The newest Mac operating system, macOS 14 Sonoma, goes live today. The big question is, do Lightroom and Lightroom Classic work?
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 of all the potential issues. However, some issues are already known and are listed below. As we hear more, we’ll update the list. But at this point, we’d recommend waiting at least for a few days or longer on production machines. It’s not just Lightroom itself (and there are some issues, although these will be fixed), but 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 1 November 2023: with the release of Lightroom Classic 13.0 and Lightroom Desktop 7.0, Adobe now supports Sonoma, and most peripherals and drivers now appear to have been updated too. We’d recommend caution if you’re working to a deadline and also suggest you check driver compatibility for peripherals that you can’t do without, but most people should be fine to update at this point.
Update 12 December 2023: Adobe has issued a warning about this week’s macOS Sonoma 14.2 update. The update breaks an official API that Lightroom Classic uses to access connected devices such as cameras and memory cards. Adobe is working with Apple to find a solution.
If you use tethering or connect your camera/phone by USB, you may wish to delay updating. To do so, go to System Settings > General > Software Updates, click the little i button next to Automatic Updates and turn off Install macOS Updates. That’ll prevent it from installing automatically.
If you’ve already updated, these are the workarounds:
For importing from a memory card reader, select the memory card using the File section of the Import dialog rather than the top Device section. This is usually selected by default anyway, as it’s faster.For importing from a camera/mobile device, copy the images onto disk using Apple’s Image Capture app and then import into LrC, or import into Lightroom mobile and allow them to sync down to LrC.For tethering, use your camera manufacturer’s tether software to drop into a Watched Folder. (Note that Capture One has been affected by the same macOS bug, but Nikon and Canon’s own software appears to be ok.)
This appears to be fixed in the macOS update 14.2.1
Lightroom Classic
- Fixed in 13.0.1 – Lightroom Classic 12.5 or lower versions don’t show the shadow watermark in the correct direction.
- Sony cameras – Sonoma breaks USB connectivity to at least some Sony cameras. This is not a Lightroom bug, but it will affect Lightroom users.
Lightroom Desktop (the cloud-based version)
- No known issues at this time.
Wacom tablets
Update – Driver is now available. Currently, there is no updated driver for Wacom products. They recommend holding off on installing Sonoma until this has been developed. Here is their current statement Is there a driver for macOS 14, Sonoma?
Shuttle Pro (Contour Plus)
Updated – Driver is now available. The Driver page only shows support up to Ventura on their Drivers page, although we understand unofficially it should be compatible.
Other peripherals or software to check
- Lightroom Classic Plugins and External Editors.
- Printer drivers.
- Scanner drivers.
- Backup software compatibility.
We’ll leave the blog comments open for you to share your experiences. As we gather more feedback, we’ll continue to update this blog.
To disable automatic updates, go to System Preferences > Software Update and uncheck Automatically keep my Mac up to date.
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.
I recently upgraded to Sonoma on my Mac Studio. The Epson print dialog box in Lightroom Classic was replaced with a new print box which has similar features just a different configuration. Is this the normal result as I prefer the old dialog configuration?
The Print dialog box is invoked from macOS – they often change the display when the OS changes, it’s outside of Lightroom, so Lightroom has no control of that.
Hi!
Lightroom 11.5 works on Sonoma last update?
It should, but won’t have been tested by Adobe as the current version of Classic is 13.2.
Apple has updated Sonoma to 14.2.1
Unknown yet if this patch will address Lightroom related issues.
When I close Lightroom classic 13.0.2 on OSX 14.1.2 I cannot get any backup. LR tells me every time that integrity check for Lightroom Catalog-v13 was not successful. When opening LR again Lightroom tells me that the Catalog is damaged and offers to repair it. During that process the Catalog File Format is being actualized and the catalog is optimized. After that 15 minute procedure I can continue working. When I slip the backup Lightroom opens without any problem. This happens only on my Mac Book Air with Sonoma. My PowerMac running Ventura does the backups with the same catalog as expected.
I gather you’re using the same catalog on both computers, so I guess my question would be, how is it getting transferred between machines? It could be the previews or the lrcat-lrdata file that’s corrupted, or something like Lightroom not having Full Disk Access on the MacBook Air.
I have been trying to debug a problem on Sonoma 14.2, the latest version, and Lightroom Classic 13.0.2, also the latest version, on my MacBook Pro 2019. My Nikon Z 6II can no longer be used to import photos. Lightroom Classic can’t find it. Then I remembered this website. Thought I’d post this here.
