Mac OS X Requirements
Nancy Drew games on Mac require OS X 10.5.8 Leopard or higher to run.
The following OS X versions (and up) can run our games:
OS X 10.5.8 Leopard
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
OS X 10.7 Lion
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
OS X 10.9 Mavericks
OS X 10.10 Yosemite or higher
To find out what OS X you have, click the Apple menu > About This Mac. The OS X is given as a three-part number, e.g. 10.4.11. For help with this, check Apple Support.
If you are running OS X Tiger 10.4 or earlier, you will not be able to play our games on Mac. If you are unable to launch the game installer please check your OS X. If you do not have OS X 10.5.8 or later, you will need to purchase a Mac OS X upgrade to play our games. OS X upgrades are available at the Apple Store for $29 or less depending on your system needs.
For more help with your OS X, please check Apple Support.
Please read our letter about Catalina and newer operating systems.
Can I use OS X Yosemite, version 10.10.3?
Yes, that will work, Ally. 😉
I purchased and played “Sea of Darkness’ yesterday and now the program crashes on launch. Any ideas?
Hi Reese! Please contact us at techsupport@herinteractive.com so we can help further. Thanks!
Hi Reese-
I had the same problem and am operating with Yosemite. Wondering if tech support offered any helpful advice?
Thanks!
Mine is having the same issue. I am running Sierra
Let me know if you get a fix!
I have tried to play multiple games o Sierra, 10.12.6, and it won’t work! I’ve bought multiple games and it’s sad I can’t play any of them!
Hello Shawn, would you please email us at techsupport@herinteractive.com and let us know which games you are trying to install? Thank you!
Did you ever get a response to this? Trying to use my hard disc on my MacOS high sierra, tried contacting tech support and no answer
Are all games able to be played on a mac? Or is it only some of the newer ones?
Hi Sydney! Only games #22 on up are available on Mac (also Secrets Can Kill Remastered.)
When will the rest of the game series be available for Mac? Doesn’t seem fair that they are all available for PC but only some for Mac.
Hi Jabberywocky! We didn’t begin making the games Mac compatible until 2010. If we go back and re-make the older titles, it would take time away from making any new games, since we are a small team. 🙁
When will new games be released then? Thank you for still making some! I really wish we could play more on the Mac.
How long does the game take to download because I have purchased it however it has been 30 minutes and the game has only downloaded 0.1/2.3 GB
Hi Stefanie! It depends on your internet. For more help, contact us at techsupport@herinteractive.com!
I’m thinking of purchasing “Shadow at Water’s Edge” (Game 1 of 3 available for Mac!) on Steam. On ‘Requirements’, it only lists Mac OSX, Mountain Lion, and Snow Leopard. Will it possibly work on El Capitan (Apple’s new ‘operating system’) or will I never get to play any Nancy Drew games..? (Considering that barely are for Mac and nothing else will run).
Hi Kurai! Support Her Interactive by purchasing on our site! You can see the game requirements on the page for Shadow at the Water’s Edge, which we offer tech support for if downloaded or shipped from our own site. 🙂
I have been trying to install Labyrinth of Lies on my MacBook Pro. The download was successful but for some reason the installer wont open when I click on it. My operating system is Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8, is this possibly too old? If not, what else can I do about this?
Hi Sage, for more info and help, please contact us at techsupport@herinteractive.com. Thanks!
Apple hasn’t changed the requirements for OS X in a number of years, many of these Macs are now seven to eight years old.
I’m trying to install an old disc of Treasure in the Royal Tower on my Mac. I have an updated version of Yosemite but when I put the cd in, I just get a dozen or so different folders all saying that they can’t be opened because I don’t have an application that will open any of them.
Hi Mallory, Treasure in the Royal Tower was only made for Windows PC. Sorry! Please contact us at techsupport@herinteractive.com for more help. Thanks!
I have the mac OS Sierra will that version work? It keeps saying its installed but I can’t find it on my laptop
Hi Brooke! If you are still having trouble, please feel free to email us at techsupport@herinteractive.com and we can walk you through it.
I’m having issues with getting the games to work on a new Mac running with OS Sierra. I’ve tried both a digital download (which has worked on previous versions of OS), and 2 different new installs from CD’s (Shattered Medallion & Sea of Darkness).
The installer advises the game has installed properly. But when I attempt to open the game, it gives an error saying it “quit unexpectedly”. I’ve attempted multiple downloads, and it’s always the same thing.
Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions?
Hi Amy! Would you please email us at techsupport@herinteractive.com so we can help you further? Thanks!
