Old Mac O.S. apps no longer work

Why does apple no longer support specific apps after an O.S. say Catelina is no longer supported? Example, the latest version of firefox cannot be installed even though firefox still makes the latest version of Firefox for apple devices. There are other Apple O.S. applications that follow this issue.

Since the Mac is an intel based system and other Intel based operating systems will run the latest version of these apps, why not Apple older O.S. ?

I'll answer the question I think you asked...  The wording is awkward.

The reason why new(er) software written since Catalina was released doesn't work with any OS-X releases before Catalina is because Apple purposely removed support for 32 bit hardware, 32 bit software, and changed a bunch of underlying interfaces programmers use to talk to the OS. The reverse is true, too.  Software built for OS-X versions before Catalina won't work post Catalina without work for the same reason.  This didn't come out of the blue, Apple had been signalling the change for a couple of years.  Catalina became what programmers call "64 bit clean", that is, it only runs native x86-64 bit software.  Then the M-class chips were released in 2020 starting with the M1 which aren't Intel/x86-64 based at all.  They're Arm based, which is the same CPU type in nearly all smartphones, but specifically they're based on Apple's internally developed A-series in their iPhones.  Intel x86-64 and Apple/Arm M series aren't binary compatible without a emulation layer.  In Apple's branding it's called Rosetta 2 (the first Rosetta being the translation layer for PowerPC to run on top of Intel x86).  Depending on how a programmer compiles the software code, Firefox (as an example) can either be what's called a "fat binary" which can run on either the remaining supported Intel based Macs, or the new Arm based Macs with native code, but it won't run on anything from before Catalina because of that interface compatibility break.  Or, they can choose to compile the software such that it only runs on the new Arm based Macs and won't run at all on the Intel Macs.  Like in the PowerPC to Intel transition, Rosetta 2 won't be supported forever, either.  Some point in the future, probably inside the next couple of years, a new versioning dividing line will be picked and Intel based Macs will no longer receive support at all without deliberate effort from retro Mac enthusiasts.  Apple has never been very big on backwards compatibility when it holds back their software or hardware roadmap plans, but at least they've historically deployed really well engineered tools during the transitions.

You might wonder why Windows can at least theoretically still run 32 bit software from 1995 when Windows 95 was released?  Microsoft has a long software compatibility tail to support because enterprises, their primary customers, are slow moving.  They won't update software on the whims of a vendor without an overriding reason, while Intel/AMD has maintained a high degree of CPU/firmware interface backwards compatibility over that time period.  However, unlike Intel/AMD x86 based CPUs, Arm 64 bit CPUs don't normally have built-in backwards compatibility for older Arm 32 bit CPUs at all.

Edited by h_b_s, 23 February 2024 - 11:46 AM.

No, this has nothing to do with the number of bits. The machine I have is 64 bit from the beginning and never ran 32 bit apps.

Apple has simple prevented there no longer supported machines from running 64 bit apps after the O.S. is no longer supported. The Mac prior to the M1 ran Intel CPU's hence why it can operate as a Windows machine as well. So if the same Apple Macbook can run Windows and run the latest version of firefox then I do not see any reason Apple O.S. on the exact same hardware platform cannot run the latest version of software.

This means Apple is purposely stopping the use of currently available apps like Firefox on outdated Mac O.S.'s

No, this has nothing to do with the number of bits. The machine I have is 64 bit from the beginning and never ran 32 bit apps.

 

Apple has simple prevented there no longer supported machines from running 64 bit apps after the O.S. is no longer supported. The Mac prior to the M1 ran Intel CPU's hence why it can operate as a Windows machine as well. So if the same Apple Macbook can run Windows and run the latest version of firefox then I do not see any reason Apple O.S. on the exact same hardware platform cannot run the latest version of software.

 

This means Apple is purposely stopping the use of currently available apps like Firefox on outdated Mac O.S.'s

... *looks at his M1 Mac running Firefox right now* ... If you say so.

