Level 1 (8 points)

Numbers now DEMANDS OS upgrade

I'd like to understand why a program like Numbers demands an OS upgrade.

As a thirty-year IT veteran and development manager, I want someone to explain how a part of Apple is so out of control that they are the ONLY part of the company that DEMANDS an OS upgrade to use the latest version. I work in vulnerability analysis now and am generally one major version behind. I WILL not be on the latest version EVER. The latest version of Numbers has started failing to save data now, or saving the stored version over my changes. This means that I either have to use a different spreadsheet or use the appalling online version of the sheet that, to be honest, looks like a second rate Google app. Something I came to Apple to AVOID.

I have never experienced this from any other application, nor have I ever been part of a development or company that thinks this is a sensible way to build software. Let me repeat this - a spreadsheet has NO NEED to update an operating system ESPECIALLY if it is just a proxy for an online page. The idea that it should probably means Apple have a serious issue in requirements analysis ... or their developers are just accepting AI code without proper review. This doesn't happen for Excel or LibreOffice. So I am about to hold my nose and return to using Excel and cancelling my Apple subscription.

Please can someone in Apple tell me why they made this choice before I do?

FYI this is a one year old machine

Posted on Oct 18, 2026 11:49 PM

6 replies

VikingOSX

Level 10 (131,878 points)

Oct 19, 2026 3:43 AM in response to MetalPoet

Numbers v15.4, like its Pages, and Keynote version counterparts, now requires macOS Tahoe (26.*) or later. Attempts to update from earlier versions via the Mac App Store while still on macOS Sequoia will now be prevented.

Only Apple's Numbers product team have the answers to this rationale. Your fellow users here won't have the answer. Apple has been creating minimum operating system thresholds with these applications for years, so it is not a sudden development.

Apple is not about position, but change. As new or revised development frameworks become available with their inherent adaptation in the operating system, so it is with these applications.

The suggestion was made to use LibreOffice (e.g. Calc) which is a stable spreadsheet clone of Excel and may fill your need once you have exported Numbers to Excel. There is a LibreOffice Calc manual (written in LO Writer) that may be useful to you.

Zurarczurx

Level 6 (8,142 points)

Oct 19, 2026 12:06 AM in response to MetalPoet

Apple don't read posts here other than for moderation purposes. We're just users and no one here can properly answer your question. You can give them feedback, but you will not get a reply from them.

Product Feedback - Apple

In the meantime - download LibreOffice. It's very similar to Excel and I believe you can export Numbers files in Excel format.

MetalPoet Author

Level 1 (8 points)

Oct 19, 2026 12:34 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Cheers, Zurarczurx

I'll do that.

FYI ... Reason I am a bit annoyed:

AFAIK Numbers/iCloud communicate by a REST API, so the idea that the app needs an OS update is like saying that a ten year old Mac can't run a curl on google.com ... blatantly not the case. An API call change simply requires a change to the built version of the application. Nothing more. It isn't some extensive and complex websocket, it's a simple API call with JSON data.

Unless they are not building the application for that OS version. Then it would demand an upgrade.Hence, I suspect that this is to remove users of the older versions of the OS.

SGIII

Level 8 (38,224 points)

Oct 19, 2026 12:35 AM in response to MetalPoet

Since you're an IT veteran and development veteran then you know how crucial it is to give version numbers (of app and OS) for support questions.

Is there a particular reason you have omitted crucial details here?

MetalPoet Author

Level 1 (8 points)

Oct 19, 2026 12:58 AM in response to SGIII

Yes, complete and absolute annoyance at losing mission critical data at 7am on a Monday morning. Hence, no need for passive aggression. It's unhelpful and likely to cause offence. Maybe don't do that it future, eh?

The system here on this community read my OS version and added it to my post, then deleted it on an edit (which seems like a bug to me). It is a one year old Mac Studio with the very latest Sequoia with all available updates and will be replaced by Tahoe next weekend now 27.1 has hit. Numbers 15.3.1 is the last version for Sequoia, as no further upgrades seem to be happening.

There is no reason for a REST API to require an OS upgrade. All it requires is an app upgrade. Deprecating an OS that you sold on a one year old computer is NOT a good move, is it?

SGIII

Level 8 (38,224 points)

Oct 22, 2026 2:51 AM in response to VikingOSX

VikingOSX wrote:

Apple is not about position, but change.

That is a great way to put it!

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256378765