The newest Mac operating system, macOS 15 Sequoia, is now live. The big question is, will Lightroom and Lightroom Classic work on it?
It’s a good question, as the last thing anyone wants is to update their Operating System only to find critical apps either don’t work or don’t work properly.
The short answer is – it’s too early to be sure. Adobe has issued a list of versions that they list as compatible, including Lightroom Classic 13.0 and Lightroom Desktop 7.5. At this point, there are a few known issues on Sequoia, but remember, Adobe Max is just next month which usually brings Lightroom updates.
We’re also awaiting feedback on the compatibility of peripherals. Again, see our notes on these at the end of this post – we’ll update as fixes or new drivers are available.
Update 6 November – Most of the issues seem to have been fixed with the macOS Sequoia 15.1 release, although we’d still recommend checking with the manufacturers of your peripherals for updated drivers before upgrading. We have both upgraded our working machines now.
Lightroom Classic
- Appears to be fixed in 15.1 – Crashes have been reported in the Print module, the fix appears to come from Apple.
- Appears to be fixed in 15.1 – Some people are reporting issues with tethering not finding a camera to connect.
- Appears to be fixed in 15.1 – Some people are reporting that the Import dialog can’t find their connected camera/device.
Lightroom Desktop (the cloud-based version)
- We’ll update if issues are discovered.
Other peripherals or software to check
- Wacom Tablet has an updated driver available.
- Lightroom Classic Plugins and External Editors.
- Editing device drivers (Shuttle Pro, for example).
- Printer drivers.
- Scanner drivers.
- Backup software compatibility.
We’ll leave the blog comments open for you to share your experiences, and as we gather more feedback, we’ll continue to update this post.
For extensive information on Lightroom Classic, see Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ.
Note: purchase of these books includes the first year’s Classic or cloud-based Premium Membership (depending on the book purchased), giving access to download the latest eBook (each time Adobe updates the software), email assistance for the applicable Lightroom version if you hit a problem, and other bonuses.
We also have a special bundle offer for the two books. This includes Premium Membership for the first year as described above for the whole Lightroom family!
For extensive information on Lightroom Cloud Ecosystem, see Adobe Lightroom – Edit on the Go.
Note: purchase of this book includes the first year’s cloud-based Premium Membership, giving access to download the latest eBook (each time Adobe updates the software), email assistance for the cloud-based Lightroom apps if you hit a problem, and other bonuses.
My mac min with 24 GB of memory keeps crashing using the latest version of Lightroom and updated software for the mac….very frustrating Solution please
We would need to know additional information (versions, etc) – we suggest dropping onto our Forums so we can assist further.
Where are those forums?
Link at the top of the page or here:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/
Huh? Latest Sequoia OS is 15.2.
What do you mean “macOS Sequoia 18.1 release”
Ooooops yep that’s a typo. Now fixed, thanks.
It’s now 6 November – do I still need to hold off upgrading to Sequoia?
Thanks for the nudge to update the post. As of the Sequoia 18.1 release, which has been out for about a week now, things are looking good as far as Lightroom is concerned. I upgraded my working machine last week, and Paul did his yesterday, with no issues found so far.
I have been noticing an issue where it seems to not be properly flagging files as duplicates. E.g. I want to add a few files from a folder and when I click that folder to import it is showing other files that I know for a fact are already uploaded as being new and wanting to be uploaded if I was to hit select all. I never had this issue until recently. This is on the Lightroom desktop app cloud version.
Also plugging in my iPhone does not allow me to import photos from my phone. This is normally a much faster method then uploading via the iOS app if I want or need to upload a bunch of photos/videos. When I go to add photos in the desktop app, the iPhone does not show as connected.
All devices are up to date: 2023 MacBook Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max. All Lightroom apps updated as well. Current as of Nov. 7th 2024
McFamilyJMJ, getting a new phone can sometimes update the files on the phone enough that LR thinks they’re no longer duplicates. When you’re plugging your phone in, is it unlocked? And can a Mac app like Image Capture see the photos on there ok?
Victoria – did you mean Sequoia 15.1? Thanks.
Yes, Victoria did mean Sequoia 15.1 (and neither of us are finding issues still)
OK, thanks. I’m still unable to tether my 5D Mark IV. I’ll keep troubleshooting.
Try a different cable Geoff?
I upgraded my iMac late 2015 to Sonoma yesterday with OCLP. OS runs fine but LrC hangs on start with spinning beach ball. After 19 hours trying to resolve this I had a lightbulb moment and tried LrC on my MacBookPro running Sequoia- hangs with spinning beach ball
Feel free to post on the forum (link in the menu) if you want a hand troubleshooting what’s going on for you.
I’ve also been on 13.5.1 with Sequoia and have no significant issues at all. However, having said that, I do not tether, nor connect my Sony camera direct to LrC, or my computer.
Hi . I met a lot of problèmes with Séquoia and Photoshop but not with LR . I was obliged to erase my disk to come back to Sonoma to be able to use Photoshop and I have not identified the problem even if I sent the crash report to Adobe and Apple
I have the same problems as some of you mentioned above. My Canon Camera’s will not work with LR thethered shooting. LR freezes completely.
Yet the camera will happily connect to the iMac with everything else but Lightroom. I spend several hours with Adobe Support to find out why LR freezes. They didn’t seem to know that Sequoia might be the problem.
I am now going to revert back to MacOS Sonoma, hopefully then my troubles are solved again.
