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macOS Tahoe 26.4 Displays Warnings for Apps That Won't Work After Rosetta 2 Support Ends

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macOS Tahoe will be the last version of macOS that supports Intel-based Macs, with Apple planning to phase out Intel Macs entirely following its transition to Apple silicon.

intel-macs-no-more-updates.jpg

Apple today reminded developers and users that future versions of macOS will not support Intel machines, and Rosetta 2 support for apps will end after macOS 27.

Starting with macOS Tahoe 26.4, when users launch an app that uses Rosetta 2, there will be a popup letting them know that the app will no longer work when support for Rosetta 2 ends.

Apple says that it will continue to support older, unmaintained gaming titles with Rosetta along with software running Intel binaries in Linux VMs beyond macOS 27. There could also be future security fixes.

Apple first announced plans to stop supporting Intel Macs with new versions of macOS back in June 2025 when it debuted macOS Tahoe at WWDC.

Apple started its transition to Apple silicon with the 2020 launch of the M1 Mac machines, and three years ago, the company completed the transition to Apple silicon with the Apple silicon Mac Pro.

macOS 27 will launch in September 2026, so the end of support for Intel-based Macs is approaching.

Article Link: macOS Tahoe 26.4 Displays Warnings for Apps That Won't Work After Rosetta 2 Support Ends
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/16/macos-tahoe-26-4-rosetta-2-warnings/
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Intel macs, all the way back to 2008, as far as I can remember, are supported by OCLP. I guess it's technically impossible to support them beyond Tahoe now but with all the fuss around Claude literally pulling off AGI, at least for coding (I know that it's oxymoron but I don't know how else to put it) we might see OCLP team (kudos to those who spend precious time for people like us) releasing macOS updates for intel macs. If Claude is all it’s cracked up to be, maybe we’ll see x86 releases from the OCLP team. You never know
 
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opeter said:
The article it a bit strangely worded, but if I understand correctly, then the support will end with the release of macOS 27 this year, in September 2026.

So that means, that macOS 27 wont include Rosetta 2 anymore.

Sorry, my English is so-so.
Click to expand...
No. macOS 27 will continue to include Rosetta but it will not run on Intel Macs.

Rosetta will still be included in macOS 27 for all Intel-based apps, but in macOS 28 and beyond it will be restricted to just older games that are basically abandoned. (How Apple will accomplish this restriction is unknown).

arstechnica.com

Apple details the end of Intel Mac support and a phaseout for Rosetta 2

Rosetta app translation features for Intel apps won't stay around indefinitely.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
 
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Ending Rosetta support after macOS 27 is a silly move. There are plenty of great Intel apps and utilities that don't need to be rebuilt, and most never will for Apple Silicon. These apps run perfectly today and it's a shame the ability to run them will be thrown out... except specifically for some games? What a weird restriction.
 
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Man I really hope Codeweavers find a way to translate x86 modern games to arm like they use Rosetta for today. I know it says "older" titles, so not sure if that means it will keep working for CrossOver or not. I assume it means older Mac native titles.
 
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bradman83 said:
No. macOS 27 will continue to include Rosetta but it will not run on Intel Macs.

Rosetta will still be included in macOS 27 for all Intel-based apps, but in macOS 28 and beyond it will be restricted to just older games that are basically abandoned. (How Apple will accomplish this restriction is unknown).

arstechnica.com

Apple details the end of Intel Mac support and a phaseout for Rosetta 2

Rosetta app translation features for Intel apps won't stay around indefinitely.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
Click to expand...

So the new system (macOS 27) won't even run on Intel machines, right?

Ah, thanks for this information. So Apple will artificially cut off the old architecture, meaning they will no longer support it or they just don't want it... so you will be forced, to buy a new Mac.
 
Rachid Vàzquez said:
It’s very frustrating because there will be hundreds of Steam games that won’t get updated, even though they run just fine under Rosetta. It’s total nonsense
Click to expand...
Apple has said Rosetta will be available on a restricted basis for older, un-maintained games, in macOS 28 and beyond. This was the statement Apple made during WWDC last year:

"Rosetta was designed to make the transition to Apple silicon easier, and we plan to make it available for the next two major macOS releases – through macOS 27 – as a general-purpose tool for Intel apps to help developers complete the migration of their apps. Beyond this timeframe, we will keep a subset of Rosetta functionality aimed at supporting older unmaintained gaming titles, that rely on Intel-based frameworks."
 
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opeter said:
So the new system (macOS 27) won't even run on Intel machines, right?

Ah, thanks for this information. So Apple will artificially cut off the old architecture, meaning they will no longer support it or they just don't want it... so you will be forced, to buy a new Mac.
Click to expand...
Yes, this is exactly what Apple did when migrated from PowerPC to Intel 20 years ago. The Intel transition happened in 2006 and then Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was released in 2009, just three years later, it cut off support for PowerPC based Macs.
 
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opeter said:
So the new system (macOS 27) won't even run on Intel machines, right?

Ah, thanks for this information. So Apple will artificially cut off the old architecture, meaning they will no longer support it or they just don't want it... so you will be forced, to buy a new Mac.
Click to expand...
You will only be forced to buy a new Mac if you have to run macOS 27; and nearly all Intel based Macs have already been kicked to the curb, right?

I see it as a non issue for me, since there is good chance I will be skipping macOS 26; which means my 2019 Mac Pro will forever be on Sequoia. Ok by me.
 
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LimeiBook86 said:
Ending Rosetta support after macOS 27 is a silly move. There are plenty of great Intel apps and utilities that don't need to be rebuilt, and most never will for Apple Silicon. These apps run perfectly today and it's a shame the ability to run them will be thrown out... except specifically for some games? What a weird restriction.
Click to expand...
Maybe with the new features in Xcode that work with Ai, someone can somehow get some Intel apps working using SwiftUI and Apple Silicon...
 
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