Request continued macOS Monterey support for Q Mac Classic

Martin Wilber · January 23

I am writing as a long-time Quicken subscriber to request that you continue supporting macOS Monterey (version 12) for the foreseeable future.

Many Quicken users, including myself, utilize hardware like the 2015 MacBook Pro. These machines are still high-performing, reliable, and perfectly capable of running financial software, but they are limited by Apple to macOS Monterey.

Requiring a newer OS would force me to choose between replacing perfectly functional hardware or switching to a different financial management platform. I value Quicken’s features and would prefer to remain a customer, but continued compatibility with Monterey is essential for my workflow.

Please share this feedback with your development and product roadmap teams. Thank you for your time and for supporting your long-term user base.

jacobs · January 23

@Martin Wilber I understand your frustration. But in my opinion, it’s just not going to happen, I’m sorry to say. They have already gone beyond Quicken’s official policy of supporting the current and two most recent versions of the operating system. But supporting four or more versions back is expensive (for testing and code tweaks to support old operating systems), and it blocks the developers from employing Apple’s current tools which don’t work on older operating systems.

Additionally, Quicken has to work with thousands of financial institutions which are (rightly) very security conscious. Having computers which are running old operating systems which Apple no longer supports and no longer patches for security flaws can create connectivity blockages from the financial institutions.

Apple makes great computers, and their reliability can lull us all into thinking they can run indefinitely. But the reality is that once a computer reaches 10 or more years old, it’s likely that updates to applications and web browser connections may not run. Google has dropped Monterey support for updates to the Chrome browser. Intuit dropped Monterey for TurboTax a year ago. Microsoft dropped Monterey for Office. The list goes on, but my point is that this is typical in the software industry to drop support for applications running on no-longer-supported and patched operating systems.

The next release of Quicken Mac (probably next month) will still run on Monterey, but that’s likely to be the last update which will work on Monterey. With your old Mac, you can continue to use that version of Quicken indefinitely, but connectivity services may break at any point because of requirements of their back-end servers.

UKR · January 23

For reference, there's another discussion on the same subject:
continuing on Quicken subscription with Monterey OS — Quicken

NotACPA · January 23

For a similar reason, I recently had to buy a new PC that supported Win11 … because TTAX 2025 won't install/run on Win10.

On a 10 year old machine, you've gotten the value that you paid out of it … it's time to upgrade.

Martin Wilber · January 24

My 2015 vehicles. I suppose I need to replace them too as "I've gotten the value that I paid out of it … it's time to upgrade." Hmm. But they both run fine. Start up each day. No issues or broken electronics like the new cars. But I've gotten my value out of them. Hmm. Luckily the car dealers haven't figured a way out to force obsolescence. Yet.

Jon · January 24

Requiring a newer OS would force me to choose between replacing perfectly functional hardware or switching to a different financial management platform.

Have you checked out those other platforms? I took a quick look at a few of the popular alternative Mac apps. Two require Monterey or better, one requires Big Sur (Mac OS 11), and one requires Catalina (Mac OS 10.15). They might draw their lines in the sand a little farther back than Quicken does but all those lines are moving forward at a similar pace. The current version of Xcode (which everyone uses to build their Mac apps) no longer lets you build apps for Catalina, and I would expect the next version this summer to drop Big Sur. In short, at best you’re only getting a couple more years of support for Monterey somewhere else unless you switch to a web based product like Simplifi, but you’re going to eventually run into compatibility issues with those as well when your web browser stops getting updated because it stops supporting Monterey.

jacobs · January 24

My 2015 vehicles. I suppose I need to replace them too as "I've gotten the value that I paid out of it … it's time to upgrade." Hmm. But they both run fine.

But that's a very different issue than computer software or hardware. Start with the cost of a car being 25-40 times more than a new computer, so they are designed to have a longer useful life. (So does my 2015 chain saw!) The main thing is that your car still negotiates roads exactly as it did in 2015, or 2005. But computer software is constantly evolving. If you have a software program you like that doesn't need to log in to other services, and if you keep your computer off the Internet, you can continue to run that computer, that operating system, and that application indefinitely until the hardware dies someday. But almost everyone wants/needs to be connected to the Internet, where the pace of change is frenetic and where there are hackers looking for software they can exploit; Apple and Microsoft are constantly patching their operating systems to close vulnerabilities which have been discovered. But they don't continue that on operating systems they have told you, since the day you bought it, would become unsupported in 'x' years. In the early years of Macs, OS upgrades came at an irregular pace, and we had to pay for them; Apple changed to free upgrades and a regular, annual pace, so I guess you can blame them for making things predictable and defining the useful life of your OS, and by extension, the computer which runs it. So when you buy a computer, you know that the end of its useful life may be defined by either a hardware failure or by software obsolescence.

In any case, Quicken is a tiny player on the grand digitally-connected world we live in. They're a small company with limited resources, and they had to choose whether to put a significant amount of time into making their software run on unsupported operating systems for years and years, or to follow Apple and establish parameters for how far back they will support, so they can put more of their time into fixing bugs and adding more features.

@Jon wrote: In short, at best you’re only getting a couple more years of support for Monterey somewhere else unless you switch to a web based product like Simplifi…

Actually, because Simplifi is web-browser based, it too has ever-advancing browser/operating system requirements. The next version of the Chrome browser will drop support for macOS Monterey this summer. Internet Explorer on older Windows versions is no longer supported with Simplifi (and many online applications, like TurboTax.) Simplifi currently requires Safari version 16 or Chrome version 131 or greater, but those minimums will move forward over time. In general, web-based software which is connecting to financial websites typically drop support for older browsers because the older operating systems are no longer patched for known security flaws and present potential security risks for the financial institutions.

Jon · January 24

@jacobs That’s what I meant when I said “you’re going to eventually run into compatibility issues”. I wasn’t able to find the Simplifi system requirements, but I knew that Firefox and Chrome both currently required Monterey so that would be the next OS to get dropped by both.

Request continued macOS Monterey support for Q Mac Classic

Reviewed · Last Updated January 23

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