Apple no longer providing security updates for Ventura OS

Historically, Apple supports the current and two previous versions of the OS (this includes macOS, iOS, iPad OS, etc.)

As of today, macOS Ventura (13), Sonoma (14), and Sequoia (15) are supported.

On Monday, macOS Tahoe (26) will be released. That means that Ventura will officially 'roll off' of the supported versions list.

It may get critical security updates occasionally if something significant is discovered, but don't count on it.

Your Mac is currently considered "vintage". I expect that to change to "obsolete" any day now.

HartTX wrote:

I recently received an email from TurboTax informing me of the following:

Apple has announced they will no longer provide security updates or support for macOS Ventura 13 as of November 2025.

I know of no such announcement.

Apple is usually very cagey about security updates for old versions of the operating system. And they have good reason to be. If there is something that would take a large re-architecture of the system, obviously they aren't going to do that. But if it's just some database update, they can keep doing that indefinitely.

As for Ventura support, Apple stopped that 2 years ago. Had that been an issue for you, you would have upgraded your computer.

I own a MacBook Pro 2017 model that is currently up to date with macOS Ventura 13.7.8.

That computer was obsolete 5 years ago. Forget security updates. You really need a new Apple Silicon computer. They are so much nicer and faster than that old Intel model.

Is the information from TurboTax correct?

No.

TurboTax and Apple are two different companies. When Apple makes statements about its own products, Apple's wrong half the time. So clearly, TurboTax's statements about Apple are going to be wrong even more than that.

Is Apple no longer going to provide security updates for my 2017 MacBook Pro?

All that being said, it is a logical assumption that there will be no more security update for Ventura. But then again, all the security paranoia about macOS is just nonsense anyway. Don't believe what you read on the internet. It's not true.

HartTX wrote:

I am disappointed that even though I have a fully functional laptop in excellent condition it will no longer be supported by Apple and be a safe laptop to use online.

It's perfectly save to use online. The only way to install malware on a Mac is for you to do it, on purpose, to do something illegal. As long as you aren't doing that, then you have nothing to worry about.

Ventura already is not getting the latest releases of Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and GarageBand. With the release of Tahoe, Ventura will no longer receive the latest version of Safari.

Note that that the current versions of just about all major third-party browsers will run on Ventura.

• Firefox will run on Catalina and up.
• Brave and Opera will run on Big Sur and up.
• Microsoft Edge and Chrome will run on Monterey and up.

If you are concerned about the security of Ventura's version of Safari, you could download one or more of these, to use when visiting places like banking Web sites.

Also note that many core macOS files live on a cryptographically-sealed, signed system volume. The system does not run directly off this volume. Instead, whenever you start the Mac, it checks the cryptographic seal. If the seal has been broken, the Mac won't boot. If the seal is OK, the Mac creates a read-only snapshot and runs off it. This makes it extremely hard for any form of malware to successfully attack the core system.

That security system has been in place since Big Sur, and the fact that Ventura will soon fall off the list of the "most recent three" will not cause those security protections to suddenly go away.

Realistically, some of the biggest computer security threats these days come from "phishing" / "social engineering" rather than from direct attacks on computer security per se. It's not so much that computers have no security flaws as that the criminals have discovered that it is much easier to attack users than to attack the systems themselves.

Some references if you are concerned about security:

Recognize and avoid social engineering schemes including phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Phony "tech support" / "ransomware" popups and web pages – Apple Community

HartTX wrote:

I recently received an email from TurboTax informing me of the following:

Apple has announced they will no longer provide security updates or support for macOS Ventura 13 as of November 2025.

I own a MacBook Pro 2017 model that is currently up to date with macOS Ventura 13.7.8. Is the information from TurboTax correct? Is Apple no longer going to provide security updates for my 2017 MacBook Pro?

The issue is not whether or not Apple will provide future updates to Ventura or your 2017 MBPro.

The issue is that TurboTax decided a few years ago that they only support TTax on the "current" release of macOS plus the 2 previous releases. That means that once Apple releases macOS Tahoe (soon), TTax (specifically Turbotax 2025) can only be installed on macOS Tahoe, Sequoia or Sonoma. Ventura falls off their list.

It's solely a business decision by TurboTax. Any justification (aka "excuse") by TurboTax that it's because Apple no longer provides updates to Ventura is disingenuous on the part of TurboTax.

Regarding future updates to Ventura itself, once Tahoe is released, Ventura is considered "no longer supported" but that does not mean that Apple would never issue any future security update. There's just no way to know in advance.

Your Mac is considered obsolete. It’s possible that Apple would provide updates but over time, that becomes less likely. TurboTax is no longer supporting the obsolete model.