As expected, Apple confirmed yesterday during its WWDC keynote that macOS 10.14 Mojave will be the last version of macOS to support legacy 32-bit apps.

Apple commenced its plan to begin phasing out 32-bit apps on Macs in macOS High Sierra 10.13.4. When a 32-bit app is opened in High Sierra, users get a warning about its future incompatibility with the macOS operating system.

mojave 32 bit apps
Likewise, when opening 32-bit apps in macOS 10.14 Mojave (beta 1), users are shown a dialog box with a similar message telling them that "This app will not work with future versions of macOS". Clicking "OK" on the prompt then allows the app to open.

Currently, the warning is only shown one time for each app. That could well change in subsequent betas of macOS Mojave, however, since Apple previously said it would include "aggressive" warnings about 32-bit apps in the next version of macOS after High Sierra before they are phased out entirely.

32 bit app warning mojave

32-bit app warning in macOS 10.14 Mojave (beta 1)

Apple's effort to phase them out on Macs mirrors the path it took when ending 32-bit app support on iOS devices. In iOS 10, Apple provided increasingly more insistent warnings to let users know that their apps wouldn't work with future versions of iOS before phasing out 32-bit support entirely in iOS 11.

Once 32-bit apps are phased out on Macs, they won't be able to be used at all, so users will need to find replacements for older 32-bit apps that aren't likely to be updated to 64-bit. You can find out which apps on your Mac are still running in 32-bit by following our how-to guide.

Related Forums: macOS High Sierra, macOS Mojave

Top Rated Comments

Rudy69 Avatar
Rudy69
66 months ago
It’s not like 64bit just came out. Makes sense, devs have had plenty of warnings
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nwcs Avatar
nwcs
66 months ago
What are the advantages of InDesign CS6 towards CC?
Licensing. CS6 was the last perpetual license Adobe offered. With CC you pay on subscription but if you ever stop subscribing you lose access to all your assets. Adobe could stop the madness if they implemented a simple “you get a perpetual license after you subscribed x period of time to the last version you subscribed to”. I would subscribe in a heartbeat if they did. The could even hike the price of re-subscribing if you subscribed and got a perpetual license. I would be fine with that. But they won’t do that. They want you over the barrel.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MasConejos Avatar
MasConejos
66 months ago
On one hand, I'm all for dropping 32-bit support. On the other, I have large Steam and GOG collections where pretty much every title is 32-bit. I know that probably 95% of titles wont be ported to 64-bit. This is going to hit Mac gaming really hard.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2013.1 Avatar
2013.1
66 months ago
A virtual machine for InDesign CS6
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
anzio Avatar
anzio
65 months ago
Apple's 'DVD Player' and iDVD are STILL 32-bit programs.
DVD Player is 64-bit in Mojave.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
loby Avatar
loby
66 months ago
It’s not like 64bit just came out. Makes sense, devs have had plenty of warnings
Yes, this is old news and Apple has given plenty of warning. People on this forum will still moan and grown about the change regardless.

There are probably good reasons why now to stop 32-bit drivers and apps and not that it is just evolution of technology.

if I remember correctly back in my security days, it may have to do with security holes etc. with drivers and coding. (my guess) the resent Spectra and the many other vulnerabilities associated with intel’s cpu’s may accelerate the need for exit. Again, just my thoughts and past experiences.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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