Apple to Phase Out Rosetta 2 Starting With macOS 28 as Intel Era Ends

Following its WWDC keynote on Monday, Apple updated a developer document to indicate that Rosetta 2 will remain available through macOS 27.

apple silicon 1 feature
Rosetta 2 enables Macs with Apple silicon (Arm architecture) to run apps that were built for Macs with an Intel processor (x86 architecture), by translating code.

Starting with macOS 28, Apple said that only a limited version of Rosetta 2 will remain available for older games that rely on Intel-based frameworks:

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.

The document also reiterates that macOS Tahoe will be the final macOS release that supports Intel-based Macs. However, Apple said that Intel-based Macs will continue to receive security updates for an additional three years.

macOS Tahoe is compatible with only a handful of Intel-based Macs, including the 16-inch MacBook Pro (2019), 13-inch MacBook Pro (2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports), 27-inch iMac (2020), and Mac Pro (2019).

macOS 28 will be released in 2027.

Popular Stories

iphone air thickness

Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales

Friday October 17, 2025 8:29 am PDT by
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec). The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps. More features and changes will follow in future ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon

Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released by the end of next week. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
iPhone Siri Glow

Some Apple Employees Have 'Concerns' About iOS 26.4's Revamped Siri

Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings. iOS 26.4 will...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

New iPad Pro Has Six Key Upgrades Beyond M5 Chip

Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more. With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New 14-Inch MacBook Pro Has Two Key Upgrades Beyond the M5 Chip

Thursday October 16, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump. First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...
m4 macbook air blue

M5 MacBook Air Coming Spring 2026 With M5 Mac Studio and Mac Mini in Development

Thursday October 16, 2025 3:57 pm PDT by
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year. Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

M5 Chip Achieves Impressive Feat in 14-Inch MacBook Pro Speed Test

Friday October 17, 2025 7:10 am PDT by
The first alleged benchmark result for the M5 chip in the new 14-inch MacBook Pro has surfaced, allowing for some performance comparisons. Based on a single unconfirmed result uploaded to the Geekbench 6 database today, the M5 chip has pulled off an impressive feat. Specifically, the chip achieved a score of 4,263 for single-core CPU performance, which is the highest single-core score that...

Top Rated Comments

turbineseaplane Avatar
19 weeks ago
Bummer

Lots of software will get lost forever
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TruthAboveAllElse Avatar
19 weeks ago
This is unfortunate. Rosetta 1 was almost unusable at times so made sense to phase it out. Rosetta 2 is usually totally invisible to the user, so a shame to break compatibility.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lounge vibes 05 Avatar
19 weeks ago
Intel getting an extra three years of security updates means that 2019 MBPs will have received 10 years of official support, from 2019 to 2029.
Where is the guy that made that massive thread the other day saying Intel computers would become bricks this fall?
And I think this confirms that M1s will likely be supported at least in a security capacity into the early 2030s easily.

While it’s definitely unfortunate that Rosetta is being dropped, Apple actually giving a timeline for these kind of things, including how long the Intel computers will get security updates, is big progress.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
StudioMacs Avatar
19 weeks ago

Imagine being a Mac Pro buyer who spent $50,000 in 2019 on the top-tier configuration, only for Apple to announce its migration to Apple Silicon a year later. Now imagine a company that invested in 10, 20, or even 50 of those Mac Pros—would you buy Apple again?
If purchased by a business in such quantities, the cost of the tangible assets over their useful life has been depreciated for tax purposes. In the US, the IRS generally assigns a 5-year useful life to computers and related equipment.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iHorseHead Avatar
19 weeks ago

Intel getting an extra three years of security updates means that 2019 MBPs will have received 10 years of official support, from 2019 to 2029.
Where is the guy that made that massive thread the other day saying Intel computers would become bricks this fall?
And I think this confirms that M1s will likely be supported at least in a security capacity into the early 2030s easily.

While it’s definitely unfortunate that Rosetta is being dropped, Apple actually giving a timeline for these kind of things, including how long the Intel computers will get security updates, is big progress.
A lot of people don't realise that Intel Macs are getting much better support than PowerPC Macs. Imagine spending like 3k on a Mac Pro and then it's supported only from Tiger to Leopard.
Like from 2005 to 2009.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
woolypants Avatar
19 weeks ago
Stop for a moment and consider how completely amazing Rosetta is. A technical tour de force.

I do wonder a little where this leaves the whole gaming triple-A title thing that Apple was talking about this time last year. Wasn't that basically built on Vulcan and Rosetta? Did nobody show any interest, so now it's forgotten?

EDIT: As somebody points out, this was built on Wine and not Vulkan.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)