Operating system support

Pick your product, edition, platform, hardware and operating system — we will tell you exactly where you stand, including what (if anything) you need to do.

The full matrix

Which macOS releases we support

If Apple still issues security updates for a macOS version, we support any release from the last six months — keep Software Update current. If Apple has stopped issuing security updates, we support that version's final release only. Some builds will launch outside these ranges. Launching is not support.

For Windows we follow Microsoft's own servicing cycles. The same rule applies in spirit: a version Microsoft no longer services is supported at its final update only.

Two different things are being said there, and they are easy to run together. Launching is what macOS permits: below a build’s minimum, macOS refuses to open it and there is nothing to discuss. Support is what we test and stand behind, and it starts higher. A release can run perfectly well and still sit outside support.

Final-release numbers read from Apple’s own security pages on 2026-09-16: Apple security releases · Apple security updates (2022 to 2023) · Apple security updates (2020 to 2021) · Apple security updates (2018 to 2019). Where Apple publishes no number we say so rather than supply one. For the oldest versions the final release and the last security fix are separate events — Apple shipped 10.9.5 in 2014 and then patched it a year later under its own name rather than issuing a 10.9.6 — so both are given where that applies.

PhotoRender, Animation and Parasolid in v12

v12 lists PICT and 3DMF import and export in its menus and on its datasheet. They do not work in any v12 build, and never have. Import is coming — see below.

Cobalt, Xenon and Argon dropped PhotoRender, Animation and Parasolid in build 1204.95. Parasolid import returned in build 1204.204. Cobalt Share lost Parasolid export separately, in build 1204.69, and that is coming back too. Lithium is the one product in the line that lost nothing here — it has never had any of them.

What is coming

• Rendering and animation. Cycles rendering replaces Lightworks, which was not going to follow Apple Silicon or move to the GPU. It arrives in a final v12 build.
• Parasolid. Parasolid import from ODA alongside the Spatial import that returned in build 1204.204, and Parasolid export from ODA. It arrives in a final v12 build.
• PICT and 3DMF import. Returning from v11. Bitmap PICT first — that is nearly every PICT we encounter, and it is what Graphite files with embedded PICTs need — then the remaining corners.

No dates. These are in build, not in a release.

macOS security updates

Apple issues security updates for the current macOS and the two before it. As of 2026-09-16:

• macOS 27 Golden Gate
• macOS 26 Tahoe
• macOS 15 Sequoia

macOS 13 Ventura and older no longer receive them. That is Apple's milestone rather than ours, and it is independent of whether our software runs — but it is usually the more consequential of the two. Apple's security releases ↗

Apple Silicon and Rosetta 2

Apple is winding down Rosetta 2, the translation layer that lets Intel-built Mac software run on Apple Silicon. What that means, when it happens, and what it means for you specifically is covered in the compatibility notice.

← All desktop software