This is not about Mac's running M1 processors. You don't seem to release that is the latest processor.This is about old Mac's 2010 or so that cannot install upgrade to the latest running version of firefox and are forces to run ESR which does not have all the latest features.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-macos-1012-1013-1014-moving-to-extended-support

The mozilla document above is not in any way related to Mozilla because as I said a Catalina Mac running on Intel processor is capable of running windows in Bootcamp which allows the latest version of Firefox. But the old Mac OS Catalina and other deprecated operating systems cannot run the latest for some unknown reason.

As Dan says, Apple switched to ARM-only. So the OS itself is coded to work with the ARM architecture.....and that's why you cannot run the newest versions on older, x86-based hardware.

They're completely incompatible.

Mike. 

Apple switched to a different processor from the Intel but there is no reason an Apple user of a old intel Mac should not be able to install the latest version of software like Firefox. Firefox is not the only application Apple just stopped allowing users to upgrade too. Since the same Mac running windows on the Intel can install the latest software available the question is why does Apple no longer allow software to be installed on older Mac's? Do they think people are going to throw there Mac away for a newer Mac?

What is the reason an older Mac operating system cannot load a perfectly available software? It is no because Apple does not support the software because in the single case of firefox Apple has nothing to do with it they produce Safari.

That is the general Firefox download site.

What you do not understand is if you have an old Intel Mac it will not run the latest version of firefox. I also stated that Firefox is not the only App that cannot be installed on older Intel Mac even though the Mac is capable of running the App. I used firefox as a common example anyone an test.

You will find that old Mac's have a latest version of OS X or Mac OS that they can run.  For example, I have a 2013 MacBook Pro.  The latest version of MacOS that will run on it officially, is MacOS 11 "Big Sur" which was released in November 2020.  I do not use Firefox.  It is currently getting Google Chrome updates.  I am certain that at some point, that will stop but for the moment, Chrome is updated on Big Sur.  This is not the case though with Microsoft Office apps, which have stopped updating on my MBP (message saying "Mac OS upgrade required") but of course, this MBP will not accept an upgrade of Mac OS (officially).

The issue is not that the software will not run on an Intel processor or whatever.  It is that the developer (i.e. Mozilla) has chosen to drop support for older Mac OS versions, and Apple has decided to drop support for older Macs running their latest Mac OS version.  Mozilla for example, explains in one of their older releases (discontinuing support for MacOS 10.14) "While Apple doesn’t have an official policy governing security updates for older macOS releases, their ongoing practice has been to support the most recent three releases. The last security update for macOS 10.14 was in July 2021. Unsupported operating systems receive no security updates and have known exploits. With no official support from Apple, maintaining Firefox for obsolete operating systems becomes costly for Mozilla and dangerous for users."

You may think that this is an arbitrary decision by Apple to try to force users to upgrade perfectly good hardware, and they would probably argue that the older hardware is not capable of running the newer OS's well or supporting the latest features.  Fact is, it is what it is and there's no arguing with them.  An unofficial way around that may be available to you is to attempt to install a newer Mac OS version on an unsupported Mac.  There may be problems (e.g. missing support for GPU acceleration) - and it can be difficult, and of course, it is completely unsupported by Apple.  Alternatively you can switch to a different OS entirely like Windows (through Bootcamp) or Linux.

How to Install the Latest macOS on an Unsupported Mac | Lifehacker

The latest version of Firefox (not just ESR) supports macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later. So it should work.

As to why developers drop support for older versions of macOS, it has to do with Xcode and the way macOS app development works. To take advantage of newer SDK features, you need newer version of Xcode (which runs on newer versions of macOS and Xcode drops support for building to older versions of macOS from time to time too). In addition, it gets more and more challenging to support older versions of macOS when there are OS bugs that won't get patched when Apple no longer supports them. Credits where it is due, Microsoft supports Windows for a while (typically at least 10 years) which (combined with the higher marketshare) ensures that OS bugs often gets fixed.

As for the 32-bit apps support dropped by Catalina, that is the opposite problem (and does not apply in this situation). Older apps that were still 32-bit only or worse were still using Carbon or other deprecated framework (which were 32-bit only) aren't supported in Catalina.

As for a lot of people here saying macOS is ARM-only, this is not yet true. The latest version of macOS, Sanoma, still supports Intel Macs. Firefox (and many apps) still support x86-64 for now.