Please note that the current version of Sophos Central Device Encryption is not compatible with the upcoming release of Apple macOS 11 (Big Sur) and will not function correctly. We strongly recommend that customers do not upgrade any macOS clients running Central Device Encryption to macOS 11 (Big Sur) at this point. Doing so may have undesirable effects including in some cases not being able to retrieve FileVault recovery keys, meaning machines might not be recovered if users forget their password.

We intend to issue a Service Release of Sophos Central Device Encryption in November 2020 that will resolve these incompatibilities. macOS clients that are online and connected to Sophos Central will be updated automatically. In the meantime, we recommend you do not upgrade the operating system and wait for the Service Release instead.

Overview

This article provides information about support for macOS 11 Big Sur (formerly known as 10.16) Beta.  Currently this not supported by Sophos as it is still in Beta

Applies to the following Sophos product(s) and version(s)
Central Mac Endpoint,
Sophos Enterprise Console Managed – Sophos Anti-Virus for mac OS X,
Central Device Encryption for Mac

Operating systems
macOS 11 “Big Sur”

Support for macOS 11 Beta – overview

As macOS 11 is in Beta, it is not supported by Sophos. Version 9.x of Sophos Endpoint and Version 1.5.2 of Central Device Encryption for Mac will not work on macOS 11 due to OS changes.

Sophos Endpoint software in the 10.x line will introduce support for this release, ahead of its move out of Beta status, however, Sophos Endpoint version 10.0.0 does not support macOS 11.

If needed, Sophos will create an EAP (Early Access Program 10.0.1) in Central to test the release before the release of macOS 11 (full). If an EAP is created – more information will be provided at that time.

Central Device Encryption for Mac version 1.5.3 will support Big Sur. This is planned for release in November 2020.

Once macOS 11 (full) has been released and the Sophos Central Endpoint and Central Device Encryption for Mac are updated and released to Central, these products will be supported on macOS 11. 

On premise customers will also get versions that are supported on macOS 11 at the same time.

ARM-based CPUs are not currently supported. They require macOS 11 and additional testing and requirements. Sophos will eventually support ARM-based CPUs, however, the details of that support will be provided at a later date.