Open Source Package Management Software Homebrew Gains Native Apple Silicon Support

Popular macOS package management system Homebrew today received a major update, with the 3.0.0 version introducing official support for Apple silicon chips.

homebrew logo

Apple Silicon is now officially supported for installations in /opt/homebrew. formulae.brew.sh formula pages indicate for which platforms bottles (binary packages) are provided and therefore whether they are supported by Homebrew. Homebrew doesn't (yet) provide bottles for all packages on Apple Silicon that we do on Intel x86_64 but we welcome your help in doing so. Rosetta 2 on Apple Silicon still provides support for Intel x86_64 in /usr/local.

Homebrew, for those unfamiliar with the software, is a package manager like the Mac App Store. It's designed to let users quickly and easily install, uninstall, and update apps using Terminal.

Prior to now, Homebrew was able to run on M1 Macs through Rosetta 2, but now it works on the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini natively. Homebrew doesn't yet support bottles for all packages on Apple silicon that are available on x86_64, but improvements will be made in the future.

According to Homebrew developer Mike McQuaid, the 3.0.0 development was helped along by MacStadium and Apple, with Apple providing hardware and migration help.

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Triad

Apple's 20th Anniversary iPhone May Finally Go All Screen

Tuesday April 15, 2025 6:31 am PDT by
Apple is preparing a "bold" new iPhone Pro model for the iPhone's 20th anniversary in 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. As part of what's being described as a "major shake-up," Apple is said to be developing a design that makes more extensive use of glass – and this could point directly to the display itself. Here's the case for Apple releasing a truly all-screen iPhone with no...
maxresdefault

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...
CarPlay Hero

Apple Releases Wireless CarPlay Fix

Wednesday April 16, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
If you have been experiencing issues with wireless CarPlay in your vehicle lately, it was likely due to a software bug that has now been fixed. Apple released iOS 18.4.1 today, and the update's release notes say it "addresses a rare issue that prevents wireless CarPlay connection in certain vehicles." If wireless CarPlay was acting up for you, updating your iPhone to iOS 18.4.1 should...
top stories 2025 04 19

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Pro Rumors, CarPlay Bug Fix, and More

Saturday April 19, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
This week saw rumor updates on the iPhone 17 Pro and next-generation Vision Pro, while a minor iOS 18.4.1 update delivered not just security fixes but also a fix for some CarPlay issues. We also looked ahead at what else is in Apple's pipeline for the rest of 2025 and even the 20th-anniversary iPhone coming in 2027, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more! iPhone 17 ...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Only a Few Changes So Far

Monday April 21, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...

Top Rated Comments

aesc80 Avatar
55 months ago
Holy crap, yes!!! Now we're getting the good stuff!!! I realize how hard it can be to get tools working on a new platform, so this is definitely appreciated!
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FishyFish Avatar
55 months ago

I dont know why but I cant seem to find anything useful in Homebrew, yes I could use youtube-dl but even short videos are like almost a gig.

Do you guys recommend trying out something? I just dont think Homebrew is useful in any way.
Just off the top of my head of things I use every day:

awscli, tldr, htop, ncdu, speedtest-cli, pyenv, pyenv-virtualenv, tmux, nvm, node, redis, yarn, git, tree, unrar, wget, docker, httpie, nginx... I'm sure others as well
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LeeW Avatar
55 months ago

I just dont think Homebrew is useful in any way.
It is great for developers like me. But yes, not much use for general users.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aesc80 Avatar
55 months ago

I dont know why but I cant seem to find anything useful in Homebrew, yes I could use youtube-dl but even short videos are like almost a gig.

Do you guys recommend trying out something? I just dont think Homebrew is useful in any way.
It's definitely a developer thing. There's a bunch of tools that can be installed freely with Homebrew without having to manage all the different invocations. The general user can stick to the App Store, or whatever other site that offers their apps.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EugenesSoggySalami Avatar
55 months ago
I dont know why but I cant seem to find anything useful in Homebrew, yes I could use youtube-dl but even short videos are like almost a gig.

Do you guys recommend trying out something? I just dont think Homebrew is useful in any way.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
name99 Avatar
55 months ago

I dont know why but I cant seem to find anything useful in Homebrew, yes I could use youtube-dl but even short videos are like almost a gig.

Do you guys recommend trying out something? I just dont think Homebrew is useful in any way.
Gotta say MacPorts has always been way more useful for my needs.
(As for what I use from MacPorts, the primary functionality is a set of tools like sox and ffmpeg that I use in a script that speeds up audio and video files by some arbitrary factor (while preserving pitch).

The audio speedup is less essential these days in that Apple gives us some degree of flexibility in audio speedup, though still not that many choices. And while I do the audio speedup I fix it up in other useful ways like companding and silence removal.
Apple has never embraced video speedup (after the days of QuickTime as QuickTime; back when I was on the team we definitely supported it even doing backward playback smoothly. My smooth backward MPEG playback remains the only such implementation I have ever seen.) But if you're watching, eg, video lectures, you want speedup for the same reason you want audio speedup!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)