Apple to Drop Support for AirPort Time Capsule Backups

Joe Rossignol, writing for MacRumors:

As noticed by @StellaFudge, and by other users who have installed the first macOS Tahoe beta, the Time Machine page in the System Settings app now indicates that the next major version of macOS — aka macOS 27 — will no longer support the AirPort Time Capsule or any other storage drives that use the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP).

The article specifically mentions macOS 27, which while logically true, isn’t mentioned by Apple anywhere. The screenshot posted by @StellaFudge on X says, “The next major version of macOS […]” and the “Learn More” link leads to an Apple Support page that has multiple references to, “a future version of macOS“.

As I understand, Apple is dropping support for the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) in upcoming releases of macOS, and AirPort Time Capsule devices (which Apple discontinued 7 years ago) only support AFP, so Time Capsule backups will consequently no longer be supported.

I’ve always found it surprising that Apple hasn’t brought full-device iCloud backups to the Mac, especially when it’s been standard on iPhone and iPad for years. I’ve long been using SuperDuper! for local backups and BackBlaze for remote, off-site cloud backups. A few months ago, I switched from SuperDuper! to Carbon Copy Cloner instead and am really liking it so far. But I do certainly wish full-device iCloud backups came to the Mac.