Numbers collaboration no longer working on Sequoia

I was experiencing Collaboration warnings earlier this week:

"Can't Collaborate … use Numbers on iCloud.com or Numbers on a newer Mac."

Today, I had no luck reliably opening the spreadsheet (a simple grocery list shared with a family member). Initially, I could only access it on my iPhone or iPad, and even then, synchronisation was flaky.

Now, macOS Sequoia 15.8.1 allows the spreadsheet to open, but attempting to edit it results in Numbers reporting that I'm offline and unable to sync with iCloud. Meanwhile, the Mac's internet connection is working perfectly well.

I phoned Apple Support. The representative was lovely and initially agreed with what we understood to be the existing requirements — that collaboration should work under Sequoia. However, after checking Apple's latest documentation, she was equally surprised to discover the updated minimum requirements:

Collaborate on documents in Keynote, Pages and Numbers — Apple Support (NZ)

Under Minimum system requirements and iCloud requirements for collaboration, Apple now specifies:

• Mac: macOS Tahoe 26.0 and Numbers 15.4 or later.
• iPhone/iPad: iOS/iPadOS 26.0 and Numbers 15.4 or later.
• Browser: Collaboration remains available through iCloud.com on supported browsers.

So, yeah … as I suspected might happen one day, the assurances that established Apple customers wouldn't lose existing functionality appear to have been overlooked, shall we say?

My 2017 iMac Pro cannot officially upgrade to Tahoe, leaving me without native Numbers collaboration for a spreadsheet that worked perfectly well before these changes.

Rather disappointing, Apple.

According to the official Apple page on the subject at Intro to collaboration in Numbers - Apple Support, collaboration in Numbers requires:

• A Mac with macOS 26 or later and Numbers 15.4 or later

So it appears that the requirements have shifted.

This has caused a huge issue in our household. My wife and I collaborate on many spreadsheets to manage our finances. We both have Macs that we are unable and unwilling to upgrade to macOS 26+ at this time for technical and personal reasons.

Now, Apple has arbitrarily decided to change the minimum requirements for collaboration effectively locking us out of a feature that worked perfectly until 2 weeks ago.

Not giving access to new features that require a newer OS is understandable, but removing a feature from our current OS that we'd been using for years is unacceptable.

Looks like we'll be having to switch to Google Sheets. Numbers on the web takes far too long to log-in and load a specific spreadsheet, and just doesn't work as well or quickly as the desktop app.

I hate underhand ways of trying to force an upgrade.

Hey there - I'm having the same problem. The link you shared now says:-

Minimum system requirements

To collaborate on a shared spreadsheet, people you share with need any of the following: 

• A Mac with macOS 15.6 or later and Numbers 15.3 or later

I have both these but am getting the message to update Numbers & macOS

Your situation is very similar to my own household. You are not alone in your thinking. My grievance is a Groceries spreadsheet, acting like a pseudo mini database. Not a corporate project, or creative endeavour. A Family Only way to track spending on groceries, plus a Shopping List. There's plenty of options out there for a solution to this need, but why not use Apple Numbers? It boggles the mind that my "old" 2017 iMac Pro, custom built to spec at the time at around NZ$12K, can no longer run a shared spreadsheet with a family member – for a shopping list!

I'm experimenting now with the path of least resistance … seeing what working on a spreadsheet on iCloud.com looks like.

I couldn't agree more with Julian and Deeland. I also collaborate with my wife on household finances and with her and the children on all sorts of other things. 3 out of 4 of us have kit that won't go to macOS26. I much prefer the app experience over the web version. Thought we were beyond sending spreadsheets via email & all the version control issues with managing offline versions. Removing the ability to collaborate is unacceptable. Very disappointing Apple. Not happy.