How to Prepare Your Mac to Upgrade to macOS Sequoia: the Ultimate Guide
Posted on
by
Kirk McElhearn
macOS Sequoia, a solid update with plenty of new features that improve productivity and enhance privacy, is available as of September 16. Before you upgrade your Macs to the new operating system, you should ensure that they’re ready.
Should you upgrade your Mac to macOS Sequoia now, or later? Is your Mac compatible with the new operating system? And if not, what should you do? If your Mac is compatible, how should you prepare for this upgrade? In this article, I’ll answer all these questions and more.
Upgrade now, or upgrade later?
If you’re reading this shortly after macOS Sequoia’s initial public release, you should be aware that it’s likely that a few bugs and compatibility issues will be discovered and fixed soon, although these bugs may not necessarily affect you. Some Mac users prefer to wait a few weeks for the initial bugs to be worked out and patched, and for more information to become available about compatibility with third-party apps and hardware, before upgrading to the latest macOS.
It’s also worth noting that the bulk of the new features in macOS Sequoia, collectively called Apple Intelligence, won’t be available immediately. They start rolling out with macOS Sequoia 15.1, probably in October, and additional features will be added throughout the coming months. So if you want to use these new features, but don’t care about any of the other changes in macOS Sequoia, you might want to wait until the next release comes out. (And you won’t get Apple Intelligence features at all if you have a Mac with an Intel processor.)
You should also consider that the latest macOS version is generally the safest to use online. Major new macOS versions typically contain security enhancements and patch vulnerabilities that never get fixed for the previous macOS versions. For this reason, you shouldn’t wait too long to upgrade to macOS Sequoia.
Regardless of whether you prefer to upgrade immediately or wait a few weeks—or if you haven’t yet decided which category you fall into—read this guide thoroughly to ensure that you’ve made all the important considerations before taking the leap into the next-generation Mac operating system.
A note about macOS beta versions
Since 2023, Apple has made beta versions of its operating systems available to anyone, regardless of whether they have an Apple Developer account. So even before the release of a new operating system or an upcoming revision, you can choose to install a beta. Most people probably should not do this, but if you want to be an early tester of Apple’s latest operating system before it’s released, you can do so. See our article How to install Apple beta software for macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, and tvOS 11 for more info. As of mid-September 2024, you have the option to install beta versions of macOS Sequoia 15.1 so you can start trying out the initial wave of Apple Intelligence features early.
Mac model compatibility
The first thing to check is whether your Mac model is compatible with Sequoia. Apple officially supports macOS Sequoia on the following Macs:
- iMac (2019 and later)
- iMac Pro (2017 and later)
- Mac Mini (2018 and later)
- Mac Pro (2019 and later)
- MacBook Air (2020 and later)
- MacBook Pro (2018 and later)
- Mac Studio (2022 and later)
This isn’t a big change from the devices compatible with macOS Sonoma; Apple only dropped support for the 2018 and 2019 MacBook Air this year. If you’re not sure of the vintage of your Mac, go to the Apple menu, and choose About This Mac. You’ll see its model and year.
Unofficial compatibility with older Macs
The list above contains all the Mac models that Apple officially supports for macOS Sequoia. If you try to install Sequoia on an earlier Mac, the installer won’t let you.
But, as Apple likes to say, “there’s an app for that.” OpenCore Legacy Patcher is a third-party app that makes it possible to upgrade Macs from 2008 or later to macOS Sequoia—unofficially, without Apple’s support. The primary benefit is that you’ll continue to get all the security enhancements and vulnerability patches that Apple releases exclusively for the current macOS version.
The process of upgrading an “unofficially supported” Mac is actually much more complicated than just running an app. But fear not; we’ll walk you through it all in our complete guide to upgrading older Macs that Apple doesn’t support to macOS Sequoia.
How to Install macOS Sequoia on Unsupported Macs, for Security Improvements
Compatibility of hardware drivers
It’s also very important to check that any hardware drivers you rely on are compatible. For example, if you use a RAID storage device, and its driver isn’t updated, you won’t be able to access your files on that device; and if you have a graphics card in a Mac Pro whose drivers are not part of macOS, you’ll need to make sure they have been updated to use your Mac correctly.
You may also want to verify that there are Sequoia-compatible drivers for your printer, mouse, keyboard, or any other hardware that may rely on custom software for special features. In most cases, if they worked in macOS Sonoma, they’ll also work in macOS Sequoia; you’re more likely to run into trouble if you’re upgrading from a much older macOS version. While some printers, scanners, and other common hardware may work fine without any custom software, you may not know for sure about your own peripherals until you try them with Sequoia.
