[OS] SoftVM; free lightweight Apple Silicon VM for testing macOS betas
Hey r/macapps, [Clarifying Note] I incorrectly used [OS] in the title and only realized after a comment asking where the source code was. I instantly noticed that [OS] here means Open Source. SoftVM is currently closed source and distributed through the Mac App Store only. That misunderstanding was completely my mistake, and I sincerely apologize for the confusion. With WWDC and the next macOS release coming soon, a lot of developers will probably be looking for a safe way to test new releases without risking their main machine. It's a recurring challenge to set up a safe environment for testing beta versions without affecting a primary machine or development setup. Back in 2025, we built SoftVM to simplify that workflow. Problem Developers and power users often want to test new macOS or Linux releases, but doing so on a primary machine can be disruptive. Existing virtualization workflows can also feel heavier than necessary when the goal is simply to spin up an isolated environment for testing and experimentation. Comparison Common options include Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, and UTM. All of these are capable virtualization solutions. SoftVM focuses on a narrower use case: quickly spinning up isolated macOS and Linux environments on Apple Silicon with minimal setup and overhead. Unlike solutions originally designed around broader virtualization workflows, SoftVM was built specifically for Apple Silicon and beta OS testing, with a strong focus on keeping resource usage low and setup simple. Compared to Parallels and VMware Fusion, SoftVM focuses more on lightweight beta OS testing rather than full enterprise virtualization workflows. Compared to UTM, we tried to simplify setup and reduce friction specifically for Apple Silicon users who just want quick isolated environments. A few areas we focused on: Apple-Silicon-native (ARM64) Lightweight resource usage Fast VM creation and management macOS and Linux support Simple workflow for beta testing and experimentation Pricing SoftVM is completely Free ($0). Contains no ads. Optional donations/tips are supported for anyone who wants to support development. Links Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/softvm-light-virtual-machine/id6748036846?mt=12 Website: https://softvm.framer.website/ Privacy Policy: https://softvm.framer.website/privacy Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Transparency and Tier-2 Required Info: We are a team of three. I'm a serial entrepreneur and have been building for 10+ years. I started building for the Apple Ecosystem during the last 10. I joined up with two of my friends, and we have launched 6 apps so far, one is for MacOS. Here is my LinkedIn. Feel free to contact me: https://linkedin.com/in/mahdibeee Our Companies: SoftSky App LTD and Unlock Futurix Ltd SoftVM was originally created because we wanted a simpler way to test operating systems on Apple Silicon without dedicating a separate machine to the task. If anyone here is planning to try the upcoming macOS release, feedback, bug reports, and feature suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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conplicate switching when ur happy with another tool already. sorry, meant nicely
Yeah totally get what you mean! Switching cost hurts but thanks anyways for the comment.
Curious how this compares against VirtualBuddy? Main thing I personally care about is RAM usage and idle resource consumption especially on heavier cycles. Any idea what the tradeoff is?
Does it expose the GPU for metal API?
No sorry. Right now the focus is more on lightweight Apple Silicon VM workflows and beta OS testing. But I've added it to the backlog for us to explore further.
Where is the source code?
Merci pour le travail fait 😄
Does it support snapshots? Being able to roll a beta back to a clean state is basically the whole reason I'd reach for something like this.
Thank you for sharing it here. Look forward to trying it.
Thanks for the comment and I appreciate you trying it out. If you had any issues or wanted to contact me feel free to message. You can also leave your feedback here too: https://softvm.featurebase.com
Good effort OP and the team - congratulations on being able to publish on Mac App Store. I’ve had similar limitations that others have hit with UTM, VMware fusion and parallels. Tbh I too have been working on a hypervisor app (think Proxmox for mac) for macOS called MacVisor but it is a lot complicated for my set of use cases and features, incl ram and disk snapshots, observability metrics & logging, guest agents for Linux and macOS guests (like VMware tools, enables clock sync, file transfer, clipboard and more), GPU support, passthrough usb custom network topology with isolated, shared and bridge network with support for vlan, virtual firewall/router support etc, more complicated storage support (shared storage via nbd, zfs etc). I’m still waiting on two private networking and usb related entitlements from Apple. I do have obtained a private apfs snapshot access entitlement (there are probably only a handful 3-4 other apps Apple have granted access to their filesystem entitlement). From an architecture perspective my app also isn’t purely a gui app, runs a background control plane service, where the vm manager and CLI are clients and runner actually runs the VM (in background); so perfectly suited for for desktop and headless use cases, for developers and sys/IT admins who see macs as infra. My alpha builds work for most of the features I’ve mentioned but I’m looking for private early adopters to help try and share feedback and help me iterate this.
sounds like a challenging problem to work on, congrats on launching this!
ISPW auto download would be helpful. Same for Linux.
Just wanted to say I love the design of it. Looks lovely.
exactly what i need right now. brilliant!
Good
Interesting !
Virtual buddy already exists.
Yeah another user also commented. Yet loads of other apps and alternatives exist. Don't know what the main point is 🫠 Each might target a different segment e.g. some might not want to go through github and we distribute though app store and apart from that, each app has its own sides maybe a different ux or ui. Id appreciate you checking it out if you could chip in some of your valuable time. Anyways thanks for the comment
So? Your point?
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I appreciate the comment and all fair points mate. We're also free as I mentioned and just added donations which is optional. But yeah, VirtualBuddy is open source and we're not. We preferred to distribute through the Mac App Store, since some might prefer that over downloading and installing from GitHub. Also about the AI generated post, I always write a draft, use AI to format (I don't see the reason why not and also don't get why everyone is so harsh and against it!), and then format it myself again and validate. Nothing to hide! This comment however, is fully Human-Written 😃
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