I am having this same problem with digital downloads on a Mac with OS High Sierra (10.13.2). Is there any resolution to this problem?
Hello MK! Would you please email us at techsupport@herinteractive.com with your question? Thank you!
It is possible that you guys could just post the actual solution to this issue instead of always telling people to contact tech support, who never contact back in my experience? I’d like to be able to just fix the issue so I can play the game finally. So frustrating to spend money on games ‘designed for Mac’ that don’t even open on a Mac.
Hi Marti, we would hope that Mac players would compare their system to the game requirements, but if they do indeed meet the system requirements, that’s when we ask for more details. Each issue is unique, so we need to cater our help to each issue. We apologize if there is a delay in response from tech support due to the high volume of emails during launch, but we do get to every email.
I’m having this same problem. Since getting a new mac laptop none of my nancy drew games will run. I also have both physical and digital copies that I have tried to use. I get an error message upon opening all of them. Did you find a solution to this problem?
I am having the same problem with OS High Sierra – all my old downloaded games that ran on old OS will no longer run 🙁 Just says they quit unexpectedly when I open them. I emailed tech support this morning. Did anyone hear back who emailed them previously? Is there an easy work around or solution for this?
Hello Elena! Sorry for the delayed response, we’ve been out of the office since December 22nd and just got back. We will respond to your email soon!
I am having the exact same problem. I have just purchased new games as well as have been trying to run older ones and my patience is wearing thin to get them to work 🙁 anyone gotten a response yet? I emailed yesterday and today about this and haven’t heard back yet.
Hello Sky, it’s possible tech support is backed up with emails from over the Christmas break. I’ll let them know you emailed.
I’m having the same problem! Did anyone of you find out what to do to fix this?
Nancy Drew Sea of Darkness will not work on my Macbook Pro High Sierra.
Hello Paige! Would you please email us at techsupport@herinteractive.com? Thanks!
Yes! I’m also having the same problem on my new Mac! I tried to play The Shattered Medallion yesterday (which I purchased and played fine on my old Mac laptop), but kept getting the “quit unexpectedly” message before it would even load! It seemed to install fine, so the problem must be something about executing the operation?
Hello A, Would you please email us at techsupport@herinteractive.com with this issue? Thanks!
I have the physical copy of Shadow at the Water’s Edge and every time I try to download it on my MAC using my SuperDrive it lets me click into set-up but will spit out the disk as soon as I try to install it. I have MacOS Sierra version 10.12.6, is it not compatible with the game?
Hi Emma! You can check the game specs on the Shadow at the Water’s Edge page here. (Looks like it does.) If the FAQ posts don’t help, please contact us at techsupport@herinteractive.com.
Is there any way that tech support could actually put the solution here so we can try it? Or has anyone gotten the solution they can help others? All I’m seeing is a bunch of replies to reach out to tech support but nothing about what the actual solution is. Help! Mac OS High Sierra.
Hi Kim,
I’ve emailed the office twice about this but have heard no response 🙁
Elena, did you hear back yet? I messaged them this morning with the same question.
Hannah, I still haven’t heard anything back. I’m going to email them for a third time today. This is really disappointing that none of us can play our games.
Hello Elena, I’m sorry for the delayed response. Our customer service and tech support team are backed up on answering everyone’s emails.
Has anyone heard back yet? Emailed twice with no response.
Hello Sierra, we have been out of the office since last Wednesday. It’s possible our inboxes have filled and we are backed up on seeing your email. Stay tuned – we will respond! Keep an eye out on spam inbox, too, in case you may overlook our response. Thanks!
I have the High Sierra 10.13 operating system, will the Mac compatible version work for my OS?
Hi everyone, in case people are still waiting to hear back you just get an updated download link from tech support for all the games that don’t work anymore! I’m still stuck though because you need your original mac installation code and I didn’t save mine since the download time had expired already for me. I emailed back to ask what I could do a week ago and haven’t heard back yet. Will keep you updated.
Hi there, just wanted to say I really wish the older nancy drew were available on mac, I would literally buy them all!!
Hi Taylor – Thanks for reaching out! You can play all the older PC Nancy Drew Games on your Mac by following these instructions. Have fun! https://www.herinteractive.com/2017/01/older-games-mac/
Hi there!
