Apple released the second beta of macOS Sequoia to developers and while the release notes contain information that mostly pertains to developers, there are often tidbits that users would like to know, too. One important detail in the notes covers a longtime problem in macOS: the free storage space requirement for downloading and installing software is no longer. According to the release notes:
Starting in macOS 15, the App Store no longer needs twice the space free for an initial app download and install. The free space requirement will now be the final install size of the app, plus a small buffer. Developers should consider this change in any messaging they might have around size requirements.
macOS Sequoia 15 Beta 2 Release Notes
The “twice the space free” requirement is a problem for users who install a lot of professional-level apps, but it’s more problematic for installing games that use detailed graphics. For example, Death Stranding Director’s Cut is a whopping 77GB, which means that right now, you need 154GB of free storage space to install it. If you bought, say, an iMac with 256GB SSD, you probably need to move or delete some files to install the game.
With macOS 15, users with smaller drives will still need to make sure they have enough space to store and run the app, but with Sequoia they only need about 80GB, some 75GB less available space than before.
Learn more about the next Mac operating system in our macOS Sequoia superguide.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.