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I can't imagine this would be an issue, but is there any reason why I can't/shoudln't install OSX 10.11 Yosemite on my MacBook Pro 2016? Sierra has always felt very sluggish to me, and it is the first OSX release where apps consistently crash. El Capitan was much more solid in my opinion and I would like to downgrade. Is there any reason why I shouldn't?

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No you can't install El Capitan.

The firmware won't allow any version of macOS earlier than macOS Sierra 10.12.1 (16B2657) to be installed.

Also, for future reference, if this model ever needs a firmware update, it is possible that the earliest version of macOS you will be able to install in future will be a version later than macOS 10.12.1.

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  • It's true, and it's awful. Sierra is buggy, bloated, and very sluggish.
    – Benjamin R
    Commented Mar 6, 2017 at 8:13
  • The firmware won't allow any version of macOS earlier than macOS Sierra 10.12.1 (16B2657) to be installed. How does it do that?
    – Melab
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 16:03
  • @Melab At the risk of oversimplifying things, the installation process involves a check of various aspects of your Mac and this info is used to determine if a particular version of macOS can be installed. Also, every new Mac has an original macOS version. For example, the 21.5" iMacs launched in June 2017 originally shipped with macOS Sierra 10.12.4, so cannot have any earlier system installed - not even macOS Sierra 10.12.3. In this case, the OP's question was about a 2016 MacBook Pro model that originally shipped with macOS Sierra 10.12.1, so any version of 10.11, 10.10, etc are a no go.
    – Monomeeth ♦
    Commented Sep 1, 2017 at 22:24

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