Announced in summer 2025, Ubiquiti is now supporting the self-installation of UniFi OS Server on your own hardware, meaning features previously unavailable such as Teleport VPN, UniFi Identity, Site Magic and more, are now available without the need for a Cloud Key or UniFi Dream Machine. It is supported on macOS, Windows and Linux.

If you're looking to host UniFi OS Server, you can do so with HostiFi.

‍Sign up today and get access to our fast support, regular off-site backups and managed updates.

How to install UniFi OS on macOS‍

First, download the installer using Ubiquiti's official page. For macOS, both Apple Silicon and Intel machines are supported.

To check which one you need, visit the About This Mac menu by clicking on the Apple logo in the top left. If it says Apple M, then you need Apple Silicon. Otherwise, choose Intel.

To install UniFi OS Server, open the downloaded .dmg file.

Then drag the UniFi Server app into the Applications Folder. This process will take a few minutes to complete.

Once the UniFi OS Server has finished setting up, find the application from the Applications folder on macOS and open it.

It'll then boot up, this process takes around 2 minutes to complete.

Once finished, it'll automatically open a web page for further configuration.

From here you can restore from a backup, setup as new and adopt new devices. UniFi OS can even be used in offline mode without an Ubiquiti SSO account, although this removes support for Site Manager, SiteMagic, Teleport and others.

Finally, it'll boot into UniFi Network where new devices can be adopted, WiFi networks setup and more.

Conclusion

Being able to install UniFi OS Server on macOS provides easy deployment for small environments for testing purposes, but for use in production across multiple external sites it could get complicated. This is where HostiFi comes in, with fast support, global data centre presence, managed updates and regular backups.

HostiFi

HostiFi provides hosting for Ubiquiti software platforms, with servers for UniFi and UISP. We also offer network consulting, with HostiFi Professional Services.