

If you're on a later OS, though, you can't find it without being given the link.Įach new version of macOS that you can update to, you should. If you have High Sierra, you can sometimes see an update for it in the App Store. Maybe not all the way to Catalina, but perhaps to High Sierra, maybe El Capitan, conceivably Mojave. However, it's easy to end up with old Macs that are working fine, yet could be updated a little. And that's fine because you're probably going to leave them on whatever they're currently running. While Apple supports Macs going back more years than seems feasible, there are still going to be plenty of machines that cannot ever update to Catalina. The only exception is when you are reliant on older 32-bit apps as those won't run on Catalina. If your Mac is physically capable of running macOS Catalina, you're almost certainly better off updating it to that. It's not that it's difficult or that it's somehow risky for your Mac, but it can be pointless.

That could also be to do with the October 24 expiration, and if so, it's hard to see Apple bothering to do anything about an OS from nearly 15 years ago.)Įven with less prehistoric releases, don't do this at all unless you have to. (Modern Macs won't run the Tiger installer anyway, they report that it's from an unidentified developer. Catalina, for comparison, is 4.5GB.ĭon't get an old version of macOS because, say, you're short on drive space and that 340MB is appealing. It's a fast download, too, because Tiger is around 340MB.
#CAN MAC OS 10.9.5 BE UPGRDED TO SIERRA MAC OS X#
Nonetheless, in a corner of Apple's website that hasn't seen a lick of paint in a decade, there is still a page to let you download Mac OS X Tiger. We don't recommend it, and we have zero way to test whether it actually works. You could go even further back and get macOS versions as old as Tiger from 2005. But you can still find Apple operating systems back to 2005's Mac OS X Tiger if you really want to. If you again dig through the support documentation, though, there is still a way to get one of these particular old versions.ĭon't be insane. For Sierra, El Capitan or Yosemite, Apple no longer provides links to the App Store. You had to read Apple's support documentation before you could get a link that would magically open up the installer in the App Store.Īt present, you can still manage to get macOS Mojave, and High Sierra, if you follow these specific links to deep inside the App Store. You wouldn't ever see them listed and you couldn't typically find them with a direct search, either. However, any old macOS installer that you can download from Apple now will work.Īnd you can download them, you just have to know where to look - and that's also changed recently.įor some years, Apple kept the old installers for versions such as El Capitan, Sierra and High Sierra in the App Store, but hid them. However, that pile of macOS installers you collected on that old external drive became worthless on October 24, 2019.Īny old macOS you have won't run anymore, because the security certificates on them expired then.

You've just not noticed because you've kept a handy copy of each one as you've upgraded over time. Partly for this, and partly out of wanting to make it obvious to newcomers which is the current version of macOS, the company has long since hidden previous versions. And if that means you having to buy a new Mac, they'll find a way to manage their angst. It doesn't seem that long since we were looking forward to the release of macOS El Capitan.Īpple really wants you to use macOS Catalina.
