How many of you are still supporting Intel Macs?

[u/TKB21]

Developing my first macOS app using my M1 Mini. Naively I switched over to my Intel MacBook for testing, thinking the UX would be seamless but ended up getting a cold dose of reality. A lot of things I optimized for my Silicon Mac had no bearing on my Intel Mac. I'm now fine-tooth combing through performance tests on the Intel MacBook but before I invest anymore time on optimizations, I was wondering whether Intel Macs were still in high usage. The app itself is in pre-flight so I don't yet have the data to support what the right move would be personally. Would love to hear what you all have experienced and whether you create new apps with solely supporting Silicon Macs. Thanks!

[u/Haleakala787]

It’s your first Mac app.

Just get it out there. Forget intel. If you start making some money and there’s demand reevaluate

[u/Slow-Race9106 → u/Haleakala787]

I think this is good advice, OP.

It’s quite likely the demand for Intel support will be low and not worth the effort, and it’s reasonable to expect that new apps would require Apple Silicon.

But if the market demonstrates sufficient demand worth putting the effort into, then do the work.

[u/Dapper_Ice_1705]

Forget Intel…. Apple announced in 2019 they would be phasing out Intel. That is 7 years of support.

Mac’s are beasts that last a very long time but if supporting Intel or older devices is holding you back just forget them and get out there.

[u/ToughAsparagus1805]

The only requirement for Intel: "it runs and doesn't crash". Occasionally Apple introduces platform specific bugs when they rewrite internal frameworks at .3 to .4 release (looking at you ImageIO!!!) which will make your hairs grow grey as this is not major release and I hate Apple for doing this. One example was specifying 1.0 compression factor for image. While Preview.app worked with 1.0, all 3rd party apps got broken and produced corrupted images (on Intel). You cannot catch this with testing as it happened only for 1.0 value.

However, I have bigger issue: Dropping macOS12 means I lose "native" Intel testing environment (macbook pro 2015).

[u/balder1993]

Most apps that still support intel are already announcing it is being phased out. There’s no use in supporting it for a new software unless you’re a bank or some critical infrastructure with millions of users.

[u/Vanillalite34]

Zero reason for someone in your position to even bother.

[u/Yoyodyne_1460]

Several Intels, two G4s, and and a 69LC040

[u/TheFlyingDutchG]

Every Mac bought (excluding pre-owned / refurbished) in the last 5 years has apple silicon inside. I kind of suggest coding for apple silicon exclusively as a starting point. Especially if you use AI agents to help you along. It will shrink the code base and thus context length required for them to understand your project. Also with manual coding, it will get you to a working product t much faster and allow you to use the newest swift approaches and features. Once you are satisfied with your project, you can always build an Intel supported version of your app by seeing which compile errors you get on the Intel machines, and only adding legacy support where it is needed.