I've been a Mac user for the past 15+ years, and it's been harder and harder to admit the simple truth — it's difficult to understand where macOS is heading and whether Apple still cares about the kind of users who built its loyal following in the first place.

I started using Mac OS around the Tiger/Snow Leopard era. Things weren't perfect, but at least it felt like an operating system that I owned, rather than one that owned me.

Back then, it was lean, stable, and clearly designed for people who wanted to understand and control their machines. Today, macOS feels less like a standalone, user-respecting operating system and more like an extension of Apple's ecosystem control strategy — or, to put it bluntly, an iOS extension with a keyboard.

Let's see what features were either removed or modified to the point where we could call them useless — or worse, user-hostile.

Single User Mode

Up until around macOS Mojave (10.14), you could boot into Single User Mode by holding Command + S at startup.

It dropped you into a root shell before the OS loaded — perfect for repairing disks, resetting passwords, or fixing broken system files. It was a true backdoor for those who actually knew what they were doing.

Today? That's gone. Replaced by a locked-down Recovery Mode that mounts the system volume as read-only, tied to SIP and Secure Boot. On Apple Silicon, even that is wrapped behind cryptographic layers and your Apple ID. You no longer own the system-you're borrowing access, as long as Apple's firmware allows it.

Also, if things go wrong — call yourself lucky if you could repair your system in DFU mode. I was lucky, but you never know how things could turn.

Gatekeeper, Sandboxing, and Software Signing

Before these were introduced, macOS was a genuinely developer-friendly UNIX system. You could explore /System or /Library, tweak scripts, or write daemons that did real work. Now, apps live inside opaque bundles buried in ~/Library/Containers/<bundle-id>/. Go ahead and try to navigate that labyrinth.

Third-party apps have lost direct access to most system folders, making background tools and low-level utilities nearly impossible to maintain. Meanwhile, Apple's own processes remain exempt from these restrictions — naturally.

What used to be a flexible, open system has turned into a gated community. Apple calls it security. Many of us call it control. I would rather have a system that I could modify to my taste when necessary. That doesn't mean I want Linux — I just want to have various parts of the system functioning the way I want

Forced Updates and Shorter Lifespans

Once upon a time, you could run an older macOS version for years without any issue. Well, apart from the security issues that might come up…

Older hardware that's still perfectly capable is dropped without reason other than marketing convenience. The message is clear: drop your current machine and buy a new M-series Mac.

Even if you resist, you'll find some apps simply stop running or refuse to update. The ecosystem is built to move forward - but only on Apple's terms.

Sometimes it feels like Apple intentionally pushes new macOS updates just to break perfectly functional machines — turning them slow, glitchy, or nearly unusable.

Don't believe me? Just look at the reports from users who upgraded their Intel Macs to macOS Tahoe — the final stop for Intel hardware, and arguably one of the roughest updates yet.

Software Quality Decline

There was a time when each release of macOS was a careful refinement. Snow Leopard was literally marketed as a bug fix release.

Today, new versions ship annually whether they're ready or not. Finder glitches and random app crashes are now routine.

Features debut half-baked, some even vanish a year later. Stability has become secondary. Want some examples? Here we are:

• Dashboard widgets: gone
• Siri on Mac: still there, but seems like it's getting replaced with AI stuff
• Automator: still there, but it's not getting new features. Maybe I should get used to "Shortcuts"?
• Many other features such as Spaces + Expose, Network Utility, X11 integration and other power tools were removed

Here is a real example. Check how the Disk Utility used to look like:

It had real depth — detailed logs, advanced partitioning options, RAID tools, and clear system feedback. Power users were part of the design philosophy back then.

Today, we're left relying on workarounds, command-line hacks, and third-party utilities just to make the system behave the way we want.

Am I nagging? Maybe. But it's hard not to when you've seen how capable it used to be.

Reduced User Control

System Integrity Protection (SIP), sealed system volumes, and the T2 chip have collectively stripped away what little control users had left. On modern Macs, even something as simple as replacing an SSD can render the machine unbootable, because Apple tightly controls the entire boot chain and verifies every component for authenticity.

They might call it care — but let's be honest, it's about control and profit. You're expected to pay a premium for upgrades, not perform them yourself.

Want to boot into an older version of macOS for any reason? Good luck. It was already difficult on Intel Macs, but with Apple Silicon, it's simply impossible — Apple dictates the entire process from start to finish.

It's safe, yes — but it's also sterile.

Decline of Power User Tools available

As we discussed earlier — many of the tools that defined the Mac experience are gone or crippled. AppleScript and Automator were once celebrated; now they're half-abandoned, replaced by the iOS-inspired Shortcuts app.

Terminal and bash — or now zsh — still exist, but their connection to the rest of macOS has become weaker over the years. The command line feels more like a sandboxed accessory than a core part of the system.

Many users rely on Homebrew these days to fill the gap, but I've never liked it. It isn't a true package manager in the UNIX sense — it just dumps files into user space, living in its own parallel universe under /usr/local or /opt/homebrew.

It works, but it feels more like a workaround than real integration.

Power users, sysadmins, and developers who once thrived on macOS have been quietly sidelined.

Design Language Drift

macOS once had a unique identity — sharp, tactile, and instantly recognizable. Now it's just a mirror of iOS, with excessive translucency and fading contrast.

And now we have Liquid Glass — an aesthetic style built for iOS fluidity, yet imposed on macOS. In some cases, buttons do blur into the background, contrast becomes inconsistent, and windows feel like layers of frosted plastic.

It's not always a disaster, but after years of having a clean, utilitarian desktop, macOS now sometimes looks like it's overreaching for iPad aesthetics.

Hardware Lock-In

Apple's shift to its own chips — the M1, M2, M3 and now beyond — was a technical marvel, but also the final nail in the coffin for flexibility.

They now control the entire stack, from silicon to software, and can decide exactly when your device becomes obsolete. And the worst part? That decision doesn't have to make sense. It only has to serve Apple's timeline.

Conclusion

macOS hasn't simply evolved — it's migrated. From an open, UNIX-based workstation OS loved by developers and creatives, to a sealed, tightly managed component of Apple's walled garden.

Security and consistency improved, sure — but at the expense of freedom, transparency, and trust.

Apple may call this progress. But for those of us who remember what the Mac once stood for — simplicity, usability, and power— it feels more like a slow erosion of everything that made macOS great.

I wish I were being cynical, but this is simply where things are headed.