macOS upgrade FAQ
Is upgrading macOS free? The download is free. The cost is downtime, and occasionally a restore.
My Mac is Intel. Should I upgrade to macOS 26? It is your last major release, so the question is really whether you upgrade now or later — not whether you keep receiving new versions. Check the four dependencies first.
Will macOS 27 run on my Intel Mac? No. macOS 27 and later require Apple Silicon.
What replaced Launchpad? Applications moved into the search interface. Third-party launchers exist, but the system behaviour changed permanently in macOS 26.
What happens to my Intel-only apps? They keep working through macOS 26 and 27. From 26.4 they warn on launch that support is ending, and by macOS 28 only a subset of Rosetta 2 remains, mainly for older games and legacy frameworks.
Does Office still work after upgrading? Microsoft supports the latest three major macOS versions. Upgrading keeps you inside that window; staying on an old release eventually drops you out of it.
Can I roll back? On Apple Silicon, only with a full erase and restore from a backup taken before the upgrade. Keep a bootable installer if the machine is critical.
How current is this page? The rules reflect Apple's published compatibility information as of October 2026, when macOS 27 was the current release and macOS 26 the last Intel-compatible one. Apple changes these boundaries once a year, so re-check the source before acting on an old copy of this page.
Does this work for an iMac or Mac mini, not just a laptop? Yes. The rules are about the chip and the dependencies, not the form factor. The one place it differs is that a desktop is usually easier to restore, because a failed upgrade does not take your only working machine with it.
Should I wait for macOS 28? Ask what version 28 will run on before you wait. If your Mac is Intel, 28 will not run on it at all, so there is nothing to wait for. If it is Apple Silicon, waiting for the first dot release of the current version is a cheaper strategy than waiting for the next major one.