Mac to the Future
Your whole Mac, moved in minutes.
Mac to the Future copies your files, apps and settings from your old Mac straight to your new one, over a Thunderbolt cable or your network. Over 600 GB in under ten minutes, even on Macs your company manages.
Free for personal Macs. macOS 15 or later on both Macs.
Transfer complete
The cable's full speed
One Thunderbolt cable between the two Macs, and several copies running at once. A whole Mac moves while you get coffee.
Made for managed Macs
Works where company policy turns off sharing and locks the firewall. No administrator password, nothing for IT to configure.
Straight from Mac to Mac
Your files never pass through a server. Off the cable, everything between the two Macs is encrypted with keys only they hold.
Four steps, and most of them are waiting.
Open the app on both Macs. It does the rest, and tells you what it's doing.
Connect the Macs
A Thunderbolt cable is fastest. The same Wi-Fi or Ethernet works too.
Pair them
Choose your old Mac on the new one and check both show the same number. Or type the code from the old Mac.
Choose what comes over
Every folder with its size, and a check that it all fits.
Copy, then log out
Watch the time and size climb. Log out once, and your settings are home.
Everything that makes it your Mac.
Files are the easy part. The app also brings the things you'd otherwise spend a week putting back.
Comes over
- Your home folder: Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Music and the rest
- Apps your new Mac doesn't have yet
- Each app's data and settings, Outlook's mail included
- Dock, Finder, keyboard shortcuts, wallpaper, desktop icon positions and widgets
- Safari, Chrome and Firefox bookmarks, history and logins they keep
- Files that are newer on your new Mac stay as they are
Stays behind
- Apple's system data and iCloud, which set themselves up
- Your company's device management and its agents
- Caches and folders tools rebuild, like node_modules
- Other people's accounts on the old Mac
Free for your own Mac.
You pay only when a Mac belongs to an organization. The app knows the difference and asks before anything is charged.
| Personal MacsYours, not your company's | Free | Every feature, as many transfers as you like. | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| Managed MacsSet up by an organization | $20 per transfer | From one old Mac to one new Mac, with resuming and Sync Again between them. Buy as many as you need; they wait in your account. Each organization can try one transfer free. | Buy a transfer |
| OrganizationsFor IT teams | License per Mac a year | The new Macs you set up in a year, each licensed by itself once you link your organization. Settings deployed by profile, a report for each migration, backups to external disks, and your own discovery server if you want one. | Buy a license |
Questions people ask
How does the app know a Mac is managed?
macOS reports whether a Mac is enrolled in device management, such as Jamf, Kandji or Intune. If either Mac is, the transfer counts as business use. Your own Macs are always free.
How do I use a transfer I bought?
Transfers go into your account. When the app asks for a license on the new Mac, choose Link to Organization… and scan the code with your phone, signed in to your account. Once your organization is linked, every Mac it manages uses a transfer by itself, with nothing to do on the Mac. No phone? Go to mactothefuture.app/link on any computer and type the code instead.
How do I sign in?
With a passkey, a link we email you, or your Apple, Google or Microsoft account. There's no password to remember.
Do my files go anywhere else?
No. They go straight from your old Mac to your new one. On a network, the two Macs may use our discovery service to find each other; it only ever sees a short-lived, encrypted note of where the old Mac is.
What do I need?
macOS 15 or later on both Macs, and either a Thunderbolt cable or both Macs on the same network. A Thunderbolt cable is much faster.
What is Sync Again?
After a transfer, connect the same two Macs again and the app copies only what changed since. Handy if you kept working on the old Mac for a few more days.
Something didn't work. Who do I talk to?
Write to admin@mactothefuture.app. A person reads every message.