Do Macs need antivirus software, or are Apple’s protections enough?

Macs are not immune to malware – they absolutely can get viruses and other threats. But whether you need third-party antivirus software in 2026 depends on how you use your Mac, your risk tolerance, and what threats matter most to you. In this article, we look at the dangers faced by Mac users, and the pros and cons of using Mac antivirus software.

Is there Mac malware?

Historically, the Mac has been considered safe and secure from malware and viruses for a number of reasons, which we’ll explore below. In recent years, however, that consensus has begun to shift, as the number of Mac malware threats has steadily increased.

In 2021, according to security expert Patrick Wardle, eight new Mac malware families were identified. In 2022, that figure rose to 13. The upward trend continued in 2023, when 21 new Mac-targeting malware families were discovered, followed by 22 in 2024. This growth did not slow in 2025, with the number of macOS-targeting malware families increasing yet again.

Those figures may seem modest compared to the scale of Windows malware, but the trajectory is what matters. The threat is growing, and that alone is reason enough not to ignore it. In fact, the rise of AI is likely to make the situation worse rather than better.

In its 2025 State of Malware report, Malwarebytes warned that the next iteration of artificial intelligence, agentic AI, will be capable of acting autonomously to solve complex, multi-stage problems. This could allow attackers to scale up both the volume and speed of malware campaigns while reducing the need for human involvement. At the same time, agentic AI could also serve as a defensive tool, proactively identifying vulnerabilities, monitoring systems, and ensuring security patches are applied. (More on this in Hackers are using AI to attack your Mac and it’s only going to get worse.)

We track known threats in our log of all the Mac viruses, and the data shows a particular rise in macOS stealers – malware designed to harvest sensitive information such as authentication cookies, credit card numbers, passwords, and other personal data. Malwarebytes’ 2025 report highlights this trend, noting that Atomic Stealer, which first emerged in 2023, continues to evolve and remains active in ongoing attacks.

Even Apple has acknowledged that Mac malware is a problem. Speaking in May 2021, Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi admitted that Mac malware was a serious concern, although his comments came in the context of defending iOS’s more restrictive security model. “We have a level of malware on the Mac that we don’t find acceptable,” he said. He also noted that members of his own family had encountered malware on their devices.

When questioned by the judge about the Mac’s openness, specifically the ability for users to download software from outside the Mac App Store, Federighi conceded that this flexibility is “regularly exploited” by attackers. “iOS has established a dramatically higher bar for customer protection,” he said. “The Mac is not meeting that bar today.”

Federighi argued that the Mac’s comparatively smaller software ecosystem helps limit the damage. If iOS allowed the same level of third-party software distribution, he warned, the consequences would be far more severe. “If you took Mac security techniques and applied them to the iOS ecosystem,” he said, “with all those devices and all that value, it would get run over to a degree dramatically worse than is already happening on the Mac.”

18 ways Apple protects your Macs from viruses

Macs are generally safer than PCs, but with threats to the Mac growing due to the platform’s increasing popularity, Apple has had to build in protections for macOS and the Mac hardware itself. 

In this section, we will look at the built-in protections in macOS to establish whether they are enough, or if you should also install antivirus software on your Mac.

1. XProtect – How XProtect works

Apple has its own antivirus software built in. The Mac’s malware scanning tool, XProtect, works invisibly and automatically in the background and requires no user configuration. Apple has a list of malicious applications that it checks against when you open downloaded applications. XProtect is regularly updated by Apple, and it updates in the background, so you should always be protected.

The presence of XProtect is similar to having antivirus software from a third-party software developer running on your Mac, with the bonus of being written into the operating system and therefore not hampering performance. With XProtect running, if you download and try to open files contaminated with malware, you may see an explicit warning that the files will “damage your computer,” along with a reference to the type of malware. In that case, you should delete the file immediately.

This is great news for Mac users, but is it enough? How does XProtect compare to the antivirus solutions out there? Well, XProtect may not be as up-to-date as some third-party products and it tends to focus on known malware threats and doesn’t look for as many strains of malware.

