Macs with Apple chip: Intel software will no longer run in the future

Apple rapidates quickly to the end of the large MAC switch to its own chips. This not only has consequences for MAC users of older models with Intel processors, but also for owners of Macs with Apple’s M chip. From autumn 2027, the manufacturer no longer wants to provide the important translation layer Rosetta 2. Without rosetta, programs written for Intel-Macs and X86 processors no longer run on current MacBooks and desktop-Mac with M-chip.

Developers can check apps

In the latest Beta 2 from MacOS 26 TAHOE, Apple has already integrated a new function with which developers can check whether their apps are still raining on Rosetta in any form. If you put on the boot argument boot-arg nox86exec=1 Then the processes that need Rosetta fall immediately and deliver a crash report, explains the company in the release notes of the developer pre-version.

Ultimately, developers are now on the move to adapt their software-just like the Steam client recently. Users can open the “System Information” app and sort them by software> Programs by “Art” to get a quick overview of which Intel apps are still installed on their own system.

Apple wants to provide a small part of the Rosetta functions only for certain games that need Intel frameworks that need Intel frameworks. Apple leaves open why there is a distinction between games and other software and why Rosetta 2 is so quickly.

Seamless MAC switch from Intel to arm

The binary code translator Rosetta designed the processor architecture change to Apple Silicon, which was announced five years ago: Rosetta had to be downloaded once: Rosetta had to be downloaded once and then simply carried out existing software with X86_64 instructors-invisible to the user. This worked without any problems with the vast majority of applications: Since Apple was able to deliver a massive leap with the M chips, the Intel apps on the new models often even ran faster than before on the Intel Mac. Only virtualizers who run X86 systems as virtual machines have been excluded. Already when PowerPC’s switch to Intel processors 20 years ago, Apple relyed on a rosetta translation layer.

For the last supported Intel Macs, MacOS 26 Taoe ends, as Apple announced at the WWDC in early June. You should then receive security updates by 2028.