Apple Will No Longer Accept 32-bit Mac Apps in Catalina

Apple's Developer site has posted an official reminder that starting January 1st, 2018 32-bit Mac apps will no longer be accepted. Earlier in the year we reported that more than 180,000 32-bit apps (8% of the total) won't be compatible with iOS 11. Now the same happens to Mac apps with macOS High Sierra in January 2020.

According to Apples reminder, starting January 1, all new apps submitted to the Mac App Store must support 64-bit architecture, while existing apps must be updated to 64-bit by June 2018 (App Can't Be Opened Because Apple Cannot Check It for Malicious Software.). Apple recommends that if you distribute your app outside of the App Store you should update your app to run 64-bit as well. This is due to the fact that macOS High Sierra will be the last macOS release to support 32-bit architecture (What Is Other On Mac Storage).

As a reminder, new apps submitted to the Mac App Store must support 64-bit starting January 2018, and Mac app updates and existing apps must support 64-bit starting June 2018 (Best Mac Cleaner 2020). If you distribute your apps outside the Mac App Store, we highly recommend distributing 64-bit binaries to make sure your users can continue to run your apps on future versions of macOS. The last macOS release to support 32-bit apps without compromise is macOS High Sierra. --64-bit Requirement for Mac Apps