But updates to XProtect do happen regularly to protect from macOS malware, for example on October 12, 2023 Apple updated XProtect adding cover for Atomic Stealer and Adload malware. There was another update to XProtect Remediator in October 2024. There was even an XProtect update on August 26 2025 when we were updating this article. This is why it is important to keep your Mac software up-to-date. macOS checks for new updates every day and starts applying them in the background, it will send you a notification to confirm that the update is ready to install – so make sure you do.

Read our roundup of the Best Mac antivirus apps for an in-depth evaluation of the options out there.

2. Gatekeeper: How Gatekeeper works

Gatekeeper on your Mac ensures that all apps from the internet have already been checked by Apple for known malicious code. Thanks to Gatekeeper, macOS blocks downloaded software that hasn’t been digitally signed, a process whereby Apple approves the developer and issues a certificate. This certificate tells Apple who the developer is and if it’s blacklisted, and if the software has been tampered with since leaving the developer for distribution.If you try to install unsigned software you will see the message: “[This app] can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.” One change to Gatekeeper that arrived in macOS Catalina a few years back was that software is checked for malware and other issues every time it runs, rather than just the first time you install it.

For maximum protection, GateKeeper can be set to only allow software to be installed if it was downloaded from the Mac App Store. Or you can set it to allow you to install software from the web, but from verified developers only.

You can adjust these settings via the Privacy & Security section of System Settings (previously System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General):

1. Open System Settings.
2. Select Privacy & Security.
3. Scroll down to the Security section. 
4. Choose from the options underneath Allow Applications Downloaded From.
5. Choose App Store or App Store and Identified Developers.

The safest option is App Store only, but if you also want to be able to install legitimate software from the web then App Store and Identified Developers is the best plan. There used to be a further option to disable the feature by choosing ‘Anywhere,’ but this option is no longer available.

All software downloaded via the App Store is signed, but should you attempt to open an app you’ve downloaded from the web that isn’t signed, you’ll see a Gatekeeper warning like the one below:

This may mean you’ve almost installed malware. On the other hand, of course, it may be a legitimate app. In which case (and if you’re sure) you can bypass Gatekeeper’s protection and install it.

To do so, go to the Finder and locate the app there. Now hold down Ctrl when you click on the app, and then select Open. This will mark it as being trusted. For more details, read how to open an app from an unidentified developer.

Being able to download unsigned software might sound like a benefit, but it essentially enables you to bypass the protections offered by Gatekeeper. That’s a mixed blessing, and more and more malicious apps are instructing users to do exactly this when they are installed.

If a user bypasses Gatekeeper to run a program then an alert is issued via the Endpoint Security API. An alert is also issued if XProtect detects malware.

3. Lockdown Mode

Lockdown Mode is a feature that arrived in macOS Sonoma in 2023 that makes it easy to protect your Apple devices and your data if you are the victim of a cyberattack.

Just activate Lockdown Mode and all your Apple devices will be protected and the hacker will find it a lot harder to steal your data.

You’ll find Lockdown Mode in the Security section of System Settings > Privacy & Security.

Read: How to turn on Lockdown Mode and protect your iPhone or Mac from a cyber attack.

4. Sandboxing and related protections

Software that is approved by Apple is also sandboxed. App sandboxing isolates apps from the critical system components of your Mac, your data and your other apps, so they shouldn’t be able to modify other apps without permission. It doesn’t protect you from malware getting into the system, but it does limit the extent of what the malware can do once it’s in there. The main problem here is that while apps sold on the Mac App Store have to be sandboxed, other Mac apps don’t.

Another issue with Sandboxing was highlighted in August 2023 when software developer Jeff Johnson released details about a flaw in App Management that involves the Sandbox. App Management is a security feature introduced in macOS Ventura that is intended to prevent malicious software modifications by keeping an eye out for attempts by software to modify other apps on the Mac. Should this happen, App Management will block the modification and alert the user. The concern was that users could grant permission for such a change without being warned that it is a sandboxed app, thereby bypassing a check by App Management.

