Mar 05, 2021 Apple’s M1 MacBook Air has that Apple Silicon magic The change came in Visual Studio Code 1.54 (now 1.54.1, thanks to a bug fix update), which is available as a universal 64-bit binary, as is. Apple made lots of performance claims about its Arm M1 chip for Macs. A single app bundle to share or submit to the Mac App Store. Similar solution using Visual Studio to produce Universal. M1 MacBook Air Running Visual Studio and Xamarin for Mac New Apple M1 MacBook and compare it to the Intel Core i9 16″ MacBook Pro (64GB, i9-9980HK CPU @ 2.40GHz). This time I test Visual Studio for Mac and how quickly it builds and starts an iOS Xamarin project.
Installation
- Download Visual Studio Code for macOS.
- Open the browser's download list and locate the downloaded archive.
- Select the 'magnifying glass' icon to open the archive in Finder.
- Drag
Visual Studio Code.appto theApplicationsfolder, making it available in the macOS Launchpad. - Add VS Code to your Dock by right-clicking on the icon to bring up the context menu and choosing Options, Keep in Dock.
Launching from the command line
You can also run VS Code from the terminal by typing 'code' after adding it to the path:
- Launch VS Code.
- Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) and type 'shell command' to find the Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH command.
- Restart the terminal for the new
$PATHvalue to take effect. You'll be able to type 'code .' in any folder to start editing files in that folder.
Note: If you still have the old code alias in your .bash_profile (or equivalent) from an early VS Code version, remove it and replace it by executing the Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH command.
Alternative manual instructions
Instead of running the command above, you can manually add VS Code to your path, to do so run the following commands:
Start a new terminal to pick up your .bash_profile changes.
Note: The leading slash is required to prevent $PATH from expanding during the concatenation. Remove the leading slash if you want to run the export command directly in a terminal.
Note: Since zsh became the default shell in macOS Catalina, run the following commands to add VS Code to your path:
Touch Bar support
Out of the box VS Code adds actions to navigate in editor history as well as the full Debug tool bar to control the debugger on your Touch Bar:
Mojave privacy protections
After upgrading to macOS Mojave version, you may see dialogs saying 'Visual Studio Code would like to access your {calendar/contacts/photos}.' This is due to the new privacy protections in Mojave and is not specific to VS Code. The same dialogs may be displayed when running other applications as well. The dialog is shown once for each type of personal data and it is fine to choose Don't Allow since VS Code does not need access to those folders. You can read a more detailed explanation in this blog post.
Updates
VS Code ships monthly releases and supports auto-update when a new release is available. If you're prompted by VS Code, accept the newest update and it will get installed (you won't need to do anything else to get the latest bits).
Note: You can disable auto-update if you prefer to update VS Code on your own schedule.
Preferences menu
You can configure VS Code through settings, color themes, and custom keybindings available through the Code > Preferences menu group.
You may see mention of File > Preferences in documentation, which is the Preferences menu group location on Windows and Linux. On a macOS, the Preferences menu group is under Code, not File.
Visual Studio For M1 Mac
Next steps
Once you have installed VS Code, these topics will help you learn more about VS Code:
- Additional Components - Learn how to install Git, Node.js, TypeScript, and tools like Yeoman.
- User Interface - A quick orientation around VS Code.
- User/Workspace Settings - Learn how to configure VS Code to your preferences settings.
Common questions
Why do I see 'Visual Studio Code would like access to your calendar.'
If you are running macOS Mojave version, you may see dialogs saying 'Visual Studio Code would like to access your {calendar/contacts/photos}.' This is due to the new privacy protections in Mojave discussed above. It is fine to choose Don't Allow since VS Code does not need access to those folders.
Mac Vs Code
VS Code fails to update
If VS Code doesn't update once it restarts, it might be set under quarantine by macOS. Follow the steps in this issue for resolution.
Does VS Code run on Mac M1 machines?
Yes, VS Code supports macOS ARM64 builds that can run on Macs with the Apple M1 chip. You can install the Universal build, which includes both Intel and Apple Silicon builds, or one of the platform specific builds.
Microsoft has released a new version of source-code editor Visual Studio Code that runs natively on Apple Silicon Macs like the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini models with Apple M1 chips.
The change came in Visual Studio Code 1.54 (now 1.54.1 thanks to a bug fix update), which is available as a universal 64-bit binary, as is standard for apps with Apple Silicon support. That said, Microsoft also offers downloads for x86-64 and Arm64 versions specifically, if desired.
There are no differences in features between the two versions, of course. And the non-Apple Silicon version worked just fine on M1 Macs previously via Rosetta, but Microsoft says M1 users can expect a few optimizations with the new binaries:
We are happy to announce our first release of stable Apple Silicon builds this iteration. Users on Macs with M1 chips can now use VS Code without emulation with Rosetta, and will notice better performance and longer battery life when running VS Code. Thanks to the community for self-hosting with the Insiders build and reporting issues early in the iteration.
Other key features in Visual Studio Code 1.54 include the ability to retain terminal processes on window reload, performance improvements in the Windows version, product icon themes, improvements when viewing Git history timeline entries, and various accessibility improvements.
AdvertisementVisual Studio For Mac M1 Download
This is the latest in a slow march of productivity and power user apps that have launched native Apple Silicon versions, such as Adobe Photoshop. But many popular apps are still not native, including Visual Studio Code’s IDE sibling, Visual Studio 2019 for Mac.
However, native Apple Silicon support is expected to come to Visual Studio 2019 for Mac with .NET 6, which is expected to ship in November. The first .NET 6 preview was distributed last month.
Many makers of development and creative production software have committed to releasing Apple Silicon versions of apps, including Adobe and Unity. But others, like Autodesk, haven’t made much noise about Apple Silicon support yet.
Visual Studio For M1 Mac Free
Apple is expected to shift its entire Mac lineup to the new architecture by the end of 2022. Reports citing people familiar with Apple’s plans have indicated that more Apple Silicon-based MacBook Pros are coming this year, as well as significant redesigns for both the iMac and MacBook Air, which will also have Apple Silicon chips.