The OpenCore patcher will help older Macs run macOS Sonoma — eventually

OpenCore Legacy Patcher is working on macOS Sonoma support

The upcoming macOS Sonoma from Apple will have a different range of supported Macs compared to macOS Ventura, but the OpenCore Legacy Patcher team is working now to bring the newer OS to older Macs.

The OpenCore Legacy Patcher is a software utility that enables PC users and owners of older Mac models to install newer macOS versions on their computers. This community-driven project, built upon OpenCore, is specifically tailored for older Macs.

Recently, Mykola Grymalyuk, the leader of the patcher project, shared an update stating that their team has been working on the latest macOS Sonoma release. As proof, he provided a screenshot demonstrating the successful execution of macOS Sonoma on a 2013 Mac Pro.

They currently provide a tentative timeframe of approximately six months for a software update.

The team and I have been hard at work with macOS Sonoma development, and thought some people might like a bit of a sneak peak.

And here we are, a 2013 Trans Can Mac Pro running #macOS 14.0, #Sonoma!

We still have a ton of work to do, but hope everyone's excited for this fall! pic.twitter.com/mQyYQ76jHR
— Mykola Grymalyuk (@khronokernel) June 7, 2023

OpenCore is an advanced boot loader that injects and patches data in memory rather than on disk. As a result, it can provide a nearly native experience on many Macs that are not officially supported.

It also simplifies installing OpenCore on unsupported Macs, offering a user-friendly point-and-click experience.

Compatible Macs

The project plans to expand its list of compatible Macs to include various machines from 2017.

iMac (21.5-inch, 2017)
iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017)
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)
MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)

Presently, these devices' sole recognized constraint is the absence of wireless functionality. However, graphics support remains unaffected and is fully compatible.

The team is addressing problems related to graphics cards that utilize the 31001 compilers. This includes resolving issues for Macs equipped with Intel Broadwell and Intel Skylake chips and 3802 GPUs from Intel Ivy Bridge, Intel Haswell, and Nvidia Kepler.