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So what is a universal app for a Mac? You may have heard – Apple is in the process of transitioning to its own processor design. That’s right, Apple has decided to ditch Intel and go with their own silicon.

What does it mean to you as a Mac user? Well, software apps you have been running on your Intel Mac do not work on the new Apple Mac processors. As a stop gap, Apple has provided the Rosetta translation feature to run your legacy Intel based software on the new Macs.

Legacy Intel apps run slow on the Apple silicon Macs

But there is a cost to this. The Rosetta translator makes your software run slower than it used to. Why? Because the additional overhead of translating your app so that it can run on the Apple silicon is significant. So you will experience a noticeable slow down when running your software.

Apple plans to drop support for Rosetta in the future

As a result, the real solution that Apple expects the software companies to provide is to re-design their apps. This way they can run natively both on the older Intel and new Apple silicon Macs.

Say hello to the Apple Universal Apps

In fact, Apple has named this new breed of software universal. The universal apps are designed to run on both the Intel and Apple silicon Macs out of the box. The magic is the universal runtime technology that software developers must design into their apps now. So you will not need the performance robbing Rosetta translator.

How to check if your Mac app is universal

You can easily check if a software app you are using is universal:

  • On your Mac go to the Finder and head to the Applications.
  • Locate the app you want to check in the list, then right click on it.
  • Next click on Get Info.
  • The drop-down menu will show you in the General section if the app kind is universal.

ValuAdder is a Mac Universal App

Good news if you are a ValuAdder customer. The ValuAdder app is universal from the get go. Just install it on your Intel or Apple silicon Mac. ValuAdder automatically chooses the right runtime based on your Mac system and runs at full speed.

ValuAdder is signed and notarized by Apple to keep your Mac safe

In addition, your ValuAdder is code signed by the Apple ID, the security certificate that Apple issued to us as an official Apple Developer program member.

Moreover, your ValuAdder is also notarized by Apple. This means that Apple has independently scanned the ValuAdder app to make sure it is free of threats like malware. So you can run ValuAdder knowing it is safe to use on your Mac.

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