When I opened Scrivener for the first time under MacOS 26.5, I received a pop-up warning that it used Intel features.
I haven’t seen anything here about that, and wanted to ensure it was noted. There is plenty of time to resolve this, as it doesn’t actually go away until MacOS 28. MacOS 27 says ‘limited support’, whatever that means, so it might be a problem in September 2026 rather than in 2027.
I believe the warning is triggered by the fact that Scrivener comes as an “universal” app (containing code for Intel and ARM). Which would be weird, since this is what Apple considered good practice. Would be easy to resolve, just offering two installers. I don’t think they’re actually checking for hardware-specific dependencies in the code at this point in time.
(Assuming you’re using a fairly recent version of Scrivener, which might not be the case.)
What version of Scrivener are you running over there?
3.5.2 (17487). I did check for updates, and it says I am up to date.
I wonder if it’s because Scrivener shows “Application (Universal)” as the Kind in Finder’s ‘Get Info’ window.
It is for mine as well. I’m on the Public Beta, so that might make a difference.
This may be a stupid question, but nobody’s asked it… do you have Rosetta installed on your nmachines.
I’m on 26.4 on M2 Pro, and have never seen such an alert. Open with Rosetta is unchecked, but I do have it installed on my computers, mostly legacy across updates, but I think CrossOver, for one, needs Rosetta to run on M-series processors.
Mark
Yes. I had to check to see if I had any Intel-only software; I have a few, so Rosetta 2 must be on my machine. I’ve never gotten the popup alert, though.
My thought was that if you didn’t have Rosetta installed (because you had never had to to run non-Arm apps) then maybe OS26 would throw up that alert when running a universal app rather than an Arm-only version of an app.
Mark
From what I gather, the alert pops up when using an Intel-only app that depends on Rosetta 2, and warns the user that support will end when Rosetta 2 ends. Why I’m not getting the alert is a mystery (or maybe I did and just don’t remember 
)
Anyway, Scrivener is Universal, and so isn’t dependent on Rosetta 2.
But the OP got the alert on opening Scrivener, albeit under the 26.5 beta, it seems. So I still wonder if he has Rosetta running in the background or not, even though Scrivener doesn’t need it.
I only saw the warning once, and it didn’t come back, even after a reboot. I’ll have to wait for the next point release of Mac OS beta to see if it shows up again.
Activity Monitor shows Scrivener as an Apple Silicon app.
It’s that time again.
The warning popped up this afternoon that this current version of Scrivener will not work on future macOS releases. (along with several other apps having the same warning)
Have you already formulated plans going forward? I’m assuming this current version will remain available for the legions of Intel Mac users and a native Apple Silicon compatible app alongside?
For the legions of conspiracy theorists, yes, I know the sky is falling, it all part of Apple’s dastardly ‘forced obsolescence’ plans to make you buy new gear. Yes, I know this would never have happened under Lord Steve…. (did I miss anything?)
I’m running Scrivener 3.5.2 and using Finder’s “info” for the app says it’s “Universal” and I don’t have “open in Rosetta” checked. It’s my understanding that “Universal” apps work on both Intel and Apple CPUs.
Yes, by including two versions (one compiled for x86/64, one for ARM) in a single package. (The Intel version on its own could also run on Apple Silicon, until they remove Rosetta.)
I’m not sure what this warning is trying to tell us in this specific case. Maybe they’re going to discourage this “Universal” format. If so, providing two versions separately should do.
ADDED LATER: Further reading.
I can’t reproduce this warning on macOS 26.5 myself, but I think it may be caused by subcomponents within Scrivener rather than Scrivener itself. Scrivener bundles a MultiMarkdown binary (used when compiling to MultiMarkdown formats), and it looks as though that is currently Intel-only. I’ll fix that up and go through and double-check other subcomponents.
Thanks for brining this to our attention.
All the best,
Keith
Thanks for the response and for tracking down the likely cause. Much appreciated!
Hi - excuse me jumping into this thread… I’ve just received a message on my MacBook Air (running latest software Tahoe 26.4.1 and Scrivener 3.5.2. I note comments online that Scrivener is now a Universal app and Silicon-friendly, but this morning I received a message that Scrivener will soon not run on my MacBook Air. Not sure what to do?
Maybe read the post just above yours?
We’re aware of the issue and are working on a fix.
Thank you so much! I can’t get by without my Scrivener
