A new option in the latest macOS Sequoia developer beta allows users to install Mac App Store downloads on external drives, and run the apps from there.
Apple’s original ad for the Mac App Store in 2011
Apple’s original ad for the Mac App Store in 2011
It’s a seemingly small change to the third macOS Sequoia developer beta, but it’s significant, and it follows a previous attempt to deal with apps and their storage requirements. From the first beta of macOS Sequoia, Apple revised app installations so that during the install, they no longer require twice the storage space of the app itself.
Now if users turn on the option in the Mac App Store, larger apps will automatically download to a nominated location instead of straight into the regular Applications folder. Specifically, if an app is larger than 1GB, it will download to that external drive.