A modern macOS utility for configuring, monitoring, and diagnosing Apple AirPort base stations and Time Capsules. The SwiftUI app uses a reverse-engineered Python backend and is intended to keep this hardware useful on current and future macOS releases.
Warning
This project is beta software built on an unofficial, reverse-engineered protocol. Back up important configurations and use write operations carefully.
Download version 0.1.0 beta 4 · Report a bug · Security policy
This project started as a focused reimplementation of Apple's AirPort Utility: discover a base station, view its network map, and edit the same settings panes the original app offered. Everything below has been added since:
- Dashboard — a single-screen overview of a selected AirPort: network and Internet summary, wireless status, current warnings, connected clients, and (for Time Capsules) storage and backup health, alongside the original per-setting configuration panes.
- Wi-Fi congestion analysis — an on-demand scan of nearby wireless networks with advisory channel recommendations (details).
- Time Capsule storage and backup health — disk capacity, SMART status, SMB reachability, and Time Machine sparsebundle growth/backup-freshness analysis, all read-only (details).
- Health history and trend charts — a small local history of health measurements so the Dashboard can show change over time, not just the latest reading (details).
- Configuration snapshots, history, and reviewed rollback — every settings write is snapshotted first and its outcome recorded, so a previous configuration can be reviewed and restored later (details).
- Hardware compatibility reporting — Diagnostics shows whether a connected AirPort's product identifier matches a profile the app recognises, and includes that assessment in exported support bundles (details).
- Network diagnostics — four read-only checks (gateway, DNS, public-Internet reachability, and likely double-NAT) run from the Mac itself, independent of what the AirPort reports about itself (details).
- Structured, redacted logging and exportable diagnostics bundles — a searchable in-app log viewer and one-click support-bundle export, with credentials and hardware addresses redacted before anything is written to disk.
- A guided setup wizard — for a factory-reset or unconfigured AirPort: create a new network, extend an existing one, or replace another device, with a recommendation, a review-before-apply step, and a completion screen.
- Self-contained packaging — the Python backend now ships frozen inside
the app; a system
python3is no longer required to run the packaged release, only to build it from source (ADR-0001). - Client identification — a vendor name (from a curated, real IEEE OUI lookup, never a guess), a conservatively-guessed device type, and an optional local nickname for each connected client (details).
- Automatic configuration backups — a credential-free settings snapshot saved about once a day while connected, independent of any change you make, so a recent backup exists before a firmware upgrade or factory reset (details).
- Sites — save a named connection (Home, Office, a parents' house) and switch back to it later, instead of waiting for Bonjour to rediscover it or retyping its address (details).
- Recovery mode — a guided next step when a restart, firmware install, or configuration write doesn't come back cleanly, with a direct path to restore the most recent known-good settings (details).
- Compare to Current — see exactly what a Configuration History or Automatic Backup entry would change, field by field, before deciding whether to restore it — against the current settings, or against any other visible entry (details).
Client names and addresses appear only when the AirPort or local discovery services report them. Vendor and device-type guesses are conservative by design — an unclear signal is reported as unknown, never invented. Local nicknames are an explicit exception you create yourself, stored only on this Mac; the app does not otherwise infer or fabricate device identities.
Each of the major features above has its own write-up covering exactly what data it uses, what's read-only versus configurable, and any privacy or retention details:
- Health history and trend charts
- Time Machine backup-history analysis
- Network diagnostics
- Wi-Fi congestion analysis
- Configuration history and reviewed rollback
- Hardware compatibility reporting
- Client identification
- Automatic configuration backups
- Sites
- Recovery mode
- Compare to Current
The Network Map view discovers AirPort base stations and Time Capsules on the local network via Bonjour and draws them as a topology — which device is uplinked to which, and what's connected downstream of each. Selecting a device opens its Dashboard. An "Other Wi-Fi Devices" menu lists nearby wireless networks that aren't part of the discovered topology (useful when a base station is in bridge mode or otherwise not advertising itself the same way).
Use Sites… (File menu) to save a named connection — Home, Office, a parents' house — and switch back to it later instead of waiting for Bonjour to rediscover it or retyping its address (details).
If a base station hasn't been set up yet, selecting it starts the setup wizard instead of the Dashboard: choose whether to create a new network, extend an existing one, or replace another device, review a recommended configuration, adjust the details that matter (network name, password, Wi-Fi band, etc.), then apply. A completion screen confirms the base station is reachable with the new configuration before handing you off to its Dashboard.
The Dashboard is the default view for an already-configured AirPort. Each section reflects one read-only aspect of the device's current state:
- Network and Internet — a summary of the router mode and WAN connection type, without needing to open the full configuration panes.
- Wireless — the current Wi-Fi network name, band, and mode (create/ join/extend).
- Wi-Fi Congestion — run an on-demand scan of nearby networks for a channel recommendation; nothing scans automatically or in the background.
- Recovery — appears only when a restart, firmware install, or configuration write didn't come back cleanly, with a direct path to restore the most recent known-good settings — see recovery-mode.md.
- Current Warnings — anything the AirPort itself is reporting as a problem (e.g. a disconnected WAN, a failed disk).
- Configuration History — a log of past settings writes, whether each one completed and left the device reachable, with the option to compare an earlier snapshot to the current settings or restore it — see settings-diff.md.
