Sims 4 (Mac) 

Is there The Sims 4 for Mac?

The popular social-simulation game, The Sims 4 is available for Mac and can easily be downloaded and played for free on any Mac that meets its requirements. Note that only the EA version of The Sims 4 has macOS support – the Steam variant of the game is only available for Windows.

In this article, we’ll tell you all about playing this game on a Mac machine. We’ll talk about how well its macOS port is compared to its PC version, we’ll go over the game’s requirements, and, of course, we’ll also show you how you can get the Sims 4 for free and play it on your Mac, so let’s get started!

Can you download The Sims 4 on any Mac?

The Sims 4 can be played on any Mac, be it with an Intel CPU or an M1/M2 chip. While the macOS version of The Sims 4 is developed for Intel Macs, thanks to Apple’s Rosetta 2 emulation software, the game also works flawlessly on Apple Silicon machines. Obviously, even though The Sims 4 is relatively undemanding, you’ll still need to consider the game’s system requirements, which we’ll talk about in a bit.

The Sims 4 is one of the relatively few games that Mac users can run natively on their computers and, unlike many other Mac ports of Windows games, its macOS version is well-optimized, so there’s virtually no difference between running it on a PC and on a Mac (provided that the two machines have comparable hardware). In other words, you won’t need to jump through any hoops and perform any elaborate setup procedures to start the game on your Mac.

However, it must be noted that it is important where you download the game from. You would think that getting it from Steam would let you play it on a Mac computer, but you would be wrong. For whatever reason, getting the game from Steam won’t let you run it on your Mac as the Steam version of The Sims 4 is only available for PC. To play it on a Mac, you’d instead need to get The Sims 4 on the Origin platform – EA Games’ gaming store. It’s easy and simple to get the game in this way, but it is just as easy to make the mistake of getting the game on Steam. Thankfully, both versions of the game are free, so even if you’ve mistakenly claimed the game on Steam, you wouldn’t have wasted any money.

To learn how to get the macOS version of The Sims 4 and run it on your Mac, check out the instructions we’ve posted at the end of this article.

The Sims 4 Mac requirements and performance

As noted above, The Sims 4 Mac requirements are rather low, so most Mac machines released in the past 10 years should have no problems running this game. Still, we wanted to provide you with the hard numbers and also give you a general idea of what Mac models should be able to run this game with a decent performance. First, here are the requirements for the game according to its developer:

• OS – 10.11 (El Capitan) is the earliest version of macOS for which the game is supported.
• CPU – Your Mac needs to have at least an Intel Core i3-3225 3.3 GHz (2 cores, 4 threads) or a better CPU to be able to run this game. If you are on an Apple Silicon Mac, all M1 and M2 chips should have no issue with running The Sims 4.
• RAM – 4 GB of RAM/virtual memory is the minimum amount needed for this game.
• HDD – The game takes approximately 26 GB of storage space on the hard-drive, but it’s best to also have at least another 10 GB free space left on your Mac after the installation, or else the machine may start to experience slow-downs.
• Graphics – The minimum GPU required to play The Sims 4 on Mac is Intel HD 4000 (Integrated Graphics), which is mainly used in MacBooks from 2012 and 2013, so if you have such a Mac or one with a better GPU, the game should run just fine on it.

In general, if you are on a MacBook from 2013 or later that has all its latest updates installed, you should be able to get an okay performance with The Sims 4. Obviously, to play the game on higher settings and still have smooth gameplay, you’ll need to be on a newer and more powerful Mac. Generally, any Macs released in the past 6–7 years should provide you with good performance while playing at the medium or high settings.

How to play Sims 4 on Mac

To play Sims 4 on Mac, first, download and install the EA Games’ Origin app on your Mac, open it, and enter your account. Next, search for the game, get it for free and download it to be able to play Sims 4 on your Mac.

If you think you may need more detailed instructions on how to install and play the Sims 4 on your Mac, please, read the following lines:

1. Go to this link, click on Register, and create an EA Games/Origin account if you don’t already have one and confirm the email used to create the account.
2. Click here, select the download button for Mac, and download the installation file for Origin.
   
3. Open the Origin installation file when it downloads and install the app by dragging its icon to the Applications folder icon.
   
4. Once the app is installed, go to the Applications folder and double-click on its icon to start it.
   
   • If you are ever asked whether you are sure you want to install/open this app because it’s been downloaded from the Internet, click Open.
5. Once you open Origin, log in to your account, then search for The Sims 4 using the search bar, and click on the game’s tile.
   
   • If you don’t initially see the base game among the different DLC’s, click on View all in Store and scroll down until you find it.
     
6. On the game’s page, click on Get the Game for free.
   
   
7. Open your Origin Library, click on the Sims 4 tile, and download the game. Once the game downloads and installs, start it from the Origin app or from your Applications folder.