Crisp air, falling leaves, and shorter days are the traditional signals of this new season. But if you don’t get outdoors much, nothing says autumn is upon us more than the release of a new Mac operating system. Today’s the day that Apple released macOS Sequoia, at around 10 am Cupertino time (PDT).
These days, though, the Mac is only one ripple in a sea of silicon. New versions of Apple’s other operating systems will hit your devices today, if you choose to accept them: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, watchOS 11, and visionOS 2 all debut alongside macOS Sequoia (which is no. 15, if you’re keeping track).
With all of those updates being pushed at once, what could possibly go wrong?
Compatibility
Well, if you have an older machine, you might not be able to run Sequoia, for starters.
There are Sequoia features that are specific to Apple silicon Macs, something that already started with Ventura, so if you have an older Intel Mac, some of the new goodies might not work on your machine. And depending on the age of your Mac, you might not be able to run Sequoia at all. Generally speaking, though, if your machine is currently running Sonoma (macOS 14), you should be able to update to Sequoia.
Here is the list of Sequoia-supported Macs:
- iMac: 2019 and later
- iMac Pro: 2017
- Mac Pro: 2019 and later
- Mac Studio: 2022 and later
- MacBook Air: 2020 and later
- Mac mini: 2018 and later
- MacBook Pro: 2018 and later
What’s new
There are plenty of resources that go into great detail about the new features in Sequoia, including Apple’s own site, so we won’t spend too much time on them here.
The marquee feature, Apple Intelligence, may well prove to be revolutionary, but it’s getting a slow rollout. It will only be available in US English, and in beta mode, “this fall”; Apple says that “some features, additional languages, and platforms will be coming over the course of the next year.” Apple Intelligence permeates many of Sequoia’s applications, so any feature relying upon it will be limited until the OS is further updated.
Another fancy new feature, iPhone mirroring, is also limited in its usefulness upon its debut. Although you’ll be able to view what’s on your iPhone and control it from your Mac from day one, drag-and-drop between devices, as shown below, will be “coming later this year”.
Workmanlike features may hold greater appeal to the everyday user. Window tiling finally comes to the Mac natively, allowing you to arrange windows into side-by-side tiles on your desktop, or place them in corners to keep even more apps in view, although apps like Moom will still provide greater flexibility and more options here.
The humble Notes app gains a live audio transcription feature and inline solving of mathematical operations; if you’ve ever used the notepad calculator Soulver, it may seem like Apple is once again borrowing (?) the best ideas of independent developers and folding them directly into the OS.
Speaking of calculators, the Calculator app itself gains new tools like history and unit conversions, as well as complete expressions with parentheses, trigonometry, and multiple operations. Other everyday tools like Calendar, Freeform, Photos, and Weather all sport improvements and deeper integration with other apps in the OS. For instance, you’ll be able to create and manage Reminders right in Calendar, a seemingly simple addition that will save time if you use these features regularly, with similar integration in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.
Rounding out Sequoia are updates to Safari, which include a redesigned Reader mode and a new Highlights feature; and a built-in Passwords app, which, again, borrows some of the best features of third-party apps like 1Password and bakes them right into macOS.
Proceed with caution
Apple’s pro apps like Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro can be expected to be Sequoia-ready from day one. But if you have third-party plug-ins and sound libraries that you use in these or indeed any of your music notation software, you’ll want to check to make sure that all of the ones that you use are supported as well.
We don’t expect any issues with users of music notation software upgrading from Sonoma to Sequoia, as long as you are running the latest version of your application of choice (consult our Scoring Notes Product Guide to make sure that you’re staying current). As always, though, caution is advised, especially if you use other applications, virtual instruments, plug-ins, or hardware in conjunction with your music notation software. Unless you really need to be on the bleeding edge — and suffer the corresponding cuts and bruises to your workflow — it’s best to wait to move to Sequoia until your favorite applications are officially supported and time-tested.
To that end, the fine folks at Sweetwater maintain a comprehensive compatibility guide for many pro audio and music products. So in addition to your favorite site, which is surely Scoring Notes, do bookmark the Sweetwater macOS Sequoia compatibility guide for a running tally of information about a huge number of software applications and hardware, as well as links to the relevant first-party sites.
And, as ever, on the Scoring Notes podcast, we have a few time-tested tips and strategies to follow when it comes time to click that big button, whether it’s the one that says upgrade your operating system or the one that debits your bank account and results in a brand-new computer, and the steps you should take to ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible.
If you’re using any of these products with Sequoia, you are very welcome to share your experience in the comments section, particularly any Finale users that have decided to live on the wild side.
Updated October 20, 2024 at 12:40 pm: Sibelius 2024.10 is supported on Sequoia.
Updated October 9, 2024 at 5:00 am: Dorico 5.1.50 is supported on Sequoia.
Updated September 27, 2024 at 6:27 am; MuseScore 4.4.2 is supported on Sequoia; added links to official Avid, Steinberg and PreSonus compatibility announcements.
Updated September 16, 2024 at 11:15 am with information about Notion.
Updated September 16, 2024 at 7:14 am: Initial post.
Note: The official Sequoia status will not say “Supported” unless the developer has fully and officially qualified its software to run on that version of macOS.
We’ll continue to update this post as warranted.
Sibelius
SibeliusOfficial Sequoia status: Supported
Official Apple Silicon status: Supported (Universal)
On October 24, 2024, Avid released Sibelius 2024.10 with official support for macOS Sequoia.
