Apple to end support for encrypted Mac OS Extended in macOS 28

Apple has announced that support for the encrypted Mac OS Extended (HFS+) file system will end with the release of macOS 28. While macOS 28 is not expected to arrive until 2028, the company has updated its support documentation to reflect this change.

Mac OS Extended, also known as HFS Plus, was created by Apple in 1998 and served as the standard file system until the introduction of the Apple File System (APFS) in 2017. To maintain compatibility with macOS 28 and later, users with storage devices formatted using encrypted Mac OS Extended will need to either reformat the drives or decrypt them.

Unencrypted volumes using the Mac OS Extended format will continue to be supported in macOS 28. Starting with macOS 26, users may receive notifications if their Mac is using an encrypted Mac OS Extended disk that will be incompatible with future updates.