I switched to a 2017 MacBook Pro with the Touch-bar in July 2017, I went to go install my Mac compatible Nancy Drew Games and they installed perfectly fine but one problem I am having is that games 22-25 will not work on my MacBook. All the other Mac games open and work just fine, so why won’t these 4 games work? It seems like there maybe a compatibility issue. I have been in contact with HR Tech and just recently emailed them with something I noticed in the Cider of the game along with screenshots of reviews from people with the same problem but no one is getting back to me now. Last I had heard was that the developers were working on this issue and they were going to keep me posted. I feel like the issue that I emailed about is being forgotten about. I understand that yall are very busy but I wish I wouldn’t be in the dark and wish to know why I cant play my games anymore. If I would have known this would happen with the new MacBooks, I would have kept my old one or switched to back to PC. I just really wanna play my games.
I hope you read this in full and can help out not just me but everyone with the issue.
Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon! 🙂
Hello Rachel, may I ask what operating system you are on with your Mac? And can you describe the problem that you see/don’t see when trying to install the games?
Hey I’ve been trying to contact support since February and still haven’t heard back from them. Last year I was given downloads to all the games I own physical copies of because, while they installed perfectly, they would crash on launch after I installed them. The link versions I was given however worked perfectly. Problem is I didn’t get them all downloaded and I now can’t download Tomb of the Lost Queen or The Deadly Device as the links no longer work.
I updated to High Sierra today and decided to see if my discs would have better luck with it and it’s worse–now instead of a simple installer there’s just a lot of folders.
Is there any way the links can be restored? And does there happen to be a fix in the works for this so that the discs work again?
Hello Kodi, would you please send us an email to techsupport@herinteractive.com once more? We’ve been a bit behind in our emails, but are catching up. Also, please check your spam folder to make sure that email address, as well as customerservice@herinteractive.com is not marked as spam when we reply. Thank you!
Hi there,
I bought the Mac digital download of The Captive Curse a while back and after sucessfully installing, it wouldn’t open on my computer. I deleted and re-installed it, and when that didn’t work I emailed techsupport about this in April. I’m running High Sierra OS 10.13.5, which I included in the email (at the time it was 10.13.3). I never heard back, which I understand is because you guys have a backlog, so I’ve just waited.
The game has still never opened, the icon just bounces in the task bar and then disappears. On my most recent attempt, I got a dialog box that said the game was not optimized for my computer and needed to be updated by the developer.
Is there anything at all I can do, or an update coming that will fix this? If not I’d like to find a way to return the game and get a refund for the purchase, seeing as I’m out of luck with trying to play it.
Hello Whitney, we apologize for the delayed response in helping you. I’ll let our tech support know to look for your email.
Has anybody gotten this issue figured out yet? I recently upgraded both from Yosemite to High Sierra and then from a 2010 MacBook Pro to a 2017 MacBook Pro. None of my ND games work now. All “quit unexpectedly” before starting.
And just to pre-empt, I did already send an email to tech support.
Hi! does with work with Mac OS X El Capitan? I wanted to download the Mac compatible games on Amazon, but I’m paranoid they won’t work on El Capitan!
All the new Mac games will no longer work with the recent updated 64 bit intel Mac OS Mojave system. So if you want to play your ND games don’t upgrade your mac to Mojave!
Is there ANY way to play these games if I’m running Mojave? This is really frustrating.
Hi Austen, please contact us at techsupport@herinteractive.com so we can help you out further. Thanks!
Was there any update on this? I am having the same issue.
I’m wondering the same thing… I need to keep my apple software up to date and unfortunately the games aren’t working.
Hi, I am running a Mac 10.14 Mojave and just bought the Captive Curse but it will not open. I just emailed your team but have not heard anything. I have the captive curse pull up and then jump around in my tool bar then disappear. Is there any software that I can run this own? I would still love to play!
I’m having the exact same issue. Let me know if you get a response!
I am having the same issues as well. I cannot open Secret of the Silent Spy or any of them. Help! I need to get my ND fix lol
I’m having the same problem as the people above. I purchased Shadow at the Water’s Edge, and it won’t open, just bounces around. I have Mojave also. If the games don’t work on that OS, there should be a warning before you drop $20 on a useless game. I’ve also emailed tech support, but I’m still waiting on a response.
Hello Cassidy, we are looking into the matter of Mojave issues. We will let tech support know to look for your email.
I have macOS 10.15 Catalina on a 2018 MacBook and the game I just purchased ND labyrinth of lies will not run because “The developer of this app needs to update it to work with this version of macOS. Contact the developer for more information.”
is there any solution for this or should I just get a refund?
I’ve been e-mailing and asking about the updated Mac issue and haven’t heard anything back from Her for months now. Can we PLEASE have an update or at least a response letting us know what is going on. If the games won’t work on the new MAC users need to know so they don’t buy unusable games. I’m also wondering if MID won’t work either and I don’t want to pre-order unless I know my game will run on the latest Mac. The mac change over has been in the works for a number of years so it shouldn’t be a surprise.