Hi George. Were you on a beta version of 14.2? I thought it only came out a couple of days ago. Srroy I’ve only just spotted your message, but I do have confirmation that there’s a bug in macOS Sonoma 14.2 that breaks the device connection API. There are workarounds if you’re still stuck.
Thanks for the reply. I was on 14.2 betas and talked to Nikon and Adobe. The problem affected Nikon camera especially. Apple just made Sonoma 14.3 beta available and the problem is fixed.
The checkboxes to the left of the collection have disappeared and the sync has stopped working.
I use Mac Sonoma 14.1.1 and LrC 13.01. All pictures are in synced collections (33.592 photos) . Would be happy to know if any other LrC user has noticed this?
Try restarting Lightroom. If that doesn’t do the trick, click the cloud icon top right and see if it’s stopped there.
Thanks Victoria! I restarted both Lightroom and Sonoma several times. The last time I restarted, the checkboxes to the left of each collection suddenly appeared again! But still the sync doesn’t work. The cloud icon shows that there are four images syncing, but then nothing more happens. It freezes there and nothing more happens. Would it be an idea to rebuild the sync information?
I ended up with doing a rebuild of the sync information. It took approx 2 hours but that did it. The amount of synced photos went up and down, but finally all 33K photos were synced!
Victoria, have you experimented with installing a 32 bit version of LR Classic ( eg LR 5 or LR6 — see my comment to Wes above) on a Parallels partition that has MacOS Mojave on it?
I spoke with an Adobe Senior Advisor who thought it could work but you have to get an advisor to authenticate the install through the Adobe Cloud. LR and other Adobe programs always ‘phones home’ for authentication—although now it’s routed through your local Creative Cloud App that connects to Adobe servers to authenticate. Installation of deptecated versions need a phone call for help with authentication.
When I needed to install, the advisor actually offered to have me download their App that you give permission to screen-share and have advisor do the install. I don’t know if I got special treatment as I was a pre-release user of the first version of Adobe Illustrator and was trained about 2 months before retail sales by the soon-to-be Illustrator software manager Paul Towner. I also submitted a mockup of how layers could work. I can’t remember when layers was introduced. I don’t think the jawdropping Illustrator 88 had layers yet. Ahh, the exciting bleeding edge days.
I used to run right back to LR1 in Parallels on my Intel Mac, so the theory does work. As you note, it’s getting them activated that’s the problem, as often phone support won’t even do it now as they’re so old. It doesn’t work on new Silicon Macs.
I had no end of issues with Adobe on Ventura and had to roll it back to Monteray in February this year.
My concern is moving to Sonoma in case I have a whole load of issues again….
What kind of issues were you having Lorrii?
Have had the same experience after upgrade to Sanoma and may use the good ole LR on a older MBP and OS version. But I expect the purchased software to work on a secure OS, if not it will be binned. No fuss, no troubles, no laments, no clouds & AI gimmicks. No time to solve software issues for vendors. Future belongs to PhaseOne! It safer, more stable and it is lot faster on the M2 chip.
What “same experience” did you have Clyde?
I just bought the MacBook Pro 14″ M2, upgraded to OS14 Sonoma, then installed apps including Lightroom. All appears to have gone well, but I haven’t used LR other than a brief test along with the new Nik software. But… there is no macOS 14 Sonoma driver for my Epson P700 printer. I tried the OS13 driver (direct USB connect, not AirPrint), but it does not work right. So holding onto my old Mac mid-2015 with OS12 Monterey to print from Lightroom. Thankfully, I don’t have much printing to do…
Yes, delays in updated printer drivers are often the problem with OS upgrades. Oddly I have sometimes found updated drivers on manufacturer’s websites for other countries.
I upgraded to Sonoma the day it was released (couldn’t resist). Now the plug-in LR/Enfuse crashes if I check the option to Auto-Align images. If I don’t check that option, then it runs fine. I used the plug option to download the apps from The Photographer’s Toolbox and installed Rosetta allowing a 32 bit plug-in to run on a 64 bit computer.
Not sure what else to try. I shoot Real Estate interiors using a set of 5 brackets, 1 flash shot for the room and 1 flash shot for the windows. As hard as I try, often there is camera movement so having the auto-align option working usually fixes that issue.
Yes, I know all about off camera flash and remote firing, but that just takes longer and means a lot more gear to carry and is not as hands-free. 🙂
I have upgraded my Mac to Sonoma 14.00, and realize that the MAP function in Lightroom Classic doesn’t work anymore! It is for me one of the most useful functions in Lightroom, so I hope this will be solved asap.
Anyone who has the same problem? And does anyone know if this is a problem that will be solved?
Are you updated to Lightroom Classic 13.0.1?
Adobe now stays LrC 13.0 is compatible with Sonoma!
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/lightroom-classic-and-macos-sonoma.html
Does our community now agree?
Hi Larry. Yep, looks fine as long as your peripherals all have compatible drivers too. We’ve updated the blog.
Anne, I can’t reproduce this issue. Are you still having trouble with it?
What’s the latest status of LrC and Sonoma?
We are keeping our blog updated. A lot have updated to Sonoma, but confirmation of peripheral support is still outstanding. Some have found issues with Plug-ins but are looking into whether this is Sonoma or Classic 13.0.
I have been holding off updating Lightroom and my MacPro. From reading these posts it seem like maybe now is a good time to try? Am I correct in this assumption?
Thanks!
There’s some reports of crashes in Mac with 13.0.1, but reboot/uninstall LR/reboot/reinstall LR/reboot seems to solve it. But even then, just double check your peripherals for support; I don’t think Wacom has support for Sonoma yet.
Ok, thanks!
I’ve updated my iMac Pro (2018, 3 GHz 10-Core Intel Xeon, Radeon Pro Vega 64 16 GB, 96 GB RAM) to the latest macOS (Sonoma 14.0) as well as the most recent LrC version (13.0.1 Release, Camera Raw 16.0) and over last few hours with this latest LrC build I’ve had no issues what-so-ever.
Catalogue updated to v13 upon initial launch. All seems fine in that regard.
No issue with the “Error on Launch” that some have been experiencing. Many seem to still be running macOS Ventura 13.x that are seeing the issue (from my quick browse of recent posts on Adobe). Could that be an issue? I personally couldn’t answer that.
The “Edit In” functionality to Photoshop (running 25.0.0) works fine.
Running DxO Nik Collection 6 as well as Topaz Labs Denoise, Sharpen, and Photo Ai without issues sending back into LrC after edits in Ps.
Export to DxO (from LrC) Pure RAW 3 also works fine.
As someone has mentioned within this blog I also noticed a significant reduction in the size of the DNG files created after using the “Denoise” funtion within LrC. A recent test showed a reduction from 91 MB (LrC v12.3) to 39 MB (LrC v13.0.1) so a space saver for sure. No reduction in quality as far as I could tell.
I also use Jeffrey Friedl’s LrC plugins for both Flickr and SmugMug. Both seem to be fully functional at this time with a few quick tests I’ve run in v 13.0.1.
So far I’m a happy camper (knock on wood).
That’s great feedback, thank you. Many are finding it works fine. Just need some of the peripheral device manufacturers to update Drivers too!
I am running a 5 year old Intel iMac desktop 27 inch. Would you recommend updating LR to the latest version without updating to Sonoma for 5he time being or wait until I can update both together? I ask because I am having issues with the denoise feature on LR Classic 12.5 which crashes after a couple of photos have been processed. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the LR or Sonoma update might resolve this.
Hi John
We’d suggest separate the two updates (else you won’t know if you have issues what the cause is)
We’d recommend holding off on upgrading to Sonoma for the time being in any case, for issues to surface and be fixed.
Lightroom Classic 13 is unlikely to cure your Denoise issues; usually that’s a GPU issue. Try setting GPU to Off (in LrC Preferences > Performance) and see if that helps.
I stupidly joined Adobe’s Beta Program because I get impatient when it comes to new software and last year I couldn’t export more than 10 photos at a time without LRC crashing. I am a wedding photographer and usually export over 500 photos at once. It left my iMac basically useless until Adobe did their thing. So, this year I am waiting a long time before I upgrade to Sonoma.
I’m guessing it was Apple’s Beta Program you joined. Eugh yes that must have been frustrating!
Yes, sorry Apple’s Beta and yes I wanted to gouge out my eyes!! LOL!
I wouldn’t do it either if I was earning or had obligations. I would not do the first release either but since I have nothing to lose. I installed Monterey within a week of release and Ventura the next day. Never experienced any issues but it may bite me one day.
What concerns me more is the fact that Wacom repeatedly doesn’t seem to be able to release a compatible driver at the time new OS are released or at least some days after that point. In sw development there’s something called Release Candidate. Latest on this point they should be able to work on a compatible driver. What’s so difficult to cooperate with Apple to develop a new driver right on time? Where lies the magic in adjusting their existing driver? Poor performance, Wacom.
Yeah, I do agree, they’re not small fry so they should be able to get something out a bit quicker than they do. From experience though, it’s hard working with a moving target, and Apple does change things late in the game because they can.
