Why Your Mac Tells You Your App "is not optimized for your Mac and needs to be updated"

Do you keep getting these notifications?

Turns out there's usually nothing to worry about. Let's talk about what's going on.

Macs are always pushing the edge of the newest technology. As such, some app developers may fall behind with updates (or let's face it, you're still running Microsoft Office 2007 or something, which is still working, so why buy the new one??).

Agreed! If it works, it works! but what of these scary messages about the app not working in the future?

Well it all comes down to how your computer is built. All systems used to be 32-bit not all that long ago. Then we made the jump to 64-bit, and there was a transition period. But now Apple is going all in on 64-bit architecture, and not supporting 32-bit apps anymore.

Mac OS Mojave is going to be the last operating system Apple plans to release that supports 32-bit Apps. So this message, which pops up once every 30 days when you open the "offending" 32-bit app, is just a warning for you.

It should continue to work as long as you have Mac OS Mojave or older, but when Mac OS Catalina releases this October (2019) the 32-bit apps that create this message will stop working.

"So what do I do?"

Here are a couple of options:

1) Don't upgrade to Mac OS Catalina. You won't get any of the fancy new gizmos that come with the new operating system, but your 32-bit apps will continue to work. As long as you Mac is running fine, this is the easiest/cheapest course of action. Of course you won't get the latest security updates as well, so the security-minded may not like this option.

2) Upgrade to Catalina, but be prepared to buy new versions of the apps you love. If you're running an old version of Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc., this can quickly turn into a costly proposition, especially if you have multiple apps you need to upgrade.

So pay attention to which apps cause this pop-up, and decide which course of action is best for you.

Of course if you have any questions, you're friendly neighborhood computer guy is always here. Just contact us if you need!