Not everyone likes macOS Sonoma (the latest version of macOS) and there are many reasons why you might want to go back to an older release. The latest macOS may be missing key features you previously enjoyed, for example, or it may have compatibility issues with your apps.
There are several ways to uninstall the latest version of macOS and downgrade, and we’ll walk you through them in this guide. However, before we get started, you need to do something very important: back up your Mac.
For one, it will get you out of a tight spot if something goes wrong. Additionally, some of the methods we discuss in this article involve either wiping your Mac drive or going back to a previous point in time. In either case, you might lose recent files. To prevent this from happening, store your files in a separate location, whether it’s in the cloud or on one of the best external hard drives.
Now that you’ve done that, you also need to know which versions of macOS your Mac can run. As a general rule, it’s unlikely to be able to run anything older than the macOS release that was installed when you bought your Mac. However, it should be fine to go back to anything that came out within a few years of your Mac’s release.
After everything is done, let’s begin.
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Method 1: Restore from an older Time Machine backup
Step 1: Before you begin, note that restoring from a Time Machine backup will mean you’ll lose any data created after the backup, so make sure you have recent documents saved somewhere on another Mac, an external drive, or cloud storage.
Step 2: Restart your Mac in recovery mode. To do this, turn off your Mac, then on Apple silicon Mac turn it on until by pressing and holding the power button until you see the message “Loading boot options.” On an Intel Mac, turn on your Mac and press immediately Cmd+R together until you see the Apple logo.
Step 3: Choose Options > Continue and wait for the progress bar to fill up. Sign in with an administrator account, then select Restore from Time Machine > Continue > Continue.
Step 4: Choose a backup before upgrading to macOS Sonoma (ie a backup with macOS Ventura or earlier). Now choose Continue and have your Mac restored from backup. Your Mac will install an older version of macOS as part of the backup restore process.
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Method 2: Run the bootable installer
Step 1: Apple still makes older versions of macOS available in the App Store. You can download it, load it on a USB drive and install from there. However, this method requires using Terminal and wiping your Mac’s SSD, so make sure you’ve backed up your files somewhere (and know how to use Terminal) before starting.
Step 2: Download your desired version of macOS from the App Store using one of the following links: * macOS Ventura * macOS Monterey * macOS Big Sur * macOS Catalina * macOS Mojave
Step 3: In this example we will use macOS Ventura. When it finishes downloading, do not run the installer. Instead, open the Applications folder in the Finder and check for the installer.
Step 4: Plug the USB drive into your Mac. You will need to make sure that there is enough space for the installer and that it is completely empty before starting. Name the drive “macOS installer” or something equally memorable.
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Step 5: Open the Terminal app on your Mac and type the following command: sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Ventura.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyDrive
Replace “Ventura.app” with the name of the installation file and “MyDrive” with the name of your USB drive. When you’re done, press Return. You can close the terminal when the process is finished.
Step 6: Now open Settings app and select In general > Boot diskthen select the USB drive with the macOS installer on it.
Step 7: Shut down your Mac and boot it into Recovery mode until by pressing and holding the power button until you see “Loading Boot Options” (on an Apple silicon Mac), or by pressing and holding Cmd+R as soon as you start your Mac (on an Intel Mac).
Step 8: Now select Possibilities > Continue. Log in with an administrator account, then click Disk Utility > Continue. From here, select your Mac’s startup drive and select Delete. This will erase everything on the drive, so it’s your last chance to make a safe backup of your files. Wait for the process to finish and then click Disk Utility > Close Disk Utility from the menu bar.
Step 9: Now select Reinstall macOS from the menu and follow the on-screen instructions.
Apple MacBook Air M2 Luke Larsen / Digital Trends
Method 3: Restore your Mac to the operating system it came with (Intel only)
Step 1: If your Mac was running an older version of macOS when you bought it, you can roll it back to that version. Note that this only works on Intel Macs, so if you have an M-series Apple silicon chip inside your Mac, this method won’t work.
Step 2: Shut down your Mac, then restart it and hold immediately Shift+Opt+Cmd+R together.
Step 3: After the recovery screen loads, select Reinstall macOS > Continue and follow the instructions on the screen. Then select your startup disk and click Install.
Step 4: Wait for your Mac to finish installing the version of macOS that came with your Mac.
Now that you’ve managed to downgrade from macOS Sonoma to an older version of Apple’s Mac operating system, you should be good to go. If you ever want to upgrade to a newer version, you can download the installer from the App Store or open the Settings app and select In general > Software update and install the update from there.
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