Have One of These 16 Apple Devices? Software Support Ends This Fall

Apple will end software support for 16 devices this fall across four product lines, with the Apple Watch seeing the most sweeping cull in the product's history.

The full extent of this year's software drops became clear with the announcements of macOS 27 Golden Gate, iPadOS 27, tvOS 27, and watchOS 27 at WWDC this week. The one bright spot is that iOS 27 features identical device support to iOS 26, with no iPhone models removed from the compatibility list, and the same goes for the HomePod.

The Apple Watch sees the sharpest cuts. watchOS 27 drops the Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra (first generation), and Apple Watch SE (second generation) in a single wave, requiring an S9 or S10 chip. watchOS 26 had supported the same lineup as watchOS 11 before it, including the Series 6 and later, the SE (2nd generation) and later, and all Apple Watch Ultra models. Wiping out three launch generations at once is the biggest loss of latest-generation support for Apple Watch to date.

The iPad lineup also sees an unusually aggressive set of cuts. iPadOS 27 raises the floor to the A14 Bionic chip or the M1 chip, dropping five models that still run iPadOS 26: The iPad Air (3rd generation), the iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation), the ‌iPad Pro‌ 11-inch (1st generation), the ‌iPad‌ (8th generation), and the iPad mini (5th generation). By comparison, ‌iPadOS 26‌ cut only a single device from the iPadOS 18 list (the 7th generation ‌iPad‌).

macOS Golden Gate brings the era of Intel Macs to a close. The four remaining Intel machines supported by macOS Tahoe don't make the cut this year: The MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019), ‌MacBook Pro‌ (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports), iMac (2020), and Mac Pro (2019). Apple said last year that ‌macOS Tahoe‌ would be the final release for pre-Apple silicon Macs, and macOS 27 makes that official.

Apple TV sees two models dropped with tvOS 27: The ‌Apple TV‌ HD from 2015 and the ‌Apple TV‌ 4K (1st generation) from 2017. Only the 2nd and 3rd generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K models will receive the update. The full list of devices losing support for the latest software this fall is as follows:

watchOS 27

• Apple Watch Series 6 (2020)
• Apple Watch Series 7 (2021)
• Apple Watch Series 8 (2022)
• Apple Watch Ultra (1st generation, 2022)
• Apple Watch SE (2nd generation, 2022)

iPadOS 27

• ‌iPad Air‌ (3rd generation, 2019)
• ‌iPad Pro‌ 12.9-inch (3rd generation, 2018)
• ‌iPad Pro‌ 11-inch (1st generation, 2018)
• ‌iPad‌ (8th generation, 2020)
• ‌iPad mini‌ (5th generation, 2019)

macOS 27 Golden Gate

• ‌MacBook Pro‌ (16-inch, 2019)
• ‌MacBook Pro‌ (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
• ‌iMac‌ (2020)
• Mac Pro (2019)

tvOS 27

• ‌Apple TV‌ HD (2015)
• ‌Apple TV‌ 4K (1st generation, 2017)

Owners of affected devices aren't entirely without options in the near term; Apple typically continues issuing security patches for the previous OS version for at least a year after it's superseded. For the latest features, though, newer hardware is the only path forward. Apple's new operating systems are expected to be released in September following a period of beta testing.