If you’re especially concerned about any specialized hardware that you absolutely can’t live without, you may wish to check with the manufacturer to verify macOS Sequoia compatibility before you upgrade your operating system.
Compatibility of Apple software
Any software that’s actively developed by Apple is fully compatible with macOS Sequoia.
This includes any apps that come preinstalled with macOS, as well as the iWork productivity suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote), GarageBand, iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Shazam, and more.
Compatibility of third-party security software (antivirus, VPN, etc.)
If you care about your security and privacy, you probably use software such as an antivirus or firewall (including Intego software), or VPN software. It’s always important to upgrade these to the latest versions before you upgrade to a major new macOS release.
Intego’s software is already compatible with macOS Sequoia. Just make sure to run NetUpdate to verify that you have the latest versions, and you’ll be ready to go.
Compatibility of other third-party software; check for updates
Many major third-party apps will work as well, but there’s a possibility that one or more apps that you depend on won’t be; some older apps may no longer be updated.
In some cases, third-party app developers might not yet have finished developing a Sequoia-compatible version. And in rare cases, it may not be possible to make their old apps compatible for some reason.
If there are any apps you can’t live without, it is essential to check whether your apps are compatible. Imagine if you don’t, and you find that one app you use to perform an important task for your clients doesn’t work! You might be forced to rely on your system backup (more on that below) and try to revert back to Sonoma.
Apple does not maintain a list of compatible third-party apps. Each app developer should say on their website, or in their Mac App Store information, whether they are compatible. But in some cases, especially for older or infrequently updated apps, you may not know unless you contact the developer.
Check for software updates
It’s a good idea to update as much of your software as possible before upgrading to a new Mac operating system. In many cases, updates will be available that improve compatibility.
Most popular apps these days offer automatic update functionality; often this means they’ll check for updates whenever you launch them. Or, if you’ve purchased apps from the Mac App Store, you can get updates directly via the App Store app. Some apps have a separate updater app, like Microsoft AutoUpdate (which you can find at /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app).
Updating your software before upgrading your operating system is especially important for software like the Microsoft Office suite, the Adobe Creative Cloud apps, or other apps you may depend on for your work.
Clean up your Mac first
When you’re ready to download the macOS Sequoia installer, expect it to take up about 15 GB of space on your drive. Therefore, you’ll probably need at least 30 GB of free space to both download the installer and perform the upgrade. (Apple will let you know if you don’t have enough free space before you begin the installation process.) You may need to offload some files to an external drive in order to have enough space. Some ideal candidates for offloading include feature-length videos and virtual machines (i.e. other operating systems on your Mac that you run within an app like Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or UTM).
If you back up your Mac to an external drive—which is something you should do regularly—you should still copy any important files (and any files you temporarily remove) from your Mac to an additional drive, just in case you run into a problem with your backup.
There may also be lots of “gunk” (e.g. old apps, unemptied Trash, etc.) on your Mac that you don’t need. You can check this by choosing the Apple menu > About this Mac, then clicking on Storage, then clicking More Info, then scrolling down and clicking Storage Settings. You’ll see how much space each type of file takes up, and see some options to remove files. For each of the categories in the storage list, click the ⓘ (circled letter “i”) icon to see which files take up the most space. Make sure that, if you do delete files, you empty the Trash.
If you try out lots of software, you might want to look at your Applications folder; you may find a number of apps you can delete, that can free up several gigabytes of data. For example, you may have installed Apple apps such as GarageBand, iMovie, or the iWork productivity apps, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. If you don’t use these, you can delete them and save a lot of space.
You can also use Intego’s Mac Washing Machine (available as part of Mac Premium Bundle X9, Mac Washing Machine Secure X9, or standalone) to clean up and delete files you no longer need, such as cache files, downloads, duplicates, and more.
Related:
Check your drive
Apple’s Disk Utility (located in /Applications/Utilities) is a tool designed to manage disks, but also to check them for errors. Before upgrading, it’s a good idea to run Disk Utility’s First Aid tool on your startup volume, as well as on the disk(s) you will use to back up your Mac (see below).
Launch Disk Utility, select your startup volume and then click First Aid in the toolbar. This is generally quick (though if your Mac has a spinning disk, it can take a few minutes); during the process, your disk will be locked so Disk Utility can make repairs, if necessary. When this is completed, it will tell you if all is well, and if it has made repairs.
Back up your Mac
If your Mac is compatible, you’ve updated all your other software, and you’re ready for the big macOS upgrade, the next thing you should do is back up your Mac. Follow the 3-2-1 backup strategy: 3 copies of your data, 2 local copies on different storage types, and 1 off-site backup.