Since macOS 10.15 Catalina arrived in 2019 it has been a requirement for all Mac apps to get your permission before they can access your files. macOS will also ask for your permission before an app can access the camera or microphone, or log what you type. A potential issue here is that users see these alerts so frequently it becomes second nature to approve them without consideration.

Another change that arrived with macOS Catalina is that macOS itself is now stored on a separate disk volume. This means that your important system files are all completely separate and therefore more challenging to access. Apps can’t get to your system files where they could cause problems.

5. Background Task Manager

With macOS Ventura in October 2022, Apple added Background Task Manager, a tool used by macOS to monitor for “persistent” software and notify the user of any suspicious activity.

In August 2023, Mac security researcher Patrick Wardle criticized the tool suggesting that it can easily be bypassed so that malicious software can run without the user knowing it.

Wardle discovered ways to disable the notifications that Background Task Manager sends to the user when a persistence event is recognized. One method requires root access, which means that the threat agent needs full control of the Mac to disable the alert, but Wardle found two other methods that can be deployed remotely. So an attacker could disable the notifications and allow the malware to run unnoticed.

Wardle wrote: “[Background Task Manager is] a good thing for Apple to have added, but the implementation was done so poorly that any malware that’s somewhat sophisticated can trivially bypass the monitoring”.

6. Security updates

Apple regularly issues security updates for the Mac. While these can serve to demonstrate that the Mac isn’t infallible, with Apple all too frequently having security flaws pointed out to it, they are generally issued promptly.

These security updates have generally been issued as part of a larger macOS update: for example, macOS Monterey 12.2.1 closed a security vulnerability in WebKit that would have made it possible to execute malicious code. Because these security fixes were issued as part of a macOS update, which often requires the computer to reboot during the installation process, Mac users may be less likely to install the update promptly, even though these updates can be set to install automatically.

Since the launch of Ventura, however, Apple has started separating out the security updates from wider macOS updates and rolling them out automatically. This way the update can happen in the background, without a restart.

Generally, Apple can respond quickly as it makes the software and the hardware. But the problem is more prevalent when Apple has less control over the issue, as with Intel’s Downfall processor vulnerability that affected Macs with Intel chips built between 2016 to 2020. Intel patched the issue, but released that its Downfall patch could slow some CPUs. If you have a Mac that uses Apple Silicon (an M1-M4 and beyond processor), you have nothing to worry about. It’s a good reason to consider upgrading if you have an Intel-powered Mac.

This is why it is important to install updates from Apple – but not just Apple. It’s important to install updates for all your apps regularly. Developers fix security issues via updates. The Mac App Store usually does a good job of keeping apps updated automatically, but we recommend checking at least once a month for any updates that might not have been installed. When it comes to apps you’ve downloaded from outside the App Store, you need to check for updates in the app’s menu bar option.

7. Password protection and Passkeys

Passwords: Apple has it’s own Password manager that works across Mac, iPhone and iPad. The Passwords app (which is an evolution of iCloud Keychain that was introduced in 2011 with Mac OS X Mavericks and iOS 7, which was itself an evolution of Apple’s Keychain software for managing passwords and login information that arrived with MacOS 8.6 in 1999) allows for passwords to be synced and used across devices.

The Passwords app arrived in macOS Sequoia in 2024. Users previously had to go to System Settings (or System Preferences) > Passwords, but with Sequoia Apple introduced a dedicated Passwords app (to be found on iPhone and iPad as well).

The benefit of the Password app is that it is only necessary to remember one password to unlock all the passwords you need. No need to memorize a lot of different passwords – or more likely use one easy-to-remember (and crack) password for everything. Apple will also help you create a strong password and will warn you if your password is easy to hack, if you have reused a password, and if it has appeared in a leak. If it ever detects a security concern, Password Monitoring will alert you.

In macOS Tahoe the Password app gains a History feature that will enable you to see previous passwords so you can avoid using one again.

