The Mac Apple Silicon offer for the moment comes down to three rather tempting machines. Here are some tools and tips to make sure that all the apps you use every day will run on a Mac M1.
The great transhumance of Macs from Intel chips to Apple Silicon chips, announced last June and initiated a few weeks ago with the first models embedding the M1, raises the question of the availability of the software that everyone uses on a daily basis.
With each passing day more and more ported software runs natively on ARM Macs, while Rosetta 2, the application emulation solution designed for Intel processors, is generally very capable. However, not all programs will be reviewed to run on an ARM processor right away and others have some issues with emulation.
It is therefore sometimes necessary to ensure that your software library will not be amputated of an essential part before replacing your machine – professional, especially. Here are three tips that can help you.
First-hand observation …
The first solution is obviously to check on your current Mac whether the latest version of the updated application is a so-called Universal application, which contains code to run natively on an Intel or Apple Silicon processor.
To find out, several solutions are available to you. The fastest way to get an overview is not to go to the Applications directory, then select the desired programs and use the Cmd i shortcut. Instead, go to the Apple menu, then to About This Mac. Then click on Storage and Manage. If it isn’t already, select Applications in the left column. You will then see all the programs installed in this directory, whether they are compiled for Intel or Universal.
There is an application for that
If for some reason you do not install all of your programs in the folder Applications, the developers of iMazing, of whom we had the opportunity to speak recently, have developed a small program called Silicon, freely downloadable from their site at this address: imazing.com/downloads.
Once downloaded and installed, you just have to launch this app to then be able to scan your Mac (the entire disk or just the Applications directory). The programs present on your Mac will then be listed with their “status”. Practice !
Go through the web
If you do not want to install an application, do not have the rights to do so on your machine, or want to know if an application you are using on another Mac is compatible with M1 processors, you can simply go to a website, created by a developer in order to list macOS applications and indicate whether they are supported by Rosetta 2, already natively supported by M1 processors or if it does not work. IsAppleSiliconReady.com.
He already lists more than 200 programs, some very common, others more exotic. You can even participate in this encyclopedic effort by indicating new applications that you know if they are working, or, conversely, still crashing.
Along the water …
Finally, for those who want to do it on the fly, there is a small program, which will be housed in the Finder bar and which tells you when launching an application on your Mac, if it is Universal or Intel only. You will then know on a case-by-case basis whether you can switch to Mac Apple Silicon smoothly.
Called Silicon Info, this application for the Menu bar can be downloaded from its developer’s GitHub: https://github.com/billycastelli/Silicon-Info.
It installs like any other application. It is then accessed in the Finder Menu. When you are using an application, click on the Silicon Info icon and you will know if the program is Universal or Intel.