Time Machine's Time Capsule support ends with macOS 27

AppleInsider

It's not just Intel code -- after a period of undeath, Time Capsule's time is coming, with Apple cutting off support for Time Machine backups using the hardware in macOS 27.

AirPort Extreme and an AirPort Time Capsule

Time Capsules, Apple's long-discontinued network hardware, allowed users to back up their Macs and hardware over a home network. However, the days of the hardware still being usable by Mac users are running out.

X user @StellaFudge, formerly leaker @Choco_bit, posted about a change in the Time Machine settings of macOS 26. The screenshot discusses how an AirPort Disk being used for Time Machine backups is not recommended.

Goodbye Time Capsule support pic.twitter.com/yN0y8CuBmB

-- Stella - Fudge (@StellaFudge)

June 10, 2025

There is also a message advising that the next major version of macOS "will no longer support AirPort Disk, or other Time Capsule disks, for Time Machine backups."

The message clearly advises that macOS 27 won't allow Time Machine to use an AirPort Disk or Time Capsule for backups.

While there is no forthcoming explanation from Apple as to why support is going away, it is probably due to the depreciation of supportive technologies.

In enterprise release notes for macOS Sequoia 15, Apple advised that support for the Apple Filing Protocol, AFP, was being deprecated and removed in a future macOS release. Time Capsule relies on AFP for its connectivity, but it also works with SMBv1 (Server Message Block).

Apple has still included support for SMBv1 in macOS 26, but only as a deprecated measure when working with older software and devices. It prefers to use newer SMB versions for the sake of security.

So far, Apple hasn't announced any change of support for SMBv1 in macOS, aside from being a fallback option when later versions of SMB are not available. That doesn't seem like an eternal allowance, though.

For the moment, Mac users using the macOS 26 developer beta will still be able to use Time Machine with a Time Capsule. It does mean that they will have to consider other ways to back up their Mac over the next year, ahead of the end of support.

The change should not affect drives used for backups external to an AirPort or Time Capsule. This is under the assumption that HFS+ support sticks around for macOS 27, which it not at all clear.



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maury markowitz

Well then, this is the time to ask:

There are two features of my TC that I think I would like to keep.

One is the automatic TimeMachine support, but I understand many routers do that now?

The other is, and I don't know what the name is, the feature that pretends to be my Mac when my Mac is sleeping. This features allows, say, my AppleTV to "see" the content on my machine - movies and shows - and when I select it it wakes up my Mac.

Is there any brand-name 3rd party routers that offer both that I should be looking at?

mike wuerthele

maury markowitz said:

Well then, this is the time to ask:

There are two features of my TC that I think I would like to keep.

One is the automatic TimeMachine support, but I understand many routers do that now?

The other is, and I don't know what the name is, the feature that pretends to be my Mac when my Mac is sleeping. This features allows, say, my AppleTV to "see" the content on my machine - movies and shows - and when I select it it wakes up my Mac.

Is there any brand-name 3rd party routers that offer both that I should be looking at?

The former is correct. Many routers do have this. 

As far as the second, I am unaware of any that do that. You may want to consider hosting your content on a Network Attached Storage device, which can also do Time Machine backups.

mknelson

maury markowitz said:

Well then, this is the time to ask:

There are two features of my TC that I think I would like to keep.

One is the automatic TimeMachine support, but I understand many routers do that now?

The other is, and I don't know what the name is, the feature that pretends to be my Mac when my Mac is sleeping. This features allows, say, my AppleTV to "see" the content on my machine - movies and shows - and when I select it it wakes up my Mac.

Is there any brand-name 3rd party routers that offer both that I should be looking at?

I have set up a Time Machine backup using a Synology MR220ac router and a TP-Link Archer AX50 - using a USB connected hard drive.

The second feature you mention sounds like Home Sharing. You can do similar things with a NAS (Network Accessible Storage) from a company like Synology, but it can take a fair amount of set up: https://kb.synology.com/en-au/DSM/tutorial/how_to_stream_videos_stored_on_Synology_NAS

You can also use the NAS for Time Machine - it'll give you more control of storage allocations for different users, too.

edited June 10

designguybrown

I suppose a lot of companies have hidden 'forced obsolescence', upgraded-yet-back-incompatible data connectors, and 'for your own good' security and protocol updates under the intention of maintaining solid and recurring bought-upgrade cycles along with subscriptions that should have simply been version purchases. It is frustrating to see endless technological orphans, especially when so many try to create large eco-systems of products throughout their home they hope will last at least a decade, inter-functionally. Along with right-to-repair and right-to-reasonable back-support, perhaps the EU needs to clamp down on shallow and unnecessarily pointless operating and hardware upgrades - a 10-YR anti-obsolescence regulation with all connectors, protocols, and systems support covered. Quality over quantity updates. 

rogue01

maury markowitz said:

Well then, this is the time to ask:

There are two features of my TC that I think I would like to keep.