Even before the Password app arrived, Apple’s password protections had seen many improvements over the years. For example, macOS Sonoma brought a simplification of the process for sharing passwords with friends and family. Users can create a group and share a set of passwords to that group and when shared, it’s end-to-end encrypted.

Passkeys: In macOS Ventura, Apple introduced Passkeys. Apple explains: “Passkeys use iCloud Keychain public key credentials, eliminating the need for passwords. Instead, they rely on biometric identification such as Touch ID and Face ID in iOS, or a specific confirmation in macOS for generating and authenticating accounts.” Passkeys are more secure, according to Apple. Essentially your device will hold one part of a cryptographic key pair and the other part will be stored by the website or service you’re logging into. Your device will authenticate you biometrically (with Touch ID or Face ID) and log you in. For more information, read How to use Passkeys.

2FA: In Monterey a new authenticator was added, so you can set up verification codes instead of using an authentication app. To add a setup key you need to click on a password and then choose Enter Setup Key, which you should be able to obtain from the provider. Once input the 2FA verification codes should automatically fill.

In macOS Sonoma, Apple simplified the use of 2FA. Safari automatically fills in the code you are sent (as a text or email) and automatically deletes the email or text afterwards.

And in macOS Tahoe autofilling verification codes is no longer restricted to Apple apps. Codes that come in for third-party apps, such as Google Chrome, will now autofill if they come to your Messages or Mail apps. 

8. Consent Alerts

Apple has Improved Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) by making sure that users see alerts when screen recording, network access and other potentially concerning activity happens.

In macOS Monterey Apple added a Recording indicator in the menu bar so you’ll know if an app is recording you. A bit like the light that indicates the mic is in use on your iPhone.

Similarly, as of macOS Ventura, any app that wants access to your pasteboard has to request permission.

9. Safari protections

Anti-phishing technology in Safari will detect fraudulent websites. It will disable the page and display an alert if you visit a suspect website.

Anti-phishing isn’t the only way that Safari protects you when you’re surfing. Apple also allows users to prevent advertisers tracking them around the web. You can see a Privacy Report including details of all the cross-site trackers Apple has stopped from profiling you.

Safari includes advanced fingerprinting protection which makes it harder for websites to track your device around the web. In macOS Tahoe this will extend to all browsing, where previously it was only Private browsing.

You’ll also notice that plug-ins such as Silverlight, QuickTime, and Oracle Java won’t run if they aren’t updated to the latest version, another way of ensuring your Mac is safe. And of course now that Adobe has discontinued Flash people should hopefully no longer fall for malware hidden in Flash Player.

New in Safari 15 were improvements to the Intelligent Tracing Prevention that arrived in Safari 14. Now web trackers won’t be able to see your IP address so they won’t be able to create a profile about you. Check this by choosing Safari from the Safari menu > Preferences > Privacy > Hide IP address from trackers.

The Safari Private Browsing feature improved with macOS Sonoma. You can set a new Private Browsing Lock to appear on the screen to stop onlookers from viewing your screen when you aren’t present.

Private Browsing also stops web-based trackers from recording data about you via tracking codes by removing those codes. Tracking information is even removed if you links via Messages or Mail.

10. Photo privacy

A few years ago there was a lot of bad publicity for Apple when celebrities reported that their iCloud photos had been stolen. (For more on this, read How to stop photo hacks on iPhone.) There have been a number of security enhancements in iCloud since this happened, and Apple has given users other ways to protect their photo privacy: for example, the ability to hide photos and albums. In Ventura, Apple expanded this so that hidden albums, and the Recently Deleted album, are locked by default, and only authenticated by Touch ID or Face ID.

11. Mail & Messages protections

macOS Monterey brought a new feature in Mail on the Mac. Mail Privacy Protection improves privacy for users. For example, it stops email senders from being able to track whether you’ve opened an email, or even determine your location from your IP address. Check that the feature is working for you by opening Mail > Click on Mail in the menu > choose Preferences > Privacy > and make sure Protect Mail Activity is selected. It should be by default.

