AirPort Utility Reviews

by Chess Boxing

This thing proves to be nothing more than a storage hog on your iOS device. Limited control, I end up having to do everything off of my laptop regardless. The best you can do is reboot a network otherwise a complete waste of time. And why is the PC interface better and more robust than the Mac version? Hot trash.

UPDATE:
This utility is so freaking horrible I had to return to add to my review of AirPortUtility and a general opinion all of my devices that run off its network. Every day as my Apple devices continue to find new ways to disappoint me, I'm constantly reminded of Job's passing and just how horrible and unimaginative the new powers that be are. These last few years Apple products are proving to me more and more disposable and not worth the price they have. After all of this I think a return to a windows environment is in order.

by MagnusVonMagnum

At some point a few versions ago, AirPortUtility started telling me it no longer works with my iPod Touch 5th generation, presumably because iOS won't update. There's nothing AirPortUtility does that should need an OS update IMO and I'm not going to just toss it on the trash when it still works, but at the very least Apple could do a version check BEFORE telling me there's an update available!!! There is no way to clear this off the update list! It keeps telling me there's a newer version available, but gives then says it doesn't work on this iPod Touch. I tried to report this to Apple, but it wanted to install a support app instead first, which is ridiculous just to send a text message to support and probably won't work on this iPod Touch anyway. Apple makes it too difficult to report problems these days, probably because they don't want to hear about them. I can't see myself buying an iPod Touch ever again given how long they last, but get dumped for software support so quickly, more from Apple apps than 3rd party even. How new an OS do you need to check WiFi routers they no longer even make??? It's ridiculous!

by BA9R

AirPortUtility used to work very well - the functions and information it provided were great. But something seems to have changed as I am no longer able to even see the wireless network that I am connected to. It recognizes that there is an internet connection, but that is it. I have tried to use AirPortUtility on 2 different iPads as well as my iPhone - same thing on all of them. I've tried reinstalling several times and even doing a factory reset on my phone and nothing... I have no idea what would cause this problem. As a side note, I am able to view all router information on my desktop with no issues, so I'm doubting its the router (which also happens to be an Apple airport). Would be nice if they fixed this sometime soon...

by Shigoroku

I can't remotely-configure my home router when I'm away. There's simply no option to connect to an IP or host name of an AirPort router on the Internet. AirPortUtility will only configure the AirPort if you are in range and connected through local WiFi.

There's no way to view DHCP clients (including wired devices). It's a HUGE hassle to get my DHCP reservations set up when I can't look at a list of DHCP clients to get the MAC IDs of my network drives and printers. Due to this oversight, AirPortUtility can't practically be used to reserve specific LAN IPs for devices on my local area network. I should be able to configure all settings from my Apple iDevices, but I cannot.

by Tomzer1

Dear Apple App gang, Please bring back support for AirPortUtility working on the iPad 2. AirPortUtility was working perfectly before the update, but now it is not. And now it's saying it's not supported by the device. Despite the fact that it's running iOS 9. At least please offer a way to install the previous version. If Apple is no longer making the excellent line of AirPort routers, at least don't ruin the maintenance software for those of us still running them. The software wasn't so sophisticated or planned for future features that it required an update to new hardware, etc., to use. Thanks.

by Outerference

AirPortUtility is essential for managing Apple Airport devices, and I use it to handle many. Configuring access management is limited, and NAT and port mapping seems restricted as well. To add to it, I’ve recently added more devices to my network and find sometimes the visual layout of them all (I’m managing 10) ends up spreading them out wider than the iPhone screen, which creates two problems. The first is that I cannot scroll to see the far left devices without the screen snapping back to center. The second is that often the left-most device is completely unselectable, almost as if the tapping detection area of AirPortUtility is cut off to 75% of the screen from the right. This is true in either portrait or landscape orientation. I would love to see AirPortUtility updated, but it looks like it’s not getting much attention as Apple discontinued the Airport device line a few years ago now.

by Frdmfghtr

AirPortUtility works OK, but tends to "lose" routers occasionally. For example, I have an AirPort Extreme connected directly to the DSL modem upstairs, and another in the basement extending my wireless network to some NAS drives. Everything on the network works, but this morning AirPortUtility couldn't find either router (even though my iPhone was connected directly to the upstairs AE). If I forgot the router in AirPortUtility and let them be re-discovered, AirPortUtility only found the basement AE. It didn't recognize the AE sitting between the basement AE and the Internet.

by Mr. Faderlever

I’ve been using AirPortUtility to manage my AirPort Extreme for years. It’s not the most in-depth router management tool but, it’s the only router management tool available to manage an Apple Airport product.
I had no intentions on upgrading/updating AirPortUtility. on my iPad, which is what I use for pretty much everything apple based on the terrible reviews this update 1.3.6 was getting. Unfortunately I accidentally did update AirPortUtility while I was updating other apps.