One is the automatic TimeMachine support, but I understand many routers do that now?

The other is, and I don't know what the name is, the feature that pretends to be my Mac when my Mac is sleeping. This features allows, say, my AppleTV to "see" the content on my machine - movies and shows - and when I select it it wakes up my Mac.

Is there any brand-name 3rd party routers that offer both that I should be looking at?

Make sure the setting is enabled, for 'wake for network access'.  On a desktop Mac, it is found in the Energy Setting.  On MacBook it is found under battery.  My Mac will wake up if I try to access media on the Mac from my AppleTV.  Or look into storing your data on a NAS, or use Time Machine on a NAS.

edited June 10

rogue01

Those time capsule routers were notorious for crashing hard drives.  Not what you want for a backup.  The last time capsule device was released in 2013, and killed off in 2018, with no support for 7 years.  I stopped using an AirPort Extreme back in 2018 because they were terrible for two story homes.  I switched to a Netgear Orbi with two satellite nodes and those are far superior.  The nodes also have Ethernet ports so you can plug your device into a node for better performance, even better if a node is hardwired to the router.  Current routers are also up to date on security patches, unlike the Apple routers.  I still have the tiny AirPort Express stations only for AirPlay to stereos in the house.  My Time Machine is a simple USB 3 external 8TB drive.  Way faster than trying to back up over WiFi, like most were trying to do with a Time Capsule.

alrescha

maury markowitz said:

The other is, and I don't know what the name is, the feature that pretends to be my Mac when my Mac is sleeping. This features allows, say, my AppleTV to "see" the content on my machine - movies and shows - and when I select it it wakes up my Mac.

This is/was called Bonjour Sleep Proxy.  In addition to the Time Capsule, it's supported by HomePods and Apple TVs.

mike wuerthele

designguybrown said:

I suppose a lot of companies have hidden 'forced obsolescence', upgraded-yet-back-incompatible data connectors, and 'for your own good' security and protocol updates under the intention of maintaining solid and recurring bought-upgrade cycles along with subscriptions that should have simply been version purchases. It is frustrating to see endless technological orphans, especially when so many try to create large eco-systems of products throughout their home they hope will last at least a decade, inter-functionally. Along with right-to-repair and right-to-reasonable back-support, perhaps the EU needs to clamp down on shallow and unnecessarily pointless operating and hardware upgrades - a 10-YR anti-obsolescence regulation with all connectors, protocols, and systems support covered. Quality over quantity updates. 

The AirPort hardware in question was released in June 2011. That's 14 years ago.

Still not "forced obsolescence." A company not supporting hardware 14 years after release is in no way "forced obsolescence." Media designed to deteriorate like vinyl or cassettes are forced obsolescence. This is literally not, and possibly the worst Apple product to try to use as an example.

edited June 10

mike wuerthele

Rogue01 said:

Those time capsule routers were notorious for crashing hard drives.  Not what you want for a backup.  The last time capsule device was released in 2013, and killed off in 2018, with no support for 7 years.  I stopped using an AirPort Extreme back in 2018 because they were terrible for two story homes.  I switched to a Netgear Orbi with two satellite nodes and those are far superior.  The nodes also have Ethernet ports so you can plug your device into a node for better performance, even better if a node is hardwired to the router.  Current routers are also up to date on security patches, unlike the Apple routers.  I still have the tiny AirPort Express stations only for AirPlay to stereos in the house.  My Time Machine is a simple USB 3 external 8TB drive.  Way faster than trying to back up over WiFi, like most were trying to do with a Time Capsule.

Agreed that using an early Time Machine hard drive is a problem.