There are additional Mail protections if you’re an iCloud subscriber. Hide My Email allows you to create an alternative email address that you can give out. The email will still be delivered to your inbox, but you can easily delete the alternative email later.

You can turn this on in System Preferences > click on Apple ID > and select Private Relay (currently in Beta). In Ventura Hide My Email was extended to third-party apps.

MacOS Tahoe will get extra protections for Messages and even a Phone app, both of which will filter out Spam.

In Messages any links that could direct you to a scammer’s website are replaced with text links. Such messages will be found in the Spam folder.

12. iCloud+ protections

If you’re an iCloud subscriber, you’ll be interested in a feature that arrived in Monterey (part of the upgrade from iCloud to iCloud+) called Private Relay. It’s a bit like a VPN in that it encrypts your network traffic and routes your DNS lookup requests through two servers, one of which is not controlled by Apple. However, it’s not a VPN, because it only works in Safari and obviously it lacks the other usual features of a VPN. (If you want a VPN, by the way, check out our roundup of the best VPNs for Mac. You may even be able to save some money if you take a look at our roundup of VPN deals, or try one of these free VPNs.)

You can manage your Private Relay settings in System Preferences > Apple ID > click on Options beside Hide my email. Here you will see any fake email addresses you’re using; just click on Turn Off if you want to stop those emails arriving. You can also change which email address they are forwarded to. 

13. Safety Check

A new feature in macOS Ventura is Safety Check, a feature that will allow anyone who is concerned that they are in danger from a person known to them to revoke any access they have granted to that person. So, for example, that person won’t be able to access their location, their photos, or anything else that could help them to be traced.

14. File encryption with FileVault

FileVault–Apple’s name for full-disk encryption–makes sure your data is safe and secure by encrypting it. Intel Macs that featured the T2 Security Chip and all M-series Apple silicon Macs have encryption built in at the bottom level of macOS. The startup internal volume is always encrypted, and you can’t turn it off. FileVault also encrypts external volumes.

With FileVault on your Mac’s drive is completely encrypted and encryption keys (protected by your account password) are required to unlock it. If your Mac is encrypted with FileVault, an attacker will be locked out, macOS won’t even unlock your drive for access at startup without a valid account password or an associated Recovery Key (just be aware that if someone hacked your Apple ID they could potentially gain access to the Recovery Key and unlock your Mac’s drive).

The main problem is that without that Recovery Key you are also locked out and won’t be able to access your data, so do look after it. See How to find your FileVault recovery key in macOS.

Read our tips for keeping your Mac secure, of which using FileVault is one.

15. Warnings about spyware

Apple announced in November 2021 that it would warn its users of state-sponsored espionage attacks, such as the well-publicized Pegasus spyware, on their iPhones, iPads and Macs. The notification will come via email or a message. The same warning will be displayed on the user’s Apple ID page at appleid.apple.com.

The warning will offer advice about how affected users can protect themselves against attack. There’s more information on Apple’s site.

16. Find My

Not every threat to your data comes from malware. Sometimes a criminal might get hold of your Mac, in which case Apple’s Find My service will come into its own.

The Find My app can relay the location of your lost or stolen Mac back to you. If you’re concerned that it might not be recoverable, you can wipe the contents of the Mac so that your data can’t be accessed. For more on this, read How to find a lost or stolen iPhone.

In addition, every Mac with an M1-series, M2-series, or T2 chip has an Activation Lock feature which means they can be erased remotely and only you can reactivate the Mac.

17. Privacy in Siri and Apple Intelligence

There are new AI features coming to macOS Sequoia and iOS 18. There may be concerns about how this will affect privacy and security as, while in most cases the processing will be done on the device, in some situations tasks that need more processing power will be sent to Apple’s servers. During WWDC 2024 Apple explained that this will all be done securely and that the data will never be accessible to anyone, including Apple. Apple’s Craig Federighi said: “Private Cloud Compute uses your data only to fulfil your request, and never stores it, making sure it’s never accessible to anyone, including Apple. And we’ve designed the system so that independent experts can verify these protections.”