Unless you’re in a mad rush, I might hold fire until next week. Adobe Max is Monday-Wednesday, which usually means there’s a Lightroom release. It’s possible that the Canon SDK will be updated for better Sequoia compatibility, which might solve it.
Lightroom 14 tethering and Canon 6D and R50 are working!
LR Classic repeatedly freezing and reluctant to ‘force quit’ since OS15 installed on Mac Studio.
Oh that’s frustrating. Is the catalog on the internal drive or external? This is 13.5?
Isn’t it COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE for Adobe not to have a simple answer to
“Is my Lightroom Classic 13.5.1 compatible with MacOS Sequoia 15.0”
10 days after official release, and 100 days after first beta release?
My team at Netflix would be running extensive regression tests for all our apps against any significant platform update (Windows, Mac, IOS, Android, Roku, PlayStation, Xbox, and any TV OSes) weeks before official release, and we would have any fixes out at release time. For Adobe not even to be able to SAY whether it might work is awfully lame!
Here’s the official support page: https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/macos-sequoia-compatibility-common-issues.html
But of course, new issues do come to light when it’s in use on a wider range of systems.
Well, it is interesting that Adobe says LRC 13.0 is compatible, but anything later than 13.0 is not. Many other apps shown in the table say “and later”, but not LRC. So, according to Adobe, LRC 13.5.1 (which is the latest released version) is NOT compatible.
I’m sure that’s just down to who filled out the compatibility form… obviously, they do mean “and later.”
While Lightroom itself is listed as compatible, the operating system appears to be having issues communicating with some devices, such as cameras. It’s not the first time a macOS upgrade has broken device connections. People are also reporting issues tethering Capture One, with some reporting that it’s fixed by the next (as yet unreleased) Sequoia update.
I was using 13.5.1 on the day Sequoia was released.
just spent a frustrating day in an artists studio trying without success to tether my R5 to Lightroom… freezes every time…. my camera tethers happily to my wife’s old Mac book pro.
Have the same problem – for now it seems you have to go through the EOS-Utility and set Lightroom to monitor the import-folder. That’s my solution so far.
EOS Utility has been my solution many times in this sort of situation in the past. Unfortunately it is currently no more compatible than LRC with Mac OS 15
Here same story, tried Eos 350D, 60D and 6D. Someone at Macrumors got a Nikon Z6ii to work in Rosetta mode, slow but worked.
Even tried to downgrade to Sonoma, lot of time spend but didn’t succeeded.
LR 14 update solved the tethering issues for me!
Excellent news, thanks for the update Robrecht!
I have an import issue which can be related to written or reader rights issues as while trying to transfert photos from iPhone IOS18 to Mac Sequia, the filename are displayed on the import pop up from Lightroom Classic but not the picture and the transfert fails.
Any ideas ?
I have the same problem
Classic issue: I can’t connect tethered to my Canon R5. No problems before upgrading and I can still import photos from the camera through Lightroom. But it just can’t find the camera and instead shows the spinning ball 4ever…
Updated Camera firmware, reinstalled LR Classic – still no luck. But can conect through Eos Utiluty and shoot. Back to the old workaround with a surveilled folder. Wish I hadn’t upgraded, though. Should have known better.
Lightroom have issue with paper size selection. Unable to select the printer and stuck with generic dimension.
Fixed in the 15.1 Beta 4
^^This^^.
I was getting consistent LrC crashes when moving from Page Setup to Print Settings in the Print Module with the released 15.0. It is behaving as expected in Sequoia Version 15.1 Beta (24B5046f) [Public Beta]
That would establish it’s a Sequoia issue, good it’s fixed in 15.1 but we usually suggest waiting to upgrade the OS until the initial fixes are installed.
LR is not recognizing my Fuji X-H2
Me to. Mac’s Image Capture does not see the X-H2. It pops up when connected then goes away then pops up then goes away… Can’t read images into my mac without purchasing a CFexpress type B card.
The next macOS release is rumored to be released at the end of October, so hopefully not too much longer to wait for Apple to fix their device bug.
One thing I have noticed is that it is not recognizing my iPhone 13 Pro Max as connected to upload images into Lightroom. All devices have been updated.
Interesting. We suggest wait until Adobe release a version they confirm is compatible with Sequoia, then test.
I have not yet updated to any of the latest Apple OS updates, but I have seen this problem for a few years with various OS versions and iPhone models. My solution that has generally worked is to unlock the phone, open the Photos app, and show the Recents album. Occasionally when that does not work, I disconnect the iPhone and reconnect it. Bingo, LRC import works.
I don’t run a lot of 3rd party or older apps. I have the latest versions if LrC and PS. I installed it yesterday.
Travel device. 2020 MacBook Air M1 is running fine on Sequoia. LrC, PS, Canon DPP all working but can’t say if there is a glitch somewhere yet. Adobe Denoise AI is still 25 seconds for 24mp file. It was 85 seconds before Apple fixed the neural engine and Adobe updated with 13.3 (I think)
2019 iMac intel is running fine. LrC, PS, Canon DPP all working. I sent a file from LrC to Topaz Sharpen AI which has not had an update since 2022 and it worked. My new very basic HP printer is working. Carbon Copy Cloner running and CCProfliler (Calibrite) opened.
Mac calendar has a different look to it but all the events are there. The calculator has scientific, etc options now.
If I spot any glitches with LrC and PS I’ll report.