That said, I've got two Time Machine drives - a plug-in SSD that gets stored elsewhere that I update about every two weeks, and a SSD attached to an AirPort Extreme in the house.

etrigan63

I just finished building a Raspberry Pi 5 powered mini NAS with a terabyte of mirrored NVMe storage that runs OpenMediaVault 7 and can be a Time Machine target by setting one parameter. All for less than $230 USD.

maury markowitz

mknelson said:
I have set up a Time Machine backup using a Synology MR220ac router and a TP-Link Archer AX50 - using a USB connected hard drive.

I was looking at that one, as well as the Ubiquity Dream Machine. The UDM is clearly supposed to be a TC replacement, but it's $400 CAD and it doesn't have USB, just a microSD slot. You can get 1.5 TB microSD, so that would handle the bit of content I share, but would not be a TC replacement. I also looked at the Asus WiFi 7 kit, which is $200 CAD and has a USB.

mknelson said:

No, it's not that, I don't think so anyway. It's a feature of the router. It remembers the machines that were on the network that had sharing turned on. That way when you look for devices that are sharing files, they show up even if they are sleeping. Apple made a big deal of this when the TC came out, but then you never heard of it again.

maury markowitz

etrigan63 said:

All for less than $230 USD.

That's what I paid for my TC, which was also the router.

I had a quick look on the local electronics page, and even the low-end NASs are in this price range.

If Apple made a Wifi 6 TC I'd buy it in an instant and I think every other Mac user would too.

edited June 11

maury markowitz

Alrescha said:

This is/was called Bonjour Sleep Proxy.  In addition to the Time Capsule, it's supported by HomePods and Apple TVs.

Ah ha, yes this is it.

So I only really use this with my Apple TV, am I reading your post correctly to mean that the ATV does this internally, so it will continue working even if I swap the router?

edited June 11

kdupuis77

maury markowitz said:

Well then, this is the time to ask:

There are two features of my TC that I think I would like to keep.

One is the automatic TimeMachine support, but I understand many routers do that now?

The other is, and I don't know what the name is, the feature that pretends to be my Mac when my Mac is sleeping. This features allows, say, my AppleTV to "see" the content on my machine - movies and shows - and when I select it it wakes up my Mac.

Is there any brand-name 3rd party routers that offer both that I should be looking at?

I've used USB hard drives attached to a Linksys, and now an Asus, router and then selected that drive when setting up Time Machine on my MacBook Pro. That setup was convenient as my Mac would backup anytime it was connected to my home wifi. Nowadays, I have a Studio Display and the MacBook spends 3/4 of it's time docked.. So I picked up a 1TB Samsung T9 SSD and leave it plugged into the back of the Studio Display. That way, whenever I'm docked it's backing up which is good enough for me. (I went SSD for several reasons, but mainly because the noise/vibration from the USB-powered HDD I used to have was driving me nuts at my desk lol).

alrescha

maury markowitz said:

Alrescha said:

This is/was called Bonjour Sleep Proxy.  In addition to the Time Capsule, it's supported by HomePods and Apple TVs.

Ah ha, yes this is it.

So I only really use this with my Apple TV, am I reading your post correctly to mean that the ATV does this internally, so it will continue working even if I swap the router?

I don't use the feature any more (though it was pretty magical when I did).  If you had a HomePod I'd expect it to keep on working, but the Apple TV using itself as a proxy might be one of those things that should work but turns out to be a bridge too far. 

sfmike64

Using an Airport Disk for Time Machine has ALWAYS been an unsupported configuration. As I found out much to my chagrin years ago when I tried to access a backup (for a stolen Mac) that I had been faithfully making for a long time. No errors, but when I went to restore, no dice. No matter what I did. Luckily I had a cloud backup and Backblaze sent me a USB drive of my backup overnight.

I've finally given up on Time Machine. It's just too unreliable. Call me weird, but I think backup software should BE RELIABLE. Apple's is not. I was using it to back up to a small Synology device, and it kept failing or never completing. Trying to figure out why was an excercise in futility. Did a little research and found Arq. I switched to that and never looked back. It rarely has a problem. Time Machine almost ALWAYS had a problem. And the solution was usually "delete and start again."

Now I don't have to worry about my backups failing all over the place. Good riddance to Time Machine.

slimpotato

sfmike64 said:

Using an Airport Disk for Time Machine has ALWAYS been an unsupported configuration.

Actually, Airport Disk was supported as described in this (now updated) support doc: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102423 In it, it states: "Time Machine can also back up to an external storage device connected to the USB port of an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac model) or AirPort Time Capsule on your network:"