageBand icon which you can download. You will be prompted indicating that it is an older version of GarageBand and that there is a newer version available (which appears to only be compatible with Big Sur).

If you try to download GarageBand on Catalina from the Mac App Store by going to the actual product page, you will get the alert saying it is only compatible with Big Sur, but downloading the app from the "Purchased" section on your Apple ID screen should work.

I hope this helps those who are trying to install GarageBand on Catalina.

I have tried to install Garageband to macOS 10.15.7 (Catalina) after years of not using it (and not having it installed). When trying to install it from the app's detail page in the Mac App store, it fails with the mentioned error message.

However, it is possible to install it from the Mac App Store by going to the Purchased section of your user profile and finding Garageband amongst those apps. Trying to download from there will yield a message that allows you to choose the latest supported version of Garageband to be installed instead of the most recent one.

Its really quite simple. Don't upgrade what you can't upgrade. It sucks that they left the users with year old machines behind, but obviously most of the people here didn't have to to deal with the problems of dealing with OS 7, 8 or 9, not to mention Windows. Does MS give out a free DAW? Wait awhile and the red dot will probably disappear. Unless you're a masochist don't push that button. Garageband still works just not 10.4.

Aeursemb wrote:

However, it is possible to install it from the Mac App Store by going to the Purchased section of your user profile and finding Garageband amongst those apps. Trying to download from there will yield a message that allows you to choose the latest supported version of Garageband to be installed instead of the most recent one.

While this method should always work in theory, in practice at the moment there seems to be generally something faulty in the App Store land:

In the past two days I was updating a Mojave partition which I haven't used in weeks; but just a few weeks ago I have successfully downloaded the latest Mojave compatible version of Logic Pro (10.5.1). A few days ago I wanted to update some other apps from the App Store, but got an error everytime. Waited a day, logged out of App Store, logged in again, and the update downloads have worked again.

Today I noticed that I never downloaded GarageBand to this partition yet. So I did the usual procedure by clicking the "download-from-cloud" button, only to get the dreaded "GarageBand can't be installed on XY because macOS version 11 or later is required" message. App Store log-outs and Mac reboots didn't help, except once when the "you can download the latest compatible version" briefly appeared, only to be replaced by "can't be installed" message again.

Luckily the latest Catalina compatible version of GarageBand is also 10.3.5, so in the end I have copied the app from my Catalina partition.

For what it's worth, on Catalina I also see the "Update" button for the Big Sur version of GarageBand, which of course doesn't work: no Big Sur on my MacBook Pro 2012, the last model with matte display and DVD drive which they will once pry from my cold, dead hands… ;)

Long story short:

Folks, don't waste too much of your time trying to fix it yourselves since there likely not much that can be fixed at user's end. We're at Apple's mercy here.

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.

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.