Sibelius for Mobile is supported from iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 through iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.
Avid has published a Knowledge Base article which gives the current status of macOS Sequoia 15.x compatibility with Media Composer, Pro Tools and Sibelius.
You’ll want to bookmark the operating system compatibility chart for all versions of Sibelius (going back to 1.4!), and periodically refer to it when it is updated. There is also the comprehensive chart of all Avid products and their compatibility with several of the latest macOS systems and chipsets, as well as iOS and iPadOS.
Further, there is this article stating the minimum requirements for Sibelius.
Sibelius was only recently made a universal binary application, allowing it to run in Apple Silicon native mode, with the 2024.6 update. Earlier versions of Sibelius run under Rosetta 2 on Apple silicon.
Finale
FinaleOfficial Sequoia status: Not supported
Official Apple Silicon status: Supported (Universal)
On August 26, 2024, MakeMusic announced that it would cease development of Finale, its flagship desktop application for music notation, and will no longer sell it directly or allow it to be sold via resellers. Current Finale customers can continue to download and activate the software that they have already purchased, and MakeMusic will continue to support it through August 25, 2025.
However, in a Knowledge Base article, MakeMusic has explicitly stated that its technical support will not be extended to any customers that upgrade their operating system to Sequoia:
“In light of our recent Finale sunset announcement (read more here), MakeMusic will not be releasing any future Finale updates.
This means any future compatibility issues that may arise between Finale and Sequoia will not be fixed, and Sequoia will not be officially recognized by MakeMusic as a supported operating system.
While MakeMusic will continue providing technical support for Finale v27.4.1 on supported operating systems (10.14 Mojave through 14 Sonoma) through August 25th, 2025, this technical support will not extend to Sequoia.”
Further, in an email sent to customers on September 15, 2024, MakeMusic stated:
“We want to remind all users that [Sequoia] does not meet the system requirements for Finale and is not compatible. While Finale may continue to work on the latest OS, we recommend exercising caution before updating any device that you would like to continue using Finale on.”
MakeMusic has endorsed a crossgrade to Dorico Pro and is selling the crossgrade directly to registered users of Finale for $149. Any Finale user who has not already upgraded to Finale v27, and purchases the Dorico Pro crossgrade from MakeMusic, will also receive a license for Finale v27 at no additional charge, which could be useful for Finale customers wishing to have the last, and only version of Finale to be supported on macOS Sonoma, as well as native to Apple silicon, even if the customer isn’t immediately interested in using Dorico Pro.
On November 29, 2023, MakeMusic released Finale v27.4, which brought official support for macOS Sonoma, as well as addressing other bugs and fixes.
About that update, and earlier versions of Finale, MakeMusic said:
“This update brings support for macOS Sonoma, making Finale v27.4 the only version of Finale compatible with the latest operating system from Apple. Please note that while older versions of Finale may continue to work on Sonoma, we cannot guarantee satisfactory performance.“
Finale v27.4 is a universal binary application, allowing it to run in Apple Silicon native mode.
Dorico
DoricoOfficial Sequoia status: Supported
Official Apple Silicon status: Supported (Universal)
On October 9, 2024, Steinberg released Dorico 5.1.60 with official support for macOS Sequoia.
Dorico 5 is a universal binary application, allowing it to run in Apple Silicon native mode.
Dorico on iPad is supported from iPadOS 14.0 through iPadOS 18.
For complete information about Dorico and all of Steinberg’s products, consult the official Steinberg product compatibility page for Sequoia.
MuseScore Studio
MuseScore StudioOfficial Sequoia status: Supported
Official Apple Silicon status: Supported (Universal)
On September 27, 2024, MuseScore Studio’s product owner, Bradley Kunda, told Scoring Notes:
“In relation to our latest release [4.4.2], we can confirm that, so far, everything is working as expected on macOS Sequoia.”
MuseScore Studio was only recently made a universal binary application, allowing it to run in Apple Silicon native mode, with the 4.4 update. Earlier versions of MuseScore Studio run under Rosetta 2 on Apple silicon.
Notion
NotionOfficial Sequoia status: Supported
Official Apple Silicon status: Desktop – Supported under Rosetta 2; Mobile – Supported (Universal)
Shortly before Sequoia’s release, Notion’s product manager, Chris Swaffer, told Scoring Notes:
“For macOS Sequoia, both Notion Desktop 6.8.2 (via Rosetta) and Notion Mobile 3.3.3 are working as expected, as is Notion Mobile on iOS/iPadOS18.”
The PreSonus statement will be found at their Knowledge Base.
Notion Mobile (their cross-platform application) is supported natively with Apple Silicon on Mac, and on iOS 11.4 and iPadOS 11.4 and later.
For the latest information about compatibility for Sibelius, Finale, Dorico, and MuseScore Studio, as well as links to the latest news and reviews about product releases, please see the Scoring Notes Product Guide.
I wrote to MakeMusic about upgrading my Finale v.25 to v.27 without the Dorico crossgrade, since I already have a v.5 Dorico licence, and was told ‘watch this space’. Anyone else in a similar position?
FWIW, Finale 27.4 seems to run fine on Sequoia, based on my own (limited) testing/usage; though others have also reported similar.
MM are really just saying that they’re not going to fix anything, which is surely taken as read….