I have a friend who has macos and I wanted to let him try deltachat.
Granted that I have never had a mac, when I had him download the latest version of deltachat he told me that it didn’t work.
I had him download many versions but in the end the first one that worked was very old, 1.42 from 2023.
Now looking a bit on gitbub I realized that the minimum version of macos is 10.15 while he has 10.13.
So from what I’ve read I understand that upgrading macos should be possible, the fact remains that my friend doesn’t understand much about it and I’ve never used a mac so I can’t really take the responsibility of upgrading his system.
I can understand this problem, although indeed my friend perceives it as an inexplicable obstacle since he can use the telegram client instead without any problem.
I thought that therefore the only alternative was to find a different client, I learned that the problem stems from electron, only for now I wouldn’t know what to recommend to him, it seems to me that the only alternative is delta tauri which however is not ready yet.
Any advice, what can I do?
it is not recommended to use an outdated version of Delta Chat.
one version older is okay for some time, but not a years old version.
this will result in all kind of problems.
also, using an 8 years old operating system that does not get security updates since 4 years is a really bad idea. not only for Delta Chat, but for everything’s done on that computer.
so, i would suggest that you recommend your friend to update their computer. maybe you can help on that, or ask others for help. then, also a recent Delta Chat version is no problem.
this is probably not the answer one likes to hear, but using hugely outdated versions and operating systems together with network is a really bad idea 
I can understand it, the fact is that it is very difficult for me to take care of this problem with my knowledge of the mac and at a remote distance.
Isn’t there even a temporary solution? At least to convince him that it is worth it?
I didn’t even let him configure that so old version, also because I don’t even know if the chatmails already supported and I wouldn’t want a lot of things not to work in the end using it.
What is the latest version that supports macos 10.13?
If they have enough money the could just buy a new Mac or get support from their nearest Apple Store.
If their Mac is new enough to support the newer OS versions, then just tell them to make a backup and then go to “system setting ->. General → Software Update”. (if there is no update visible in this menu, then the Mac is probably too old I guess, though you could also check the appstore and search online how to do it).
If they have an android or iPhone, then you can suggest that they can try delta chat on their phone.
If their Mac is too old you can try to install linux to avoid buying a new device, but for that you need to be on-site.
Thanks for the tips, I’ll see if I can do anything
Someone told me that now the 10.15 catalina version doesn’t work either.
The person had to install some earlier version.
as said above (i made the statement bold :), it is a really bad idea to use a years old versions of Delta Chat.
beside your own risk of using outdated software, additional issue is that you may cause troubles for ppl you write with as well, eg. as your client does not behave correctly.
our fault is that we have these these super-outdated versions available for download just no one deleted them
If your Mac is so old buy a new one or install linux.
I had good experience with installing Fedora Silverblue and Fedora Kinoite on old Mac Laptops.
This time the version isn’t so old.
It is out of my control unfortunately, if it were up to me I would install linux on all machines, my pc is more than 15 years old and it still does the job.
Honestly, I have always hated the policy of planned osolescence and e-waste, however precisely then you need to worry about your pc yourself and they are not all so passionate about informatic.
I know at least 3 people who own an old mac who are not willing to buy a new one (also because of cost) nor are they willing to change operating systems.
If we were talking about my girlfriend, I could have gifted her with a raspberry (by the way, is there a version for arm?) however, we are talking about people with whom I don’t even have in-person contact.
Don’t take this as a complaint, unfortunately sometimes there are no easy solutions. perhaps a solution could be attempted by installing hackintosh, who knows if it still exists
Hi,
it is possible to update to update to mac os 10.15, you can use OpenCore Legacy Patcher.
It makes it work on unsupported macs.
It takes a little knowledge but is documented pretty well.
you don’t need to upgrade any firmware.
Sincerely,
Noah
Thanks for the suggestion, as I said I don’t know much about Mac, but if the occasion arises I’ll try to keep in mind what you suggested 