I am now operating on Sonoma and my Lightroom 5 will no longer open. I really don’t want to purchase an annual plan for Lightroom when the version I currently have was working just fine for my purposes. Is there any chance they will address this and fix the bug that keeps Lightroom from being able to be opened? Or is it that they don’t care about dinosaur programs and want you to pony up for their stupid mandatory annual plans?
Erm, in the nicest way possible, there’s not a chance of Adobe helping you run 10 year old software on a modern operating system, sorry. To be honest, it’s not just Adobe; even Apple doesn’t support their 10 year old stuff. You can follow the comments here to see if anyone finds a solution, but Lightroom has come a long way in 10 years.
To add to Victoria’s comment, you need to decide which matters more to you — the most recent operating system or your older software. If you can live without the operating system update, then your older software will work. I faced the same issue but in reverse. I loved my 2010 Mac Pro but it wouldn’t run the latest macOS (actually now the 5 more recent OSs) or the latest versions of Lightroom. I eventually bit the bullet and replaced the computer.
I’ve never shared the concern about Adobe’s subscription plan. Software companies need revenue to survive. I am surprised that I’m still paying the same rate for my subscription 10 years after it started.
Lightroom 5 was 32 bit software. Lightroom 6 was the last version that was 32 bit. If you installed Sonoma on an Intel Mac, look into Parallels software which most people think is to run Windows on a Mac. Actually it also lets you install older versions of Mac OS. Yep. Read on.
MacOS 10.14 Mojave, the version of the Mac operating system before macOS Catalina, is the last version that supports 32-bit software. With Catalina or later, only 64-bit software will be supported, which would be the subscription versions of LR Classic (LRC), or LRCC (Cloud version).
So, I looked at buying and installing Parallels plus installing Mac OS Mojave on my loaded Intel Mac 2019 16” MBP. I doubt this would work on Apple silicon ( M1, M2 or M3) unless Adobe has made a Windows Arm version of Photoshop — but that again would be a subscription of a new version, not your version 5.
But I also considered this alternative:
As differentiated from other Adobe subscription Apps, the Photoshop and Lightroom subscription combo is incredibly less at US $10.99 per month that also lets you install LR mobile on your iPad and iPhone in addition to LRC and/ or LRCC on your Mac.
At US $10.99 x 12 months that’s just under $132 per year. That’s less than upgrades of perpetual license we use to pay when you adjust for 10 years of inflation. I went that route for two years.
If you’re happy with version 5, that’s great. I am quite happy with InDesign CS6 that is 32 bit. For the cost of Parallels, you’ll get to keep using version 5 if and only if you are on an Intel Mac ( and they are aging as we speak).
Disclaimer—I was going to go that route with Adobe InDesign CS6 for occasional updates of files/ jobs I did between 2002 to 2016 for two remaining loyal customers—but good luck came my way and I was able to afford a subscription.
I believe that Parallels on an Intel Mac could run Mojave and that will let you run version 5. A caveat: LR5 will “phone home” as in connect with Adobe via internet and will not verify or validate installation of that old version. It won’t —I know this the hard way. In that case you will have to beg and plead with a senior advisor to re-install it on the partition that Parallels creates. Again, I know this the hard way and I got lucky. Sorry for your plight, but technology ages faster than we do. That’s better than the other way around though. Best to you. I hope you enjoy the difficult journey ahead of you with a grateful perspective of the amazing magic of any version of Photoshop.
Updated Mac Studio M1 Max to Sonoma macOS 14.0. Checked out all my apps, including LRC and PS 2024. All worked OK. Opened the CC Desktop app window and saw there was an update (to v 6.0.0.571). Tried several times to install the update but it failed at 12%-17% with a “computer is offline” error. Obviously the computer was online since other apps connected OK to the Internet. Later, tried again and this time it failed at 1% with an error code 81. Checked the Adobe Help page for error 81. It said there was another Adobe installer running and to check Activity Monitor, but it did not say what installer to look for. I opened Activity Monitor and searched for “Adobe”; no obvious installer running. The Help page also said to reboot, which I did the next morning. Tried again to install the CC Desktop app update; it failed at 9% saying the computer is offline. I rebooted the modem/router. CC Desktop app update got to 9% and failed again saying computer is offline (which was obviously a bogus error message). I quit the CC Desktop app, relaunched it, and tried again. On all the previous attempts I had disabled automatic updates; this time left it enabled. Still failed. Downloaded the CC installer. It got to 2.7% and failed, saying the Adobe servers were not reachable (error code 206). The “fix errors” info was not applicable (no firewall nor antivirus software). I have frequently seen these odd CC Desktop update/install errors in prior versions of macOS so I assume this is just normal behavior for Adobe software (since software from other companies do not have issues updating). Downloaded the “alternatve” full installer (v 6.0.0.571) and ran it. It immediately failed with “Creative Cloud is not yet available for devices using Apple silicon. (Error code: 25)”. WHAT???? A previous alternative download worked on my Mac Studio (running Ventura) in August 2023. I then relaunched the existing CC Desktop app and tried to update it. It failed saying computer offline. My experience with CC Desktop app updates continues to sour me on Adobe. I don’t know if the current issues are Sonoma related or just typical of my past experience with the app updates.
