How to run 32-bit apps on Mac OS Catalina

What’s different between 32 and 64 bit apps?

32-bit apps and games are usually developed for old operating systems, that’s why they have some limits, related to the architecture of systems that they were designed for. A 32-bit program can’t use more than 4GB and depending on the operating system the actual limit may be 2GB or lower. macOS Catalina was the first Mac operating system, that didn’t support 32-bit apps. If you will try to run a 32-bit application on Catalina, or Big Sur it will simply not start. If you wish to avoid these troubles, the most simple is to choose 64-bit native software for Mac, instead of using old apps. Leading software developers usually adapt their software to new hardware as quickly as possible, so sometimes you need only update the version of the app. But millions of users like to use old trusted, and usual programs, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe CS 5, etc. The price of the software package may be an additional reason. Anyway, if you still need to run the 32-bit app on macOS Catalina, you can read our guide below.

Why some apps doesn’t run on Mac?

There are several reasons why some apps don’t run on Mac. It may be an incompatibility with Mac or macOS version. macOS Catalina and Big Sur don’t support 32-bit apps. New Mac architecture with a new M1 processor, also may be the reason for bugs and crashes. Most apps developers create new, 64-bit versions of the apps but, despite it, there are still hundreds of apps that can only run on 32-bit Macs.

How to check if your Mac’s software is 32 or 64-bit

If you are installing macOS Catalina on your Mac you can check the list of incompatible software during the process of installation. If you already have Catalina preinstalled on your Mac/MacBook, you can use third-party software for checking, or just launch the app. You will see one of these alerts when attempting to open a 32-bit app:

(app name) needs to be updated.
The developer of this app needs to update it to work with this version of macOS. Contact the developer for more information.

(app name) is not optimized for your Mac and needs to be updated.
This app will not work with future versions of macOS and needs to be updated to improve compatibility. Contact the developer for more information.

App is not optimized for yuour Mac

How to run 32-bit apps on Mac

The most popular solution for running 32-bit apps on Mac/MacBook is virtualization software. Despite the fact, that emulators usually use much of the resources of Mac, some of them, for example, Parallels, Virtualbox, or VMWare can help to run different programs on OS X with minimal losses in the performance of your machine. Moreover, some of them are compatible with Directx 11, which can help to run graphically demanding apps and games. Also, you can change desktops and copy any files between your Parallels program (Windows Desktop) and OS X freely. Both Student or architecture versions can be run easily.

how to run 32-bit apps on Mac with Parallels

Running 32-bit apps through Parallels

If you wish to run 32-bit apps on Mac, Parallels Desktop can be a solution. This is software for Windows virtualization on Mac with the full support of DirectX and GPUs. It allows you to install Windows 10 on Mac with a couple of clicks and switch between macOS and Windows instantly. You can run Windows just like on a regular PC and install 32-bit apps on your Mac/Macbook.

Download Parallels Desktop

Running 32-bit apps though other virtual machines

Another popular software is VMware Fusion. It is a software hypervisor that allows running virtual machines like guest operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, NetWare, and Solaris. Fusion can drive heavy, GPU-intensive applications and games with top 3D graphics. Fusion now provides hardware-accelerated DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.1 capabilities to virtual machines.

Download VMware Fusion

Also, the most well-known free alternative programs are VirtualBox, Wine, Proton, and QEMU, but you will be required advanced skills to run 32-bit apps by them.

Running 32-bit apps on remote server

If you have a Windows-based server, and a wide-scale internet connection, another method is a 32-bit apps running on Windows on a Server machine (in the cloud, or remote desktop) and looking at the screen from your Mac.

You can use TeamViewer, or other software for this purpose.

Running 32-bit apps on Windows 10 using Boot Camp

BootCamp allows users to choose the system to work in on startup, however, you won’t be able to switch between systems like in Parallels. Note, that you need no less than 64 GB on the hard disk of your device. We recommend having 128 GB of free space. After Windows installation completes, your Mac starts up in Windows and opens a ”Welcome to the Boot Camp installer” Window. You will need to reboot your machine every time you switch from Mac to Windows and vice versa. To set up Windows via BootCamp, please, do the following:

For OS X El Capitan 10.11 or later

Mention, that for MacOS versions prior to OS X El Capitan 10.11 you will need to create bootable Windows USB.

  1. Download Windows ISO file
  2. Open Boot Camp Assistant (Go to Applications > Utilities)
  3. Define the Windows partition size, choose downloaded Windows ISO file
  4. Format Windows partition and go through all Windows installation steps
  5. When Windows boots for the first time, follow on-screen instructions to install Boot Camp and Windows support software (drivers)

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