For those of us with machines running Sierra, High Sierra, and Mojave, note that Firefox 115.x is the last supported “Rapid Release” version of Firefox.
Firefox users on Sierra, High Sierra, and Mojave will be switched to version 115 ESR (Extended Support Release) by a future update, presumably when FF 116 comes out.
Firefox 115 ESR will be supported through September 2024.
With Chromium-based browsers dropping support for pre-Catalina systems, Firefox 115 ESR soon will be the last browser still getting security updates on these older systems.
Thanks. I’m still running Sierra (on a 2011 MacBook Air). I’m OK with ESR releases, since they will still get security updates. But it is important to know that that’s what’s coming.
Sadly, their support will end in September 2024. So I’ll have to upgrade my hardware to get security updates after that point.
A 2011 MacBook Air can run 10.13 High Sierra, which is still supported by Google Chrome, though that may stop before the Firefox ESR updates stop next year.
Or install Windows 10, Linux, or maybe ChromeOS Flex (it’s not on their certified list), then you can keep using the hardware with a supported OS and browser.
Very irritating - I switched to Firefox to address the lack of security updates for Safari under Mojave. I hate the thought of moving to Chrome as my regular browser.
Chrome 117 will no longer support macOS 10.13 and macOS 10.14, which are already outside of their support window with Apple. Users have to update their operating systems in order to continue running Chrome browser. Running on a supported operating system is essential to maintaining security. Starting in Chrome 114, you’ll see an infobar that reminds users that Chrome 117 will no longer support macOS 10.13 and macOS 10.14.
It can, in theory, but High Sierra will convert my SSD to APFS and it has known bugs in that early deployment. When combined with the fact that I think the SSD may have issues (when I tried to enable File Vault, years ago, the encryption process never completed, even after several days - I ended up wiping and restoring from a backup to recover). So I don’t want to upgrade its OS.
I’ll end up getting a new Air some time before Firefox reaches EOL. Probably next summer, after next years’ models are announced. It will probably be the least expensive M2 model, upgraded to 16G RAM. Which should be more than enough for what I do with it - occasional MS Office work and web browsing around the house and when traveling.
The M1 would also be more than adequate for this, but I figure the newer CPU may give me a few more years before Apple and others drop support for it, and the $100 price difference isn’t a whole lot amortized over its expected lifespan.
When I installed High Sierra on my Mac Pro it converted the SSD from HFS+ to APFS. I did a clone backup using SuperDuper! to an external drive. I reformatted the internal SSD back to HFS+ then copied from the external back to the internal. I ran High Sierra using HFS+ without any issues.
I’ve been running High Sierra on my 2011 MBP with its HD swapped to an SSD for years. I let it reformat my drive from HFS to APFS and I have gotten many more trouble free years out of it. Personally I think this model (8,1) was the pinnacle of Apple laptop design. Sturdy and reliable. Easily worked on with basic skills. Plenty of ports and still has a DVD drive. It lived through 8 years of use by 2 different teenagers in high school and has been schlepped around by me on vacation many times. I’ve debated switching it to Linux when all support finally ends. Sounds like this will be its last useful year unless I can get Linux going on it. I already tried to install Ubuntu but couldn’t get the Wi-Fi to work and reinstalled High Sierra.
I did the same thing, although with Carbon Copy Cloner. It’s one of the reasons I am sticking with High Sierra where I can. You can run Mojave on HFS+ as well. You would want to have Mojave fully updated to the last version, I believe, before cloning it back to an HFS+ SSD.
I’ve been running High Sierra since it came out on both my Mid-2011 iMac and MBA and both are still MacOS Extended Journeled. You are given the option for APFS or the older format. However, that was with hard drives so you may be stuck.
It has now happened. Worked quite smoothly. On my MBA running Sierra, Firefox’s About box (the place for manual updates) said it was going to upgrade me from 115.0.3 to 115.1.0esr.
I had to do the upgrade twice. The first time kept me at 115.0.3, but switched the installation to the ESR channel for updates. The second time upgraded it to 115.1.0esr.
It seems to be working well. Meanwhile, my other Mac (running Big Sur) auto-updated from 115.0.3 to 116.0.1.
