Apple Now Lets Mac App Store Developers Drop Intel Mac Support

Apple has started allowing developers to drop Intel Mac support from universal macOS apps distributed through the Mac App Store, giving developers more control over apps that require macOS 13 Ventura or later.

The change removes Apple’s previous requirement that these universal Mac apps continue supporting Intel-based computers alongside Apple silicon Macs. Developers can now build their apps exclusively for the arm64 architecture, while Intel Mac owners will retain access to the last compatible version available for their machines.

Apple informed developers about the change in an email and said removing Intel support can help them “simplify” development while reducing app download and on-device sizes.

We’re reaching out to let you know that universal macOS apps on the Mac App Store that require macOS 13 or later can now remove support for Intel-based Mac computers.

By removing support for Intel-based Mac computers, you can simplify your development and optimize your download and on-device size.

To remove Intel support, update your app build settings to “arm64” only. Then rebuild and submit your app to the Mac App Store.

Apple is ending Intel Mac support with macOS 27

The Mac App Store change arrives as Apple prepares macOS 27 Golden Gate, which drops operating system support for Intel-based Macs entirely and leaves Apple silicon as the only supported Mac architecture going forward.

Apple previously announced that macOS 27 will also serve as the final major macOS release with general Rosetta 2 support, which currently lets Apple silicon Macs run applications originally built for Intel processors.

Starting with later macOS releases, Apple plans to retain limited Rosetta functionality for some older games that depend on Intel-based frameworks, while developers will increasingly need to ship native Apple silicon versions of their apps.