Could we please get a response.
Thank you
I’ve emailed them as well with no response. Luckily I have an old mac book that I didn’t update so I could still play the games. But I am also wondering if MID is going to work or how we will know if it will work without buying and trying it.
Hello Kayla, MID will indeed work on the latest Mac and PC operating systems, but we are having trouble with the older Mac-compatible Nancy Drew games working on this new operating systems. 🙁
Same as above – need Mac OS Catalina info please. Even a “we’re working on it” reply would be helpful.
I just paid a ridiculous amount of money for 2 old mac digital downloads and its not working and saying the same information about how the developer needs to update the software. They are falsely advertising our ability to play these games on macs. I also purchased the pre download to play MID and am worried it won’t work either and I just wasted my money. I either want a solution or a refund.
Hello Jenna, I’m sorry the games are not working. We have been looking into the new Mac operating systems for a fix for our Mac games to play on them. Please email us at customerservice@herinteractive.com about your order if you need to return the games.
HerInteractive and Apple/Mac need to get their acts together. Many of us have purchased games to play on our MacBooks, and now get nothing but crashes and reboots and no support. I’m certain it is a compatibility issue with the recent Mac OS update, but it is really frustrating. I’m hoping to replay my games before the new game comes out in December, and now I’m worried that I won’t be able to play the new game either.
I just bought the Nancy Drew Captive Cruse game, thinking that I’d be able to play it immediately, only for my Mac to tell me that it needs to be updated and to contact the developer. will this issue be resolved soon?? or should I just get a refund?? I really wanna play it but I don’t want to waste my money on something I’ll never get to play.
Hello Mackenzie, I’m sorry for your trouble. The new Mac operating systems require all its games to be 64-bit, but our games run at 32-bit. 🙁 We do not have a fix for this, as it is a requirement by the Mac OS. The Mac games we offer can be played on older Mac systems, so if you need a refund or want to change to a PC build, please contact us at customerservice@herinteractive.com.
I just purchased Labyrinth of Lies for Mac and wasn’t informed of the fact that it is not supported by macOS Catalina until after the purchase. I love these games so much! Do I need to return or will there eventually be a 64-bit version soon? I really hope so
Hello Sera! I’m sorry, but the games only run in 32-bit mode. 🙁 This is a challenge we haven’t been able to fix since this is Apple’s operating system requirement. If you need to return, please email us at customerservice@herinteractive.com.
Hi, is this true for the new Midnight in Salem game too? Is it also 32-bit and won’t run on the new Mac OS systems Catalina?
Hi J Manuel! MID will work on the latest Mac system. If you have an older Mac operating system, compare it to the MID requirements on the web page here.
Hello,
I also just purchased Labyrinth of Lies for Mac. I have a OS X 10.14.6 (mojave). I believe I can still run 32-bit given that mojave is the last to do it, and it doesn’t prompt me to “update the app.” When inserting the disc, nothing happens or pops up. I think I’ve had a similar problem before, but can’t remember what to do.
Hi Kyel! Would you please email your full computer specs to us? We can take a look to see if it will work. There may be another step you are missing, too. Contact us at trechsupport@herinteractive.com. Thanks!
I purchased Labryinth of Lies for Mac in November, and I emailed customer service about how I wasn’t able to run on Catalina, but then in all the craziness never followed up. Is it possible to still return it? It was a digital purchase.
Hi Danae! Check your spam folder in case you may have missed an email from us. If you don’t see anything, would you please forward your email to us and re-ask your question? Thanks! So sorry LIE isn’t able to run well on your Mac!
Does the new Salem game (#33) work with Catalina?
Hi Leslie! Yes, MID does indeed work on Mac Catalina.
Will games work on my Sierra 10.12.6?
Hi Brittany! Games 22-32 should work fine on your Sierra, but double check the system requirements on each games’ web page to compare with your computer, just to be sure. 🙂
I have the macOS Big Sur, version 11.4. Will the Sea of Darkness work on this computer?
Hi Sam, I don’t believe so because Apple changed their new OS to not run 64-bit games as I understand. You can try bootcamp to get SEA running on your mac though!
Can I run any games other than Midnight In Salem on my Ventura 13.2.1 (22D68) MacBook? Or can I never play any old games.
I keep trying to buy Shattered Medallion with Mojave software but when I get to the payment it keeps saying Payment Authorization Failed. I’ve checked over my info and submitted it about 5 times but I keep getting the same message. This is disappointing 🙁