Jun 11, 2019  If you want to downgrade to a version of macOS that you didn’t originally download from the App Store, or a version of macOS that was never available via the App Store (such as Mac OS X Snow Leopard) then there are some workarounds. We’ll be covering these workarounds in the next section, so avoid the temptation to download this version of. It is much better to try another software for a backup. Do not just assume that once you downgrade to an older version, your files will be saved. No, you will lose all of the files you've added to your Mac since upgrading to the macOS 10.15. Another option for considering is running two versions of macOS on your Mac.

1. How To Downgrade Mac Software
2. How To Downgrade Mac Os X
3. How To Downgrade Os X
4. Downgrade Macos Software
5. How To Downgrade Mac Os Software

Note: While Apple has removed the macOS Sierra installer from the Mac App Store. El Capitan, Yosemite and earlier versions are still available to download in the Purchased tab. If you don’t already have a bootable installer of Sierra, you’ll have to downgrade to El Capitan or earlier.

Apple’s strategy of making macOS upgrades free to download from the App Store means that many of us install a new version as soon as it’s available. Most of the time, that’s not a problem, but occasionally it can cause problems. Many of the bugs in a new OS version only become apparent after release, despite months of public beta testing. And it can take several weeks for them to be fixed.

For the strongest security and latest features, find out whether you can upgrade to macOS Catalina, the latest version of macOS.

Add to that the fact that older versions of many apps simply stop working when the OS is upgraded, and others start having problems, and there are several reasons you might want to downgrade to an earlier version from macOS High Sierra. Here’s how to do it.

Start to downgrade from macOS High Sierra

As with any major change you make to your Mac, you should always back it up before you upgrade the OS. The easiest way to do this is to use Apple’s Time Machine to back up to an external disk, either directly connected to your Mac or on a network – if you’re running macOS Sierra, that network disk can be SMB; earlier versions of macOS only support AFP.

As a bonus, the easiest way to downgrade from a new version of macOS is to restore from a Time Machine backup.

Backup your Mac

If you don’t want to use Time Machine, Get BackUp Pro, available in Setapp, can clone your Mac’s startup drive, protecting you if something goes wrong. Disk Drill, also in Setapp, can make a disk image of your drive – making a byte-by-byte copy. And you can also use ChronoSync Express, again, in Setapp, to back up your data.

In addition to making a backup or a clone of your startup drive before you upgrade, you should backup any files and documents you’ve worked on since you upgraded, before you downgrade. That backup could be via Time Machine, or to an external drive (not the same one you used for the first backup) using Get Backup Pro, or to a cloud storage service, if there are only a few files. Dropshare, also available in Setapp, makes it easy to mount cloud storage services on your Mac’s desktop so you can drag files to them.

macOS downgrading toolkit

Whether because of incompatibility or other reasons, you can get back to an old macOS version with these apps.

If you use Apple’s Photos app and don’t use iCloud Photo Library, make sure you manually export any photos you’ve imported or worked on since you upgraded to a separate drive. Bottom line: you’re about to wipe your Mac’s startup drive, backup anything you want to keep.

Make sure you take a note of licence codes, serial numbers and settings for the applications you use – you’ll have to re-install them later.

Bonus: because Setapp apps are linked to to your subscription, you don’t need to worry about serial numbers, you can just log in to Setapp after you’ve downgraded and re-download your apps.

If you use Dropbox, Google Drive or another cloud service that syncs automatically with a folder on your Mac, make sure it synchronizes just before you start the downgrade.

How to downgrade by restoring from a Time Machine backup

1. Make sure you’re connected to your Time Machine backup drive.
2. Restart your Mac, holding down the Command and R keys until you see the Apple logo. When the macOS Utilities screen appears, choose Restore from a Time Machine Backup. Click Continue.
3. Choose the last backup before you upgraded to macOS High Sierra. Wait for your Mac to restart.
4. When your Mac has restarted, to recover files you created or worked on in High Sierra, click on Time Machine in the Finder menu bar and choose Enter the Time Machine.
5. Navigate to the most recent backup and to the files and folders you want to restore and use Time Machine to retrieve them.
6. If you used GetBackup Pro or another backup tool to backup your High Sierra disk, use its restore facility to retrieve files. Manually copy any other files from cloud storage or an external disk.
7. Re-install applications from Mac App Store, the vendor’s website or Setapp. To get apps from Setapp, download the Setapp desktop app and sign into your account. Then install other apps from there.

How to downgrade without a Time Machine backup

If you have a bootable installer, say on a USB stick, of the version of macOS you want to revert to, you can use that to downgrade from High Sierra.

If you don’t have a bootable installer, you can make one by following the instructions from our guide on how to create a bootable macOS installer.

As mentioned above, Apple no longer hosts macOS Sierra in the Purchased section of the App Store, so if you don’t already have an installer for that, you won’t be able to make one now. The good news is, all macOS'es are still on App Store. To download it, your Mac must be using macOS High Sierra or earlier. So you can make bootable installers for El Capitan and downgrade to that version.

