How to identify legacy Mac apps

legacy apps macOS mojave

There’s a Legacy apps tool in macOS Mojave. Here’s how to use it.

At the 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple confirmed macOS Mojave would be the last version to support 32-bit apps. To help developers and users alike find out whether their Macs use these apps, Apple has introduced a tool in the System Report in macOS Mojave. Though similar to a tool found in macOS High Sierra, this one makes it even clearer that support will soon end for these apps.

A long time coming

No one can accuse Apple of abruptly making its decision to no longer support 32-bit apps.

Macs have supported 64-bit apps since way back in 2007 with Mac OS Leopard. Since then, though the company has slowly been phasing out 32-bit on its machines, it never said it would discontinue its use until now.

When implemented, this change will mean the QuickTime framework, Java 1.6 Apple framework, and Carbon HLTB will be removed. Additionally, the new and redesigned Xcode 10 will drop support for 32-bit macOS apps.

Finding Legacy apps in macOS Mojave

With that being said, to find legacy apps currently on your Mac in macOS Mojave, you can follow these steps:

1) Click on the Apple icon on your Mac’s Toolbar.

2) Select About This Mac.

3) Choose System Report …

System Report macOS Mojave

4) Next, select Software > Legacy Software from the System Reports screen.

5) You’ll now see a list of apps that will no longer be supported on Macs beginning in 2019 with the successor to macOS Mojave.

In the example below, Sims 4 is the only legacy app on this MacBook:

legacy apps

Great Idea

It’s more than time for Apple to no longer support legacy apps and games on macOS.  After all, iOS 11 completely removed support for 32-bit apps on iPhone and iPad in September 2017.