Chrome: Google will soon no longer support this version of macOS
With Chrome 139, there will no longer be official support for Macs running a five-year-old operating system. Here's why.
Chrome logo in wrong colors: Mac users, please upgrade!
(Image: Google / heise online / dmk)
Users of the Google Chrome browser on Mac who are still working with an older version of macOS will no longer be able to use the latest versions in the future. – and, above all, regularly corrected for security flaws – Google has officially discontinued support for macOS 11, also known as Big Sur. According to the "Platform Status Update," the removal of support for this operating system will be a new "feature" in Chrome 139 and later. Users must therefore have at least macOS 12 to use the latest Chrome browser on their Mac.
The operating system is old, but sometimes necessary
macOS 11 was announced in June 2020 and released in November 2020. Among other things, it brought a new look for the interface, the control center from the iPhone, and, for the first time, support for Macs with ARM chips, i.e., Apple Silicon. macOS 12, aka Monterey, which will soon be required for Chrome, was released the following year in October 2021.
The current version of Chrome on macOS is 138.0.7204.158. The first version of Chrome 139 is expected at the end of the month. So if you want to continue using Chrome, you'll need to update to macOS 12 by that date. Otherwise, the only option will be to use Apple's integrated Safari browser (which is also outdated in macOS 12) or alternative tools such as Firefox. Firefox 140, the current version of the browser produced by Mozilla, already runs on macOS 10.15, aka Catalina (from 2019).
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Chromium also affected by end of support
Anyone using browsers based on Google's Chromium engine (such as Brave or Arc) is also affected by the end of support for macOS 11, as Chromium also adheres to Google's support schedule. macOS 11 runs on some machines that no longer run macOS 12. These are iMac, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air, this means that iMac models from 2014 will no longer be supported by macOS 12, and MacBook Pro and Air models from 2013 will no longer be supported by macOS 13.
As a general rule, you should run the latest operating systems on your Mac, as only these receive all security patches made available by Apple. For example, macOS 11 contains numerous vulnerabilities that have long since been closed. You can read how to install macOS 15, the latest version, on (some) older Macs in a separate heise+ article.
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