Once you’ve made your bootable install disk, here’s what to do.
To reinstall macOS follow these steps:

1. Plug the new bootable installer into your Mac.
2. Restart your Mac, holding the Alt key and, when you see the option, choose the bootable install disk.
3. Launch Disk Utility, click on the disk with High Sierra on it (the disk, not just the volume) and click the Erase tab.
4. Choose Mac OS Extended from the Format menu, then give the disk a name. Click Erase.
5. When the disk has been erased, restart by holding down Command-R and wait for the macOS Utilities window to appear.
6. Choose Reinstall macOS and select the disk you just erased – your Mac’s regular startup disk. Follow the onscreen instructions and wait for your Mac to restart.
7. When it restarts, ignore the option to migrate data from a backup.
8. Re-install the backup tool you used to backup your Mac before you upgraded to High Sierra and then use that to restore data from that backup.

If you’d rather start again with a clean install, manually copy the files and documents you need back to your Mac and re-install your apps one by one, starting with Setapp and those apps you downloaded from the Mac App Store.

macOS Catalina is the next major operating system for Mac. If you mashed your fingers all over that install button before considering that you may not be ready for it, you can downgrade back to macOS Mojave. If you follow these steps you'll be back to your old setup in no time.

Note: If you are reading this article on the Mac that you want to downgrade on, switch to another device or print this page before continuing so you can read along as you go.

Important information for Macs with the T2 security chip

Before you try to use a bootable installer on your Mac if you have a 2018 or newer MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac mini, you may need to make sure to allow booting from external media before you attempt to downgrade. If you've enabled the Startup Security Utility, check to make sure you'll be able to use a bootable external drive. Here's how.

Note: You'll need the firmware password you used to enable the Startup Security Utility. This is different from your administrative password and your Apple ID. Make sure you know the correct password to access the Startup Security Utility before you begin.

1. Restart your Mac.
2. Hold down Command+R right when you see the Apple Logo. This will put your Mac into Recovery Mode.
3. Click Utilities in the Menu Bar.

4. Click on Startup Security Utility.

5. Enter your Administrator credentials.

6. Tick the box to Allow booting from external media.

Step 1: Back up your Mac

This process will erase macOS Catalina from your hard drive entirely. That means any files, programs, or documents you've been working on while using macOS Catalina will also be erased if you don't back them up first. Use an external hard drive or a cloud-based program like DropBox, OneDrive, or iCloud. If you don't save these important files somewhere off of your computer you will lose them.

Step 2: Create a bootable drive of macOS Mojave

Before you erase macOS Catalina from your computer, download macOS Mojave from the Mac App Store. You'll need a copy of macOS Mojave on an external hard drive in order to downgrade from macOS Catalina.

Follow the steps linked below to make a bootable installer drive for macOS Mojave.

Note: Making a bootable installer requires the use of Terminal. If you don't feel comfortable making changes to your Mac with Terminal, you can create a bootable disk using the DiskMaker X program.

Step 3: Erase macOS Catalina

You'll need to erase your hard drive before re-installing Mojave. Remember, back up your Mac before performing this step.

1. Connect your Mac to the internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
2. Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen.

3. Select Restart from the drop-down menu.

4. Hold down Command+R, and keep holding the keys until your computer reboots. This will put your computer into Recovery Mode.
5. Click on Disk Utility in the OS X Utilities selector.

6. Click Continue.

7. Select your Startup Disk.

8. Click on the Erase tab at the top of the window.

9. Enter a name for the file to be destroyed (Like macOS Catalina or something).
10. If your Mac is using HFS+, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the format list. If your Mac is using APFS, select APFS from the format list.
11. If Scheme is available, select GUID Partition Map.

12. Click Erase.

After the process is complete, quit Disk Utility from the drop-down menu in the upper left corner of the screen to go back to the OS X Utilities selector.

How To Downgrade Mac Software

Step 4: Reinstall macOS Mojave

After you have erased macOS Catalina, you will want to reinstall Mojave.

NOTE: If your Mac came with macOS Mojave, you can restart your Mac while holding down Shift-Option-Command-R to simply install the operating system that came with your Mac. Otherwise, follow the steps below to install Mojave back on your Mac.

1. Connect your Mac to the internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
2. Plug the bootable hard drive you made with Mojave on it into your Mac.
3. Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen.

4. Select Restart from the drop-down menu.

5. Hold down Option while your computer restarts. This will send you to the option to select a startup disk.
6. Select your bootable drive with macOS Mojave from the list of startup disk options. macOS Mojave will begin installing on your Mac.
7. Click Continue in the macOS Mojave installation window.

macOS Mojave will install like a standard update. You will agree to the licensing terms before the software reboots on your Mac.

Step 5: Restore settings from an earlier macOS Mojave Time machine backup

If you have a recent backup of your Mac saved via Time Machine (which you should), you can use it to reinstall the settings you have saved from macOS Mojave.

1. Connect your Mac to the internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet
2. Click on the Apple icon.

3. Select Restart from the drop-down menu.

4. Hold down Command+R when you hear the startup chime and keep holding the keys until your computer reboots.
5. Select Restore from Time Machine Backup in the OS X Utilities selector.

6. Click Continue.

7. Click Continue after reading the important information about restoring from a backup.
8. Select the Backup source for where your Time Machine backup is stored.
9. Click Continue.
10. Select the most recent macOS Mojave backup on the drive.

11. Click Continue.

Your Mac will begin restoring from the Time Machine backup and then reboot. This process can take a while, so grab a cup of coffee while you wait.

If you run into any problems while trying to downgrade your Mac operating system, let us know in the comments.

Updated September 2019: Updated for macOS Catalina.

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