macOS 27 Golden Gate is the final version of macOS to fully support Rosetta 2, meaning the translation layer that allows Intel apps to run on Apple Silicon Macs is expected to disappear completely with next year’s major macOS release.
Golden Gate is the first release of macOS limited to Apple Silicon Macs and marks the end of the road for Intel hardware, but the implications reach Apple silicon owners as well.
Rosetta 2 is the dynamic binary translator that Apple introduced alongside the M1 chip in late 2020. It currently allows Intel-compiled applications to continue running on Apple silicon without modification. Apple first confirmed this timeline during its State of the Platform Union report at WWDC 2025:
Rosetta was designed to ease the transition to Apple silicon, and we plan to make it available for the next two major releases of macOS – through macOS 27 – as a general-purpose tool for Intel applications to help developers complete the migration of their applications. Beyond this period, we will retain a subset of Rosetta features aimed at supporting older, unmaintained game titles, which rely on Intel-based frameworks.
With macOS 27 Golden Gate now in beta, this commitment has reached its final phase. Owners of Apple Silicon Macs running Intel-only apps have one more version of macOS before those apps stop working.
Apple began warning users ahead of the deadline. With macOS 26.4 and 26.5, a system alert appears whenever a user launches an Intel-only application, indicating that support will end in a future version of macOS. The notifications are designed to give end users and developers time to find or create native alternatives to Apple silicon before the deadline.
The most widely used apps have been updated with native support for Apple silicon in the six years since the transition was announced in 2020. Developers and organizations still relying on Intel-only software, however, will have to find replacements or push for updated versions before macOS 28 ships, or simply stay on macOS 27.
Golden Gate also automatically uninstalls Rosetta 2 if you had it installed in macOS 26 Tahoe, so those who need to continue using it will need to reinstall the feature.
macOS 27 Golden Gate is currently in developer beta, with a public beta coming next month and a planned launch in September.
