{"id":101727,"date":"2024-09-16T04:33:48","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T11:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/?p=101727"},"modified":"2024-09-20T10:41:10","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T17:41:10","slug":"how-to-prepare-your-mac-to-upgrade-to-macos-sequoia-the-ultimate-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/how-to-prepare-your-mac-to-upgrade-to-macos-sequoia-the-ultimate-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Prepare Your Mac to Upgrade to macOS Sequoia: the Ultimate Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

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macOS Sequoia, a solid update with plenty of new features that improve productivity and enhance privacy, is available as of September 16. Before you upgrade your Macs to the new operating system, you should ensure that they’re ready.<\/p>\n

Should you upgrade your Mac to macOS Sequoia now, or later? Is your Mac compatible with the new operating system? And if not, what should you do? If your Mac is compatible, how should you prepare for this upgrade? In this article, I\u2019ll answer all these questions and more.<\/p>\n

Upgrade now, or upgrade later?<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re reading this shortly after macOS Sequoia\u2019s initial public release, you should be aware that it\u2019s likely that a few bugs and compatibility issues will be discovered and fixed soon, although these bugs may not necessarily affect you. Some Mac users prefer to wait a few weeks for the initial bugs to be worked out and patched, and for more information to become available about compatibility with third-party apps and hardware, before upgrading to the latest macOS.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that the bulk of the new features in macOS Sequoia, collectively called Apple Intelligence<\/a>, won\u2019t be available immediately. They start rolling out with macOS Sequoia 15.1, probably in October, and additional features will be added throughout the coming months. So if you want to use these new features, but don\u2019t care about any of the other changes in macOS Sequoia, you might want to wait until the next release comes out. (And you won’t get Apple Intelligence<\/a> features at all if you have a Mac with an Intel processor.)<\/p>\n

You should also consider that the latest macOS version is generally the safest to use online.<\/strong> Major new macOS versions typically contain security enhancements and patch vulnerabilities that never get fixed for the previous macOS versions<\/a>. For this reason, you shouldn’t wait too long to upgrade to macOS Sequoia.<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether you prefer to upgrade immediately or wait a few weeks\u2014or if you haven\u2019t yet decided which category you fall into\u2014read this guide thoroughly to ensure that you\u2019ve made all the important considerations before taking the leap into the next-generation Mac operating system.<\/p>\n

A note about macOS beta versions<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Since 2023, Apple has made beta versions of its operating systems available to anyone, regardless of whether they have an Apple Developer account. So even before the release of a new operating system or an upcoming revision, you can choose to install a beta. Most people probably should not<\/em> do this, but if you want to be an early tester of Apple’s latest operating system before it\u2019s released, you can do so. See our article How to install Apple beta software for macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, and tvOS 11<\/a> for more info. As of mid-September 2024, you have the option to install beta versions of macOS Sequoia 15.1 so you can start trying out the initial wave of Apple Intelligence features early.<\/p>\n

Mac model compatibility<\/h3>\n

The first thing to check is whether your Mac model is compatible with Sequoia. Apple officially supports macOS Sequoia on the following Macs:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • iMac (2019 and later)<\/li>\n
  • iMac Pro (2017 and later)<\/li>\n
  • Mac Mini (2018 and later)<\/li>\n
  • Mac Pro (2019 and later)<\/li>\n
  • MacBook Air (2020 and later)<\/li>\n
  • MacBook Pro (2018 and later)<\/li>\n
  • Mac Studio (2022 and later)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    This isn\u2019t a big change from the devices compatible with macOS Sonoma; Apple only dropped support for the 2018 and 2019 MacBook Air this year. If you\u2019re not sure of the vintage of your Mac, go to the Apple menu, and choose About This Mac. You\u2019ll see its model and year.<\/p>\n

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    Unofficial compatibility with older Macs<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    The list above contains all the Mac models that Apple officially supports for macOS Sequoia. If you try to install Sequoia on an earlier Mac, the installer won’t let you.<\/p>\n

    But, as Apple likes to say, “there’s an app for that.” OpenCore Legacy Patcher is a third-party app that makes it possible to upgrade Macs from 2008 or later to macOS Sequoia\u2014unofficially, without Apple’s support. The primary benefit is that you’ll continue to get all the security enhancements and vulnerability patches that Apple releases exclusively for the current macOS version.<\/p>\n

    The process of upgrading an “unofficially supported” Mac is actually much more complicated than just running an app. But fear not; we’ll walk you through it all in our complete guide to upgrading older Macs that Apple doesn’t support to macOS Sequoia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    How to Install macOS Sequoia on Unsupported Macs, for Security Improvements<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n