I redownloaded the full Creative Cloud Desktop Mac app installer (v 6.0.0.571) this morning. It installed OK. However, every few seconds the CC Desktop app alternates between showing my installed Adobe apps and the error “No internet connection. You can still access some features offline. For the full experience of this app, please connect to the internet.” Obviously, another bogus Adobe error message since the computer IS online and connected to the Internet.
As per the blog post, Sonoma isn’t supported by Adobe yet, so not surprising that there are some odd behaviors and error messages.
It could be worth placing this as a bug with them, of course, but in fairness to Adobe (and to a number of other manufacturers) the true test is when they officially support Sonoma.
I just updated from Monterey to Ventura 13.6. Yes I know I’m of the cautious type… I may jump to Sonoma next summer…
A few bugs on my side with Lightroom Classic on my Macbook Pro (Intel) with the official release of Sonoma 14.0
Noise reduction hangs
Fringe correction corrupts the whole mask.
I just checked both CA and manual fringe and it worked OK for me. The first time I tried Denoise it just kept spinning in the loading preview window. I restarted LrC and it’s been fine so far. iMac Intel.
A handy feature. If you type both on web pages and using Pages (word document) and press caps lock an icon appears to warn you.
Hi, I installed Sonoma on my Mac mini M2 Pro. The whole install went smoothly & I have found no glitches yet. Both Lightroom Classic & Photoshop (both up to date) work well. However I haven’t tried printing from those apps yet.
Thanks for the update. We know there are issues with printing, and we await updates for various peripherals.
Quick comment on my experience on M2 Mac mini pro
– LRClassic running some simple edits started using up all my memory: 14gb before I restarted it and usage returned to normal
– I use an external SSD for LR. Sonona didn’t recognise it … until I changed the cable which had worked fine on the mini . Curiously MacBook Pro and Sonoma recognised the SSD with the old cable
We appreciate the feedback. Very odd about the cable!
Hi Victoria, minor nitpick: you wrote “macOS 13 Sonoma” when it should be “macOS 14 Sonoma”! macOS 13 would be Ventura, the outgoing version.
Hi Enoch
Thanks for picking up our typo!
I took the plunge last night and upgraded my 14” M2 mbp. The upgrade went pretty smoothly and took just under an hour. As far as I can tell Lightroom Classic is working as well as it did under Ventura and there are no obvious issues but it’s probably too early tell if everything is ok. The main reason I upgraded was to see if Sonama sorted out the Ventura bug where print setting were not saved correctly. Unfortunately, Apple have NOT resolved this issue.
That’s a more than annoying bug!
I decided to install it on the 2019 Intel iMac. All works well including Canon’s DPP. Denoise not any faster either. I don’t have a high end printer but Pages and an LrC file printed on my HP 3830.
I downloaded the Beta and had nothing but constant crashes with Lightroom. My hard drives were no longer recognized by Finder, and I had to pay for a data transfer to a new drive that I had to purchase.
I realize the Beta and production version will have key functionality differences and the production version is probably more stable, but I am NOT going to take a chance and upgrade until Adobe confirms compatibility.
Sounds like it was probably a hardware problem, but betas do tend to come with a lot of bugs. I know there were some crashes with Lightroom’s Print module in earlier beta versions, which are said to be fixed now.
It’s looking good in Adobe’s testing at this point, but it’s always sensible to hold off until more guinea pigs, er, I mean early adopters, have kicked the tires on a wider range of machines.
Since I won’t be using my MacBook Air M1 for a few months I decided to install it out of curiosity. I have the latest LrC and PS. LrC is fine and I was able to send a file to PS and back. Adobe Denoise AI was not any faster.
I don’t print or scan from there so I can’t add to that.
It backed up using ™ but it told me it was not encrypted.
Topaz Sharpen AI worked.
Thanks for sharing Zenon.