diff --git a/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md b/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md
index 46ce2abacdf..d0b516dfb63 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 
 - Introduce new flake installable syntax `flakeref#.attrPath` where the "." prefix denotes no searching of default attribute prefixes like `packages.<SYSTEM>` or `legacyPackages.<SYSTEM>`.
 
+- Nix adds `apple-virt` to the default system features on macOS systems that support virtualization. This is similar to what's done for the `kvm` system feature on Linux hosts.
+
 - Introduce a new built-in function [`builtins.convertHash`](@docroot@/language/builtins.md#builtins-convertHash).
 
 - `builtins.fetchTree` is now marked as stable.
diff --git a/src/libstore/globals.cc b/src/libstore/globals.cc
index 5a4cb18240c..9c25d986880 100644
--- a/src/libstore/globals.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/globals.cc
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@
 
 #include "config-impl.hh"
 
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+#include <sys/sysctl.h>
+#endif
 
 namespace nix {
 
@@ -154,6 +157,29 @@ unsigned int Settings::getDefaultCores()
       return concurrency;
 }
 
+#if __APPLE__
+static bool hasVirt() {
+
+    int hasVMM;
+    int hvSupport;
+    size_t size;
+
+    size = sizeof(hasVMM);
+    if (sysctlbyname("kern.hv_vmm_present", &hasVMM, &size, NULL, 0) == 0) {
+        if (hasVMM)
+            return false;
+    }
+
+    // whether the kernel and hardware supports virt
+    size = sizeof(hvSupport);
+    if (sysctlbyname("kern.hv_support", &hvSupport, &size, NULL, 0) == 0) {
+        return hvSupport == 1;
+    } else {
+        return false;
+    }
+}
+#endif
+
 StringSet Settings::getDefaultSystemFeatures()
 {
     /* For backwards compatibility, accept some "features" that are
@@ -170,6 +196,11 @@ StringSet Settings::getDefaultSystemFeatures()
         features.insert("kvm");
     #endif
 
+    #if __APPLE__
+    if (hasVirt())
+        features.insert("apple-virt");
+    #endif
+
     return features;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/globals.hh b/src/libstore/globals.hh
index 5ec33241749..e90f70f5f5c 100644
--- a/src/libstore/globals.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/globals.hh
@@ -714,9 +714,13 @@ public:
 
           System features are user-defined, but Nix sets the following defaults:
 
+          - `apple-virt`
+
+            Included on darwin if virtualization is available.
+
           - `kvm`
 
-            Included by default if `/dev/kvm` is accessible.
+            Included on Linux if `/dev/kvm` is accessible.
 
           - `nixos-test`, `benchmark`, `big-parallel`