Removing Rosetta 2 From Your Mac
At times I’ve needed to confirm: is this macOS app native for Apple silicon or does it require Rosetta 2?
The easiest way? In Finder, do a Get Info
then look at the app’s Kind
:
Application (Universal)
= native for Apple silicon.Application (Intel)
= works on both Apple silicon and Intel-based Macs, but needs Rosetta 2.
But if you want to be certain, take these steps to completely remove Rosetta 2 from your Mac:
- Obtain a list of files and/or directories and LaunchAgents with:
pkgutil --files com.apple.pkg.RosettaUpdateAuto
. - Save that list in a way you can readily access it once you put your Mac into Recovery Mode.
- Boot your Mac into Recovery Mode.
- Open Terminal in Recovery Mode.
- In Terminal type in this command –
csrutil disable
– pressReturn
, then confirm to temporarily disable System Integrity Protection (SIP). - Reboot your Mac.
- In Finder, delete these folders (access with
Go > Go to Folder
):/Library/Apple/usr/share/rosetta
/Library/Apple/usr/libexec
- Reboot to Recovery Mode again, then open Terminal.
- Run
csrutil enable
and confirm to re-enable SIP. - Done! ☑️
Once you remove Rosetta 2, launch the desired app:
- If you launch an
Application (Universal)
app on Apple silicon, it will launch as expected. - If you launch an
Application (Intel)
app, macOS will prompt you to re-install Rosetta.
🍏🖥️