Nobody publishes a complete list of Mac apps and their architectures. The best public data comes from Homebrew, the open-source package manager many Mac users install apps with. Its maintainers mark each app (a “cask”) that requires Rosetta on Apple silicon. Homebrew mostly reflects free, developer and enthusiast software; large commercial suites are under-represented. The numbers below are a lower bound, not a census.
The numbers (checked 5 October 2026)
| Count | |
|---|---|
| Apps (casks) in Homebrew’s catalogue | 7,780 |
| Marked as requiring Rosetta | 765 (about 10%) |
| … of these, still maintained in Homebrew | 351 |
| … deprecated or disabled in Homebrew | 414 |
| Installs of Rosetta-only apps through Homebrew in the last 365 days | about 458,000 |
| Installs of all apps through Homebrew in the same period | about 24.9 million |
| Rosetta-only apps installed at least 1,000 times in that period | 51 |
Homebrew disables or deprecates packages it can no longer maintain. Among the 414 Rosetta-only apps it has deprecated or disabled, the most common reasons recorded are that the app fails Apple’s Gatekeeper check, is unmaintained or has been discontinued. Some of these apps may still run on today’s Macs; they are no longer updated, which makes an Apple silicon version unlikely.
The most-installed Intel-only apps
Installs through Homebrew in the 365 days to 4 October 2026, for apps marked as requiring Rosetta:
| App | Installs | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Wine (stable) | 112,233 | runs Windows programs |
| Steam | 46,301 | game store and launcher |
| Eclipse Temurin 8 | 31,812 | Java 8 runtime |
| OpenSCAD | 26,608 | 3D CAD modeller |
| MacDown | 17,769 | Markdown editor |
| Android File Transfer | 12,316 | Google’s file transfer for Android phones |
| WineHQ (staging) | 8,857 | runs Windows programs |
| WCH USB serial driver | 5,989 | driver for CH34x USB adapters |
| Metasploit Framework | 5,945 | security testing |
| Minecraft (launcher) | 5,317 | game launcher |
Two caveats: an install count measures installations through Homebrew, not users, and Homebrew users can switch analytics off. The list says nothing about apps installed from developers’ websites or the App Store.
What this means
- One in ten is a lot. If you use a handful of older or niche apps, the chance that at least one of them is Intel-only is high. Check yours with How to find Intel-only apps on your Mac.
- Unmaintained apps won’t be fixed. An app that hasn’t been updated in years is unlikely to get an Apple silicon version before macOS 28.
- Games are partly protected. Apple keeps Rosetta for some older, unmaintained games that rely on Intel-based frameworks; which titles qualify, Apple hasn’t listed.
Every app above has a page in our compatibility database, with the date of the data and what you can do instead.
Method
We read Homebrew’s public cask catalogue (formulae.brew.sh/api/cask.json) and its 365-day install analytics (formulae.brew.sh/api/analytics/cask-install/365d.json) on 5 October 2026. An app counts as Intel-only when Homebrew’s maintainers mark it as requiring Rosetta. Homebrew’s data is published under the BSD 2-Clause licence.
Sources
- Homebrew cask catalogue — https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask.json (retrieved 5 October 2026)
- Homebrew cask install analytics, 365 days — https://formulae.brew.sh/api/analytics/cask-install/365d.json (retrieved 5 October 2026)
- Apple Developer News, “Upcoming changes to Rosetta support for Intel-based macOS apps”, 1 September 2026 — https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=w5ngl9k2