Networking changes coming in macOS 27

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Apple’s planned networking changes in macOS 27 — including the likely removal of AFP support and tighter TLS requirements — are prompting concern from users who still rely on older Time Capsule hardware and AFP-based Time Machine backups. Many see the shift to SMB and eventual cloud-centric backups as technically and economically rational, but worry about e‑waste, reliability of Time Machine over SMB, and Apple’s broader trend of dropping legacy features. Others compare Apple’s approach to Linux, arguing over how long outdated protocols and hardware should be supported when they add security and maintenance burdens.

AFP & Time Capsule Deprecation

  • macOS 27 is expected to drop AFP client support and SMB1, breaking network Time Machine backups to older Time Capsules and NASes that only speak AFP/old SMB.
  • Some see this as overdue: AFP’s been deprecated for years, Time Capsule hardware is old, disks and PSUs are failing, and SMB2/3 are long-established.
  • Others argue Apple could afford to maintain old features and that this erodes trust and “platform commitment,” especially for users heavily invested in older gear.
  • A few point to community workarounds (e.g., Netatalk, Samba on Time Capsule) as paths forward, but note this requires technical effort.

Time Machine: Reliability, UX, and Future Direction

  • Many describe Time Machine as unreliable over the long term: silent failures, corrupted catalogs, forced “start over” events, and issues over SMB/AFP.
  • Some use Time Machine only as a secondary backup, preferring tools like Carbon Copy Cloner, rsync, restic, or Acronis + NAS snapshots.
  • UI/animation is criticized as buggy and distracting; full-screen “space” metaphor and poor multi-display behavior make restores harder to use.
  • There’s speculation that Apple might eventually push iCloud-based Mac backups, tying into services revenue, though others think enterprise reliance on local TM slows that.

SMB, NFS, and macOS Networking Quality

  • Strong complaints that Apple’s SMB implementation is slow, buggy, and fragile (sleep, reconnect, small-file performance, extended attributes).
  • Some report excellent throughput on modern SMB3 and 10GbE, suggesting performance is highly workload- and setup-dependent.
  • AFP is often reported as faster and more predictable than SMB; NFS can be faster still but is buggy in Finder and occasionally causes panics (e.g., krb5 auth).
  • Discussion notes Apple’s move away from GPL-licensed Samba to its own SMB stack, widely viewed as a regression.

Security & TLS 1.2 Baseline

  • The move to require TLS 1.2+ for certain connections is broadly seen as overdue and positive.
  • Concerns about “e-wasting” older LAN-only devices are raised, but others note the documented scope of the change does not appear to include typical local printer/scanner web UIs.

Broader Reflections on Apple Software Quality

  • Multiple commenters feel macOS quality and polish have declined over the last decade, especially compared to older releases.
  • Some attribute this to services-first business priorities and reduced attention to “power user” and networking workflows.