If you use a desktop wallet that still only runs on Intel, macOS 27 Golden Gate is the last version where it will open on an Apple silicon Mac. Apple has confirmed that from macOS 28, Rosetta will remain only for certain older games, and Intel-only apps will no longer run. For most apps that’s an inconvenience. For a wallet, you want to make that decision calmly, not the week an upgrade prompt appears.

The plan is simple: stay on macOS 27 for as long as you still need the Intel wallet, and don’t plan on it working on 28.

Which wallets are affected

Check your own apps rather than trusting lists, because builds change. As an example, Homebrew’s listing for Electrum 4.8.2, the current version at the time of writing, says it is built for Intel macOS and needs Rosetta on Apple silicon, and a request for a native build is open on Electrum’s issue tracker. Sparrow, by contrast, runs natively.

To check any app, hold Option, choose Apple menu > System Information, select Applications, and look at the Kind column. Intel means it depends on Rosetta. Since macOS 26.4, you may also see a system notification when you open an app that relies on Rosetta. Our Rosetta countdown has a one-line Terminal command that lists every Intel app at once.

Your coins aren’t in the app

This is the part that removes the panic. A wallet app doesn’t hold your coins; the blockchain does. What the app holds is access: your keys, or the information to rebuild them. If macOS 28 refuses to open an Intel wallet, your funds are untouched, as long as you have what you need to open them somewhere else.

So before you think about operating systems, make sure you have:

  • Your recovery phrase, on paper or metal, verified, and never stored digitally.
  • Any passphrase you added to the recovery phrase, recorded separately.
  • For multisig or advanced setups: the wallet descriptor, or the extended public keys and derivation paths of every signer. Without these, a recovery phrase alone may not be enough to rebuild a multisig wallet.

Test a native wallet now, with nothing at stake

  1. Install a native wallet that supports your setup from the developer’s official site.
  2. Import your wallet as watch-only first, using the public information only, and confirm the balances and addresses match.
  3. If you use a hardware wallet, connect it to the new app and check that it recognises your accounts. Your keys never leave the device.
  4. Send a small test transaction from the new app before you rely on it.

Once that works, the Intel app has become a convenience, not a dependency, and macOS 28 stops being a deadline.

Staying on macOS 27 safely

If you still need the Intel wallet, staying on Golden Gate is a reasonable plan:

  • Rosetta keeps working on macOS 27 for as long as you stay on it.
  • macOS 27 should keep receiving security updates after 28 ships. Apple has typically patched the two previous major versions, as it just did for Tahoe and Sequoia. For a Mac that handles crypto, that support window, not Rosetta, is the real deadline.
  • Major upgrades ask first. When macOS 28 arrives, Software Update will offer it with an Upgrade Now button. Don’t click it, and install 27.x updates from the Other updates section instead.
  • Keep installing 27.x updates. Staying on 27 is safe only if you stay patched.

What we wouldn’t do: install macOS 28 and hope the wallet opens, or try to keep an unpatched Mac running indefinitely for one app.

A security note on Intel wallet apps

Running an app through Rosetta doesn’t make it unsafe, but it does mean an unmaintained app is getting no attention from its developer. If your wallet hasn’t been updated in years, that is a bigger risk than the Rosetta deadline, and another reason to test a maintained, native alternative now.

Whichever app you use, check it’s genuine before trusting it with anything: download only from the official site, and verify signatures where the developer publishes them. Our guide to this week’s crypto checks shows how to check an app’s code signature.

The short version

If a wallet you need is Intel-only, stay on macOS 27 and keep it updated; don’t plan on the wallet opening on macOS 28. Your coins are on the blockchain, not in the app, so secure your recovery phrase and any descriptors, test a native wallet as watch-only, then with a small transaction. Once that works, the Rosetta deadline no longer matters.