I just recently upgraded my old intel iMac to a M4 Silicon iMac. I tried to launch 2 different programs: Firefox and STEAM. I got a Message that I needed to install Rosetta in order to run these apps on my new IMac, because silicon iMacs can't run Intel Mac programs. Should I do this? Or should I uninstall/delete the existing Firefox and Steam apps and install updated versions?
iMac 24″, macOS 15.2
Firefox 133.0.3 is a Universal2 binary containing compiled code for x86_64 and arm64 architectures. On your M4 iMac, it will use the arm64 binary and there would be no need for Rosetta to run Firefox. Likewise, check for a newer version of Steam that is compatible with Sequoia. You may not need Rosetta2 at all.
Any Intel applications that you migrated to your M4 iMac should be replaced with newer versions compatible with the iMac architecture and Sequoia.
I would recommend updating Firefox. The current version runs natively on both Apple-Silicon-based and Intel-based Macs.
There's nothing dangerous about installing Rosetta, but it's best to save it for Intel-only applications where the alternatives are "put up with a little translation overhead" or "do without the application entirely." Also, I would guess that old Mac/Intel-only copies of Firefox would be missing a few years' worth of bug fixes and security updates.
Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it. I already updated Firefox and it works fine. I will update Steam as well
Thanks so much for your reply and advice.
Need to install Rosetta to run Firefox Web Browser and Steam
