Google Drive for desktop (Drive File Stream) support on Apple M1 Mac available in beta, albeit with a catch

Google Drive users have been having a really hard time getting the Drive File Stream app to run on their Mac machines. There were initial reports of the app not working following the Big Sur update due to an error prompt.

Later, Google Drive File Stream was found to be unsupported on the new Apple M1 ARM platform. Google had promised a new update with added support for the M1 Macs back in January.

The Drive File Stream release notes stated that the update in question would carry a version number of 47 and be rolled out sometime in April.

And now that April is finally here, Google does seem to have kept its promise as expected. However, there is a catch – support for Drive for desktop on Apple M1 devices is currently in beta and requires a workaround to get it running.

Now, Google hadn’t previously mentioned that the update would be released as a beta initially which had led us to believe that it would be made available as a proper stable build. So it’s a bit odd.

Moreover, the steps aren’t exactly a walk in the park as Google has stated that they would require three reboots and are for advanced users only. You will also require administrator privileges.

If you fulfill the above prerequisites, then feel free to head over to this official support article for installation instructions.

Do keep in mind though that a user has mentioned that they were unable to get Google Drive File Stream up and running on their M1 Mac machine even after following the instructions:

I have been checking every day since April 2, the expected release date of the final v 46 for file stream. I’ve tried the beta and it doesn’t work for me. The instructions don’t map well to the Mac and even when I do all the steps, it doesn’t work. Can someone from Google please send us a new date for a fix? I may need to go back to the Intel chip if this can’t be resolved.
Source

This is quite expected given the fact that the app is still in its beta for Apple silicon. But when a stable version does go live, it hopefully shouldn’t require such a tedious installation process.

Hence, if you are facing trouble when trying to install the app even after properly following through with the instructions, then your best bet would be to wait. Alternatively, you can also try apps like odrive for now.

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