- Automatic Backups — a standing settings snapshot saved about once a day regardless of whether you change anything, with the same compare/restore options as Configuration History — see automatic-backups.md.
- Connected Clients — devices currently associated with this AirPort, named only when the AirPort or local discovery actually reports a name, with a vendor name, a conservatively-guessed device type, and an optional local nickname (right-click a client to rename it) — see client-identification.md.
- Health History — a small local trend chart built from periodic observations of this device (see health-history.md for exactly what's recorded and for how long).
- Storage and Time Machine Backup (Time Capsules only) — disk capacity, SMART status, SMB reachability, and sparsebundle growth/backup freshness.
The configuration panes — Base Station, Network, Internet, Wireless, AirPlay, Firmware, Disks, and Advanced — mirror the original AirPort Utility's settings screens. Editing a field stages a change; nothing is sent to the device until you choose Preview, which shows exactly what will be sent, followed by Apply. Every apply is snapshotted first (see Configuration History above) so a change that leaves the AirPort unreachable or misconfigured can be reviewed and rolled back.
Disk actions (erase, archive) and firmware uploads ask for an explicit confirmation beyond Preview/Apply, since they're destructive or device-rebooting operations respectively.
The Diagnostics pane has three parts:
- Network diagnostics — gateway reachability, DNS resolution, public- Internet reachability, and a heuristic for detecting a likely double-NAT setup, run from the Mac rather than asked of the AirPort (method).
- Log viewer — a searchable, filterable view of the app's own structured logs (by level and category), with credentials and hardware addresses redacted at write time, not just at display time.
- Support bundle export — packages redacted logs, diagnostics results, and (if applicable) a hardware-compatibility assessment into a single file suitable for attaching to a bug report.
Download the macOS ZIP from the releases page, unzip it, and move AirPort Utility.app to Applications.
The beta is ad-hoc signed rather than notarized. On first launch, macOS may require you to Control-click the app, choose Open, and confirm. The packaged app requires:
- macOS 13 or newer, Apple Silicon
- Network access to the AirPort and its administrator password
The Python backend ships as a self-contained executable inside the app
(see ADR-0001) —
no system python3 is required to run the packaged app. Python is only a
build-time requirement (see below).
Install Xcode 16 or newer, or the matching Command Line Tools, then confirm that Swift 6 and Python 3.10 or newer are available:
xcode-select --install
swift --version
python3 --versionClone the repository and run:
./run.shNo third-party Swift packages are required; python3 is used unmodified as a
subprocess interpreter for this source-checkout dev flow. To create an ad-hoc
signed standalone app containing the backend (this freezes the backend into a
self-contained executable — see ADR-0001 — and needs network access to
install PyInstaller into a disposable build-time venv):
./build-app.sh --smoke-testThe result is written to .build/release-app/AirPort Utility.app. Set release
metadata with, for example,
VERSION=0.2.0 BUILD_NUMBER=40 ./build-app.sh.
swift test
python3 -m unittest Tests/BackendPythonTests/test_backend_modules.pySlower subprocess tests are opt-in:
AIRPORT_UTILITY_SLOW_TESTS=1 swift testLive-device tests run only when their individual AIRPORT_LIVE_* flags are set.
They can change network, password, disk, or firmware settings on real hardware;
normal development and CI do not require them.
Passwords are stored in the macOS Keychain when requested. Logs and support bundles redact credentials and hardware addresses, but should still be reviewed before sharing because network diagnostics may contain environment-specific details.
Health history stays on the Mac and contains aggregate observations rather than client identities. Samples are consolidated into 15-minute windows and retained for up to 90 days, with a global limit of 2,000 records. See Health history and trend charts for the exact data, retention, storage location, interpretation, and removal behavior.
Testing cannot cover every model, firmware version, network mode, or legacy feature. PPPoE in particular has limited real-hardware coverage.
| Name | Model | ACP | Device-specific features |
|---|---|---|---|
| AirPort Express | A1088 | v1 | AirPlay |
| AirPort Express | A1392 | v2 | AirPlay |
| AirPort Extreme | A1034 | v1 | Modem; no NAS |
| AirPort Extreme | A1354 | v2 | NAS |
| AirPort Extreme | A1521 | v2 | NAS |
| Time Capsule | A1254 | v2 | NAS; internal disk |
| Time Capsule | A1470 | v2 | NAS; internal disk |
Other models may work partially. Please include the model, firmware version, macOS version, and sanitized diagnostics when reporting compatibility issues.
See Feature documentation above for how each major feature works. The rest of the project's documentation:
- Product roadmap
- Application foundation and safety boundary
- Security and responsible testing
- Known issues
- ADR-0001: removing the external
python3dependency - Nested code-signing inventory
- Hardened runtime entitlements (draft)
- Clean-Mac verification procedure
- Apple credentials needed for notarisation
This project is dual-licensed. Most of the codebase is released under the
MIT License; a specific set of files that are new work by Graham
Barber are separately released under GPLv3 instead, each marked
with an SPDX-License-Identifier header. See NOTICE.md for
the full explanation and file list. Apple, AirPort, Time Capsule, macOS, and
Time Machine are trademarks of Apple Inc. This project is independent and is
not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple.