Can You Play WoW on Mac

Does WoW work on Mac?

Developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft is one of those rare titles that doesn’t leave Apple gamers behind—it’s always been available for Macs, as well as Windows PCs. Currently, that means the game works on Intel Macs, as well as those based on Apple Silicon chips (M1, M2, M3, M4, and so on). Long-term, we wouldn’t be surprised if Blizzard dropped support for Intel systems, but right now, they’re still supported.

If you want to run a game that doesn’t have a Mac version, read our guide on how to play Windows games on Mac. Using these methods, you can play Diablo 4 on Mac, for example.

Minimum system requirements to play World of Warcraft on Mac

The minimum spec to play WoW on Macs is as follows:

A note from our experts:

 

Before you rush off and dive into the fantasy world of WoW, make sure you deal with the real-world storage needs of your Mac. This game takes up a lot of space on your Mac, so you’ll need every gigabyte you can get. MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup can help, by scanning your Mac for junk files and removing them in an instant. Here’s how:

1. Download and run MacKeeper.
2. Select the Safe Cleanup tool.
3. Click Start Scan.
4. When the scan is finished, select what to delete and click Remove Selected.

How to install and play World of Warcraft on Mac

Making WoW run on Mac is simple, whether you have an iMac, a Mac mini, a MacBook Pro, or a MacBook Air. Note, we’re focusing on World of Warcraft and not the World of Warcraft Classic version, which is a completely separate game.

1. Installing Blizzard Battle.net launcher

You need Blizzard’s Battle.net client app to install and subscribe to World of Warcraft. Here’s how we get and install it:

1. Download the Battle.net client from the Battle.net or World of Warcraft websites.
2. Unzip the downloaded file and run the Battle.net-Setup file, entering your macOS password when prompted.
3. When the installation is finished, run the Battle.net client.
4. If you don’t have an account, click Create a free Battle.net account and complete the signup process.
5. Otherwise, enter your login details or log in using one of your linked accounts.

Battle.net works just like the popular Steam platform, letting you browse through, buy, and download games. See our guide on how to play Steam on Mac for more information.

2. Downloading and installing World of Warcraft

Pay close attention to the system requirements—you’ll need a whopping 118GB at least of free disk space (128GB is recommended). If you have enough space, this is how we install World of Warcraft on Mac:

1. In the Shop section of the Battle.net client, search for World of Warcraft.
2. If you want to buy a subscription, select an option and click Subscribe Now.
3. Otherwise, click Try to play for free up to level 20.
4. Click Start Install, and the game will start to download.

3. Launching WoW and setting up your account

When enough of the game has downloaded, it becomes immediately playable. Here’s what to do next:

1. When WoW is ready in the Battle.net client, click Play.
2. Now the fun begins—start by choosing a race, class, and body type, then click Customize.
3. Set the appearance of your character, give them a name, and click Finish.
4. Accept the Social Contract.
5. Click Enter World, and get ready to immerse yourself in one of the biggest games of all time.

A couple of hints from our gaming experience:

 

New players are automatically put into a suitable server, which is called a Realm in WoW. From the game’s main menu, you can also click Realms and manually choose an alternative server.

Fancy playing with your friends or family, without any strangers? Then, consider renting or setting up a private server. There are lots of online guides that show you how to get started.

How to improve WoW performance on Mac

You can play WoW on Mac easily, but performance can vary a lot. If you need a performance boost, try our tips:

• Lower the game’s graphical quality settings.
• Free up space on your Mac’s hard drive or SSD.
• If you need space, run WoW from a fast external drive.
• Free up RAM by closing other apps.
• Update macOS, World of Warcraft, and all relevant drivers.

Explore a whole new world

As we’ve shown you here, it’s not only possible to play WoW on Mac—it’s easy too. Just grab the installer, run it, and launch the game. It doesn’t require the newest and most powerful Mac, but you do need a lot of disk space for the main game and its many expansions. That means there’s no room for unnecessary junk files on your computer.

So if you want to run World of Warcraft properly, clean up your Mac’s storage first with MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup tool. A few clicks is all it takes to pinpoint and erase unwanted data clogging up your machine. Also, you might want to check out our guide on how to free up space on Mac for more support with this. Happy gaming!