Mac users who still perform backups to an AirPort Time Capsule have until late next year to find another backup solution, as macOS 27 will drop support for those backups, according to a post by an X user. macOS 27 will be released in fall 2026.
Apple, back in the 2000s and 2010s, sold a lineup of WiFi routers called the AirPort. The lineup not only offered an AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme with the usual router features, it also offered an AirPort Time Capsule that also doubled as external storage, with the ability to back up Macs using Time Machine.
While Apple discontinued the AirPort lineup back in 2018, it has continued to offer AirPort Time Capsule backups. That support will apparently come to an end with the relase next year of macOS 27.
The AirPort lineup went without an update for quite awhile before Apple’s announcement, with the AirPort Express receiving its last update in 2012, while the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule both last received any update love in 2013.
As noticed by @StellaFudge, and other users who have installed the first macOS Tahoe beta, the Time Machine page in the System Settings app now warns that the next major version of macOS — which will be macOS 27 — will no longer support AirPort Disk or any other storage drives that use the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP).
Goodbye Time Capsule support 💔 pic.twitter.com/yN0y8CuBmB
— Stella – Fudge (@StellaFudge) June 10, 2025
Apple announced last month that its AFP client had been deprecated, in its enterprise release notes for macOS Sequoia 15.5.
Time Capsule backups in macOS 27 will require a storage drive that supports newer file-sharing protocols like SMBv2 and SMBv3.
(Via MacRumors)