You can use Apple’s Time Machine to create one local backup if you have an external hard drive. But it’s also a good idea to clone your drive. A clone is an exact copy of everything on your Mac’s drive: system files and personal data. You can do this with Intego Personal Backup.
Related:
Of course, you can always take a belt-and-suspenders approach and do both. That way if something goes wrong with restoring a backup, you can feel secure knowing that you have an alternative option for restoring your data.
One more thing: It’s a good idea to actually test your backups to ensure that they’re working correctly. A backup isn’t very useful unless you can actually restore from it.
Related:
Choose an upgrade method: Migration or Clean Installation
There are two ways to upgrade a Mac. The simplest is to run the macOS Sequoia installer or install the update from the Software Update pane of System Settings. Both of these methods install the new files over your existing operating system. These methods (referred to as migration) don’t alter your personal data, but only those files that are part of the system, as well as bundled Apple apps.
The other is to perform a clean installation, setting up your Mac with the new operating system, then copying files from the previous operating system. To do this, you should clone your Mac, on at least two drives (one to use for the upgrade, and another as a backup). Start up your Mac, then, if you have an Intel processor in your Mac, press the Option key immediately so you can select a cloned drive as the startup drive. For M-Series Macs, press and hold the power button until you see Loading Startup Options, then choose the external drive. Launch Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities) and erase the drive on your Mac. (You did make two backups, right?)
Download the macOS Sequoia installer and launch it. It will ask which drive you want to install the software on; select the now erased drive in your Mac. Follow the instructions to complete the installation.
When you’ve finished, you’ll have a virgin operating system on your Mac, and you’ll still be working from your external drive. You can now copy all the files in your home folder, as well as personal apps.
Related:
How to Set Up a New Mac: Should You Migrate or Do a Clean Installation?
A clean installation is time-consuming, but it can weed out old files from apps you no longer use, and it’s a good way to start with a clean slate. Some people do this for every major operating system upgrade; I only do it every few years, because it does take a long time. If you do a clean installation, make sure to keep both of your clones for some time, just in case there’s something you forgot to copy over.
How to install macOS Sequoia
Okay, it has taken a while, but now you’re finally ready. If you’re installing macOS Sequoia on a laptop, make sure it’s fully charged, or better yet connected to a power source; you don’t want it running out of battery during the installation process.
There are two ways to install macOS. The first is to go to the Mac App Store and download the macOS Sequoia installer. This installer is around 15 GB in size, so it may take a while to download, depending on your bandwidth. When the download is complete, the installer will launch; follow its instructions. The upgrade process can take a while—expect it to take a half-hour or more—and this is a good time to get a cup of tea or coffee, walk the dog, or do something else instead of sitting in front of your Mac watching its progress bar.
The second, and easier method, is to go to System Settings > General > Software Update. You’ll see the option to install macOS Sequoia here. As mentioned above, you’ll also see an option to install beta software, but think carefully before you do this, because beta software can be unstable.
Before you start the upgrade, you should be aware that after macOS is installed, if you downloaded it from the Mac App Store, the installer is usually deleted automatically. If you look in your Applications folder before starting the upgrade, you’ll see the installer app, called Install macOS Sequoia. It’s a good idea to make a backup copy of this app in another location: an external drive, or perhaps your Downloads folder. This can be handy in case something goes wrong and you need to run it again. This is also useful if you have more than one Mac and want to avoid having to wait to download the Sequoia installer again; you can just copy the installer app to another Mac and run it.
Once the installation is complete, you need to go through a few screens, such as one to sign into your iCloud account. At this point, you may see an Incompatible Software screen telling you of apps that have been moved because they are known to be incompatible. If so, you’ll find them in an Incompatible Software folder at the top level of your drive.
What to do if something goes wrong
Sometimes, things go wrong with an operating system upgrade. If you have a problem, you can boot your Mac from its recovery volume, then run the installer again. In a worst-case scenario, you may need to wipe your Mac’s startup drive, then follow the clean installation method I discussed above.
Even if all seems well, keep your clone or backup for a while, just in case something goes wrong within the first few days or so. In the mean time, you can start checking out some of the new features in macOS Sequoia, and enjoy Sequoia’s new security and privacy improvements.
How can I learn more?
Each week on the Intego Mac Podcast, Intego’s Mac security experts discuss the latest Apple news, including security and privacy stories, and offer practical advice on getting the most out of your Apple devices. Be sure to follow the podcast to make sure you don’t miss any episodes.
You can also subscribe to our e-mail newsletter and keep an eye here on The Mac Security Blog for the latest Apple security and privacy news. And don’t forget to follow Intego on your favorite social media channels: 
