Lightroom Classic and macOS Catalina (10.15)

Lightroom Classic 9.x and Lightroom Classic 8.4.1 work with macOS 10.15 (Catalina) but have these known compatibility issues. You may want to remain on your current version of macOS until these issues have been resolved.

Adobe strongly recommends that customers do their own testing on a non-production partition to ensure that new operating systems work with their current hardware and drivers (printing, and so forth). 

If you do encounter issues not already documented here, feel free to report them on our feedback site.

Are legacy or perpetual versions of Lightroom Classic compatible with macOS Catalina?

No, older versions of Lightroom Classic were neither designed nor tested to work on macOS Catalina. They are not supported in any way for use on macOS Catalina.

Adobe does not recommend that customers using old versions of Lightroom Classic upgrade to macOS Catalina.

Older versions use 32-bit licensing components and installers. Therefore, they cannot be installed and activated after upgrading to macOS Catalina. Although upgrading to macOS Catalina with an older version already installed on your computer may allow the app to function in some capacity, you will not be able to reinstall or activate the app after the macOS upgrade.

Before upgrading to macOS Catalina, you may uninstall the older versions as the uninstaller will not work after upgrading. If you have already upgraded to macOS Catalina, you can use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to uninstall older versions.

Known compatibility issues

Adobe has discovered the compatibility issues listed below with running Lightroom Classic 8.4.1 or later with macOS 10.15 (Catalina).

Tethering issues

Tether does not detect Nikon cameras

Lightroom is not able to detect Nikon cameras when the camera is turned ON after invoking the Start Tether Capture command.

Workaround

First, make sure the camera is turned ON. Then, select File > Tethered Capture > Start Tether Capture.

We are working with Nikon to correct this problem.

Tethering does not work with Canon cameras

Tethering does not work with Canon cameras on the latest update (10.15.2) of macOS Catalina.

Workaround

Update to macOS Catalina 10.15.3 to resolve this issue.

Lens Profile Creator does not run

The Lens Profile Creator is currently 32-bit, but we are investigating updating it to be a 64-bit utility.

Screen Recording dialog appears while trying to pick a color using eyedropper.

When you try to use eyedropper from the color swatch in Graduated Filter or Radial Filter, the System Recording dialog appears to ask for permission.

Solution

This is a one-time dialog asking you to grant access to the application. Once you allow access, you will able to pick color from that application and the dialog will not appear again. However, if you deny access, you will only be able to pick color from within Lightroom Classic.