In October 2019, Apple released macOS Catalina (version 10.15). While it introduced features like Sidecar and Voice Control, its most significant architectural change was the complete removal of support for 32-bit applications. For the creative industry, and specifically for users of Adobe Illustrator, this represented a hard line in the sand. This paper explores the implications of this shift, serving as a guide for users who are currently operating within this specific environment or planning legacy system maintenance.

If you must use older, unsupported versions of Illustrator (like CS6) but your machine is locked onto macOS Catalina, you have limited choices:

macOS Catalina introduced stricter data privacy controls. Illustrator needs permission to access your Documents, Desktop, and Downloads folders. Sometimes, the prompt gets buried behind the app window, causing the app to freeze.

If you are running supported Illustrator CC versions on Catalina, you can optimize your setup to avoid lag, crashes, or interface glitches. Enable GPU Performance

Users commonly reported the following issues when using Illustrator on Catalina: