Apple has announced that macOS 28 will drop support for encrypted Mac OS Extended (HFS+) storage volumes, requiring users to decrypt or reformat their drives to maintain compatibility.

Key Points

• Starting with macOS 28, encrypted Mac OS Extended volumes will no longer be supported on Mac computers.
• Users must either decrypt their existing HFS+ volumes or reformat them to the modern APFS file system.
• Apple will begin issuing notifications in macOS 26 to alert users if they are currently using an incompatible encrypted volume.
• Unencrypted Mac OS Extended volumes will remain compatible with macOS 28 and future versions of the operating system.
• Users can verify their drive status by selecting a volume in Disk Utility and checking for the "Encrypted" label.

Why it Matters

This transition marks another step in Apple's long-term effort to phase out legacy file systems in favor of the more secure and efficient APFS. Users relying on older external storage or legacy backup drives must take proactive steps to migrate their data to avoid potential access issues after the update.