Apple's latest developer guidance makes Apple-silicon support a critical Mac-app maintenance topic as the company continues winding down the Intel transition.
Native Apple silicon is now the baseline
Developers maintaining older Mac software should audit architecture settings, dependencies, binary frameworks, and build pipelines.
Legacy dependencies deserve attention first
An application can be rebuilt for arm64 while still depending on an older component that prevents a fully native distribution.
Treat migration as a product-quality project
Testing startup, plug-ins, file handling, background helpers, and performance on current Macs reduces surprises for long-lived applications.
Frequently asked questions
Does Apple recommend adding Apple silicon support now?
Yes. Apple's developer guidance tells Mac developers to add Apple silicon support to avoid future user interruptions.
Can developers build a Mac app as arm64 only?
Yes. Apple documents setting the Xcode build architecture to arm64 for apps intended only for Apple-silicon Macs.
Why should older Mac apps be audited?
Older apps may still contain Intel-only code or dependencies that need to be updated for the continuing Apple-silicon transition.