High Sierra & 32bit apps

Hi Nick1958,

Apple announced more information during their Platforms State of the Union presentation at WWDC 2017.

The transition to 64-bit-only Mac apps is going to take place very similarly to how we handled it on iOS. Most importantly, High Sierra is going to be the last macOS release to fully support 32-bit apps without compromises. In the next major release after High Sierra, you're going to aggressively start warning users if apps are not compatible for 64-bit. You're updating the Mac App Store rules accordingly.

In about six months, you'll require that all new apps submitted to the Mac App Store will be 64-bit capable and, in a year from now, will require all new apps and updates to existing apps to be 64-bit only when submitted to the Mac App Store.

All the best.

Hi Kappy,

just looked in SystemInformation->Software->Applications and sorted on 64bit yes/no: I have 45 of 32-bit apps, partly Apple, partly other suppliers. Of these a number are printer/scanner drivers or home electronics or important tools (Mactracker, FindAnyFile, Devolo CPL, Adobe, BBedit, Flashplayer....) apps that I can not miss, and from some (a.o. older printer/scanner drivers) I don't expect 64-bit versions. This means I can have HS but after that it stop perhaps...

HS will run 32 and 64-bit apps, but it is the last version of OS X to do so. You should upgrade your apps to get the best performance from them when running OS X.

You don't say what MacOS you are currently running. If the large number of Apps include Rosetta based apps, you shouldn't go above 10.6.8. 😀

Consider looking for 64-bit replacements or inquire when the app will be upgraded to 64-bit. Been a long while since OS X could not run 64-bit apps.