This yr marks a major shift for macOS with a brand new Liquid Glass design and a bump to model 26. With that, Apple additionally seems to have determined that it’s time to start retiring a number of the legacy requirements it’s been holding onto.
As we reported final week, macOS Tahoe would be the final model to assist any Intel Macs, however plainly the present launch of macOS Sequoia would be the final to supply assist for the FireWire normal.
Whereas Apple hasn’t made any official announcement to this impact, a number of customers on Reddit and X have reported that FireWire assist not exists within the first macOS Tahoe developer beta. This consists of each the unique FireWire 400 and the later FireWire 800 requirements. FireWire gadgets are not detected by macOS, and the FireWire part has totally vanished from the System Info app in macOS Tahoe.
We’ve confirmed these findings, and whereas there’s all the time a chance it is a “beta one” glitch, the elimination of the FireWire settings and underlying frameworks suggests a deliberate determination on Apple’s half.
What This Means for You
Lengthy-time Apple followers could also be dissatisfied by this transfer, however most individuals received’t even discover the loss. In the event you’ve solely switched to a Mac prior to now decade, likelihood is good that you just’ve by no means seen a FireWire port.
For instance, one of many first studies on X lamented the shortage of compatibility with the first-generation iPod — the mannequin launched in late 2001.
In the event you’re nonetheless rocking a kind of, it’s most likely time to improve. To place this in perspective, solely the primary two iPod fashions have been FireWire. By early 2003, the third-generation iPod had adopted the 30-pin Dock Connector with assist for each USB and FireWire to make sure compatibility with Home windows PCs, as FireWire ports have been uncommon outdoors of the world of the Mac.
That’s largely as a result of FireWire was initially developed by Apple, starting its life in 1986 as a proprietary normal. It was formally printed and adopted as IEEE 1394 in 1995. Sony was additionally among the many first peripheral makers to undertake the know-how within the late nineties as i.LINK — its personal model for a similar factor — and it turned frequent on digital camcorders of that period.
The FireWire Saga
FireWire launched with 400 Mbps switch speeds in a world the place USB 1.1 might solely ship a meager 12 Mbps. That made it the quickest wired connectivity protocol on paper, however Apple didn’t begin together with FireWire ports on the Mac till 1999, solely a yr earlier than USB 2.0 would arrive to leapfrog FireWire 400 by providing 480 Mbps transfers.
However, FireWire remained well-liked in skilled audio and video environments, and plenty of digital camcorders, audio interfaces, and high-performance exterior onerous drives supported it. The power to daisy-chain gadgets additionally made it extra versatile, eliminating the necessity to spend money on a separate hub. It was so well-liked amongst professionals that it received a Primetime Emmy Engineering Award in 2001 (tip of the hat to John Gruber at Daring Fireball for jogging my reminiscence).
These turned much more well-liked for skilled workflows when FireWire 800 got here alongside in 2002, providing 800 Mbps speeds six years earlier than USB would get an analogous increase with USB 3.0. Later variations of FireWire provided 1.6 Gbps and three.2 Gbps switch speeds, however these have been comparatively unusual and have been by no means used on a Mac.
However, Apple moved on from FireWire comparatively shortly for its cellular gadgets. Solely two years after it added USB assist to the third-generation iPod, the fifth-generation iPod (aka the “iPod with video”) dropped assist for FireWire information transfers; solely 12V FireWire charging remained to keep away from breaking compatibility with older docks or equipment.
Whereas the primary iPhone and iPod contact additionally supported FireWire charging, doubtless as a result of Apple’s iPod Hello-Fi utilizing that to energy related gadgets, no iOS gadget has ever used the usual for information switch, and the 2008 fashions dropped assist for FireWire totally.
In the meantime, the final Macs to incorporate built-in FireWire ports have been the mid-2012 non-Retina MacBook Professional and higher-end Mac mini fashions. Apple started transitioning to the newer Thunderbolt normal in 2011, eliminating the necessity for FireWire ports.
This implies any Mac with direct FireWire connectivity was left behind after macOS 10.15 Catalina in 2019. Nonetheless, Thunderbolt provided backward compatibility with FireWire, and Apple continued promoting a Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter till someday in 2022.
Since most of the peripherals that used FireWire have been higher-end gear, it’s comprehensible how some people could have continued to depend on FireWire-based audio interfaces and onerous drive arrays over time. In any case, why repair what isn’t damaged? In the event you’re a kind of legacy FireWire gadget customers and also you need to make the soar to macOS Tahoe later this yr, it could be a very good time to start out purchasing round for options.