Avoiding Tahoe
I have macOS Tahoe on my laptop, but I'm keeping my desktop Mac on macOS Sequoia for now. Which means I have the joy of seeing things like this wonderful notification on a regular basis.
Or I did, until I found a way to block them, at least in 90 day chunks.
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The secret? Using device management profiles, which let you enforce policies on Macs in your organization, even if that "organization" is one Mac on your desk. One of the available policies is the ability to block activities related to major macOS updates for up to 90 days at a time (the max the policy allows), which seems like exactly what I needed.
I followed Griffiths’s instructions about a week or so ago, and I’ve been enjoying a no-red-badge System Settings icon ever since. And the Tahoe upgrade doesn’t even show up in General → Software Update. With this profile installed, the confusing interface presented after clicking the “ⓘ” button next to any available update cannot result in your upgrading to 26 Tahoe accidentally.
The Reg FOSS desk has an entry-level MacBook Air, with just 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage, and doesn’t have room for the new OS version. We also don’t like the sound of it, so for six months or so, we’ve been dismissing the upgrade reminders – but in recent weeks Apple is making them more prominent. For us, this handy little tool arrived at an opportune moment.
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It’s a neat little hack, and we know of a few people who tried out Tahoe and disliked it enough to do manual downgrades. We suspect this little tool may prove temporarily quite popular.
AFAICT, MacOS Tahoe is worse than malware because it disguises itself as an upgrade.
My general approach to software redesigns is to just roll with them and let their imperfections and quirks become background noise over time—it’s part of my job to point out problems where I see them, but I also need to keep up with new releases whether I’m in love with them or not.
But this person has no such job requirement, and they had two questions: Can I downgrade this? And if so, how?
The answer to the first question is “yes, usually,” and Apple provides some advice scattered across multiple documentation pages. This is an attempt to bring all of those steps together into one page, aimed directly at new Mac buyers who are desperate to switch from Tahoe to the more-familiar macOS 15 Sequoia.
Although the way that macOS updates itself has changed beyond all recognition over the last few years, we tend to assume that it still works much as it did in the past, downloading a single update file, decompressing and installing that. This series of articles takes a deeper dive into what actually happens, and tries to explain how it differs from previous package updates.
- Software Update respects the fact that a System Update would be disruptive to your productivity at this time. Would Sir or Madam care to update tonight, automatically?
- Software Update wishes to remind Sir or Madam that this new Update, which Software Update informed you of yesterday, is available.
- If Sir or Madam thinks that Software Update cannot keep this up alllll week if necessary, then Sir or Madam doesn’t know Software Update very well.
[…]
Listen to me, you feckless, thumb-sucking wetbag: You will Update. Your System Software. Right. The Frick. NOW. It’s not even a demand. It’s reality.
[…]
The longer I delay a major MacOS system update (in this case, macOS Tahoe 26.3), the less stable my Mac becomes…until the whole thing stops working. This stinks.
Previously:
- MacBook Neo
- 2025 Six Colors Apple Report Card
- macOS 15.7.2 and macOS 14.8.2
- Catalina: More Trouble Than It’s Worth
4 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
"The Reg FOSS desk has an entry-level MacBook Air, with just 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage, and doesn’t have room for the new OS version."
No worries, just buy the *new* MacBook with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage. That solves the problem of installing Tahoe because it will already have Tahoe installed.
Every day Software Update spams me it makes me hate macOS and the people working on it.
Do I own the hardware, or not? Is this Mac my personal computer, or just a terminal for Apple? This pop up doesn't present a choice -- just a snidely worded "Not now", as if you're stupid.
Tahoe and Liquid Ass are disasters I will not use. I tell customers and family to avoid it. If you don't have the right to refuse software you don't want, the computer is not yours. This "gentle push" "nagging" "just force them to update" BS is antithetical to personal computing and what the Mac used to be.
No means No, Craig! Stop trying to rape me with Tahoe, Craig! My personal computer -- my choice.
Have said it before and will continue to say it. The only money Apple gets from me from here out is the 200GB storage surcharge on iCloud until I can finish moving all my crap to my own storage. Tim Apple chased away someone who had been a customer for over 40 years.
