How do I upgrade from Yosemite in 2021?

[Pouncy Sparta]

Does anyone know how to get access to update from Yosemite to - anything higher? The download isn't available - I know the newest direct upgrade possible is Sierra. There is no download update installer available for download the app store for Sierra while using Yosemite (it is currently Spring 2021). This is for a 2011 iMac with 16gb ram and 1TB HD.

 

[casperes1996]

You can get the hidden App Store pages through this page

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

El Capitan is the direct successor to Yosemite, not Sierra. High Sierra is supported on the 2011 iMacs

 

[Pouncy Sparta]

You can get the hidden App Store pages through this page

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

El Capitan is the direct successor to Yosemite, not Sierra. High Sierra is supported on the 2011 iMacs

I know it is, as I stated the newest direct download from Yosemite is Sierra ... Meaning Sierra OSX is the newest one you can skip to from Yosemite, as it is not always necessary to download each OSX between the most recent. I went from Mojave to Big Sur with a laptop recently, skipping Catalina. I would rather have Mojave back since Big Sur broke TWENTY EIGHT of my apps, but that's a different topic. I am just trying to find a way to upgrade from Yosemite to anything newer and as recent as possible as the app tore access is too old to do anything.

 

[bigpizza]

How wonderful is it that apple’s webpage isn’t supported with Yosemite’s safari which means you can’t upgrade the Mac. Wonderful.

 

[evocrim]

How wonderful is it that apple’s webpage isn’t supported with Yosemite’s safari which means you can’t upgrade the Mac. Wonderful.

I have the same problem, it's not catch 22 but catch 484. I had a Catalina Mac I had to wipe, it reverted to Yosemite but now I can't upgrade. To upgrade it says to go via Safari which cannot open any Apple websites because it's out of date, to update Safari it says to upgrade the OS. I hit a brick wall at every turn.

 

[TinkeringB]

Finally got my macbook air 2013, having been restored to Yosemite, to update by downloading the macOS Sierra installer (5+ GB) on another PC, copied that over with a USB stick and installed the Sierra OS installer in the APPS folder to execute, as explained somewhere here:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

Under Sierra, the login process works enough to allow to download and install macOS big sur from the appstore by searching for it using safari. (could not locate it directly in the appstore somehow)