Apple Intelligence-powered features, like Live Translation in macOS Tahoe, will happen on your device. But where cloud-based intelligence is required, Apple has its privacy and security standards at the forefront and states that its Private Cloud Compute will not collect any personal data. 

18. Reduced network tracking

In macOS Sequoia, Apple added an option to rotate Wi-Fi addresses. This means that every time you connect to Wi-Fi a randomized MAC address is given and this reduces network tracking.

When Apple’s security measures aren’t enough…

The security measures detailed above are great, but unfortunately, there have been cases when they haven’t been enough.

Gatekeeper, for example, has occasionally been bypassed because malware has got an approved developer signature. For example, OSX/CrescentCore was signed by a certificate assigned by Apple to a developer. It took Apple a few days to retract that certificate.

In the case of OSX/Linker, meanwhile, a zero-day vulnerability in Gatekeeper was exploited. Apple normally reacts quickly to such threats, although there have been cases where the company has ignored an identified vulnerability; on one occasion a teenager reported a flaw in the group FaceTime feature that meant someone could listen in to a call, and Apple failed to act.

Intel-based Macs released between 2018 and 2020 with the T2 security chip had a security flaw that was never fixed. Researchers found a vulnerability in the security chip that could allow someone with physical access to the computer to potentially bypass security features. Silicon Macs do not suffer the T2 vulnerability, but they’re not flawless. The “Augury” and “GoFetch” flaws in M-series chips are hardware issues that cannot be patched without serious performance hits. Nobody has actively exploited these vulnerabilities, and as long as nobody gets their hands on your Mac, you should be safe – but it does emphasis the importance of looking after your Mac, for example, not leaving it on a table in a coffee shop while you visit the bathroom.

When Apple is made aware of a threat the company usually issues a security update to the latest version of macOS and to the two versions prior. This way Apple will protect users from vulnerabilities and flaws that could be exploited by hackers.

Normally our advice would be to install security-related updates immediately. However, on occasion, these can themselves cause difficulties. A Sierra and High Sierra security update in July 2019, for example, had to be pulled after people experiences problems after installing it.

How Apple responds to security threats

Apple has its own security research team, but it depends on users and independent researchers to help by reporting any flaws they find in Apple products.

To this end, Apple has an incentive program that rewards such discoveries with payments of up to $200,000, depending on the seriousness of the flaw. But it was the last major tech company to set up such a scheme. (Microsoft set up its own bug-reporting incentive program in 2013, and was itself criticized at the time for leaving it so late.)

On August 4, 2016, Apple security boss Ivan Krstic announced the Apple Security Bounty Program. “We’ve had great help from researchers in improving iOS security all along,” Krstic said. “[But] we’ve heard pretty consistently… that it’s getting increasingly difficult to find some of those most critical types of security vulnerabilities. So the Apple Security Bounty Program is going to reward researchers who actually share critical vulnerabilities with Apple.”

The top reward of $200,000 is given to those who discover vulnerabilities in Apple’s secure boot firmware components; for less critical flaws the bounties drop through a series of smaller figures to a bottom tier of $25,000. Wired has the details.

We imagine most Mac users will be pleased to hear that Apple has an incentive program to encourage more widespread reporting of its vulnerabilities. Incentivizing security researchers to let Apple know about a flaw instead of passing it on to hackers (which may still, sadly, be more lucrative) makes Apple products safer for everyone.

One such flaw was the High Sierra root bug, discovered on November 28, 2017. This flaw in macOS 10.13 could allow access to settings on a Mac without the need for a password. Apple immediately issued a statement confirming that it was working on a fix and that an update should be issued within days.

Conclusion

In short, macOS’s built-in tools are strong and improving, but not infallible. For many users, safe habits and updates are enough. For others – especially business and high-use environments – a reputable third-party antivirus provides peace of mind.