Once I realized what I’d done, with great hesitation I launched AirPortUtility and held my breath... it seemed to launch normally, in fact it was fine! After testing several features I could not find any issues or even any changes. The WiFi scanner is still present and works fine, (I’d seen a few comments saying the upgrade broke or removed the WiFi scanner). I went through several areas in AirPortUtility , NAT setting, port forwarding, etc. everything works fine. if I didn’t know I updated AirPortUtility I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two versions. Apple has stopped supporting all things Apple Airport but as of this review are still selling airport products. Apple’s not exercising Best Practices in my humble opinion but everyone knows the Apple knows what’s best for us, the Apple is here to help us, the Apple will keep you safe, the Apple is good, trust the Apple...

but seriously, the update works just fine for me.

by OMSUSA

AirPort Extreme is a very reliable and stable router/access point. It’s sad that Apple discontinued it in 2016 and then we start seeing the flourish of Smart Home devices, along with mesh Wi-Fi that AirPort Extreme seems to be a precursor to these home networking devices with ease to configure multiple access points. Apple’s loss of this opportunity is most unfortunate. While in the meantime, I believe many of the AirPort Extreme users are still enjoying the convenience it brings, as well as its ability to achieve ~350 Mbps in download throughout and >400 Mbps in upload, in a 1Gbps broadband service. Airport Utility is an essential and concise app to help manage AirPort Extreme but it doesn’t seem to work with iOS 13. I hope Apple can continue maintain AirPortUtility, or even better, kick off another endeavor in creating home networking devices that our MacBook Pro, iPhone or iMac can work with less seamlessly.

by FrankyTheKid

Ever since I purchased my first AirPort Extreme a couple of years ago, AirPortUtility has made it quick and easy to set up and alter the settings on my base stations.
A recent update to iOS 8.0.2 freaked me out for a bit since my iPad couldn't locate any base station on my network. The thought of having to work solely from my computer when wanting to change settings on my base stations was annoying since the convenience factor would be completely eliminated.
I didn't want to assume AirPortUtility was a lost cause so I went to the apple support page and their suggestion was to simply power off my iPad and turn it back on.
Sounded way too easy but it worked and AirPortUtility is once again convenient.

by Agm1980

It does what you need to configure and manage your Apple Airport device, but it suffers from the same lack of Apple love as other Apple utility apps, and here is why: this update provides a new Wi-Fi scan feature that lets you list networks around you, their signal strength, and what channel they're on, so you can make a more educated decision on how to configure yours, however, as useful as this feature can be, the presentation of the info is just awfully simple: a list. No charts, no sorting, no nothing.

Come on Apple, you guys are known to design the most beautiful looking devices and apps, why is that you show no interest on giving this type of utilities a better looking and more helpful UI? Same with OS X wireless diagnostics.

Just drop me a line if you need some help ;-)

by Veterans Affairs

Displays a nice net map of your Apple Airports. With the AirPort Extreme, it transmits past my neighbor's homes so I really don't need more than one so I don't get the cool display anymore.

Shows your public IP, nice.

You can run your own server and point it's DNS back to your server. Nice. What you can't do is have separate DHCP controls and specifically separate DNS for the guest network. This is a major fault as suppose your DNS is a Mac Mini in your home... Guest network cannot access your Mac Mini on the non-guest, DNS points to Mac Mini, game over. -2

Offers to save your Airport Admin password and used to do that... But now just offers and doesn't not save. That is very bothersome -1

Over all, an decent utility with a very nice design with some silly problems that should be be fixed years ago. Apple is exceedingly slow at responding to customer bug reports so don't hold your breath. If you can't deal with what I have mentioned, don't by Apple Airports.

by JeremyCaney

My household has a couple of ancient Airport Expresses, which have a tendency to fade into the background until they get lonely, and cry out for help. When this happens, they usually just need to be introduced to a new router on the block, or perhaps have their firmware upgraded.

Since this only happens every couple of years, however, there's always upfront overhead to digging up and installing the software for Windows. AirPortUtility makes this dramatically easier, and is a lot easier to use on top of it. For various reasons, it's much simpler to ensure AirPortUtility gets installed on each of my iDevices and is kept up-to-date via AirPortUtility Store than it is via the PC.

So, from my Airport Expresses, a big thank you: They feel far more cared for as a result. Indeed, they're even get proactive firmware updates now, instead of having to wait until they start refusing to take requests.

by Sgurnani

Been using Apple Routers for over 5 years now and not had any problems with them as such.
Could expect the ability to turn off internet Access for specific devices or at night at specified times so to avoid misuse. Also would like better control on who’s using how much data with MAC address and device names with the WiFi networks.
Lastly being an Apple product please release app support for iPhone X ‼️
Firmware updates are overdue ‼️
Also a big downside with fiber connectivity is that the speed drops greatly on WiFi on the wired extended airport express. Unsure why but my Main Aiport Extreme gives me D:100/U:100 Mbps but my wired extension of Airport Express gives me D:40/U:40⁉️

by Kevins6n

Airport Time Capsule with iOS 8 works great, no loss or degradation of function.

AirPortUtility has saved me loads of time, allowing me to make changes to my Airport Time Capsule without dragging out my MacBook or sitting down at my iMac just to look up the MAC address of all the devices using my wireless network, for example.

If you're having problems using AirPortUtility , try a hard reset on you iOS device, force quitting AirPortUtility before restarting.

by Jmh363905

I was worried we wouldn’t see an update since Apple walked away from AirPort devices but glad to see a newly released update for iOS 13. Had to reinstall because it wasn’t asking to save passwords (remembered the choice from the crashy version but wouldn’t save still) and that fixed that. Hopefully they’ll work harder to make their own apps ready on day one when iOS 14 comes out—or even better don’t break it next time?

by Twitchly93

I’m no super user. I just want to plug in my ancient Apple Time Capsule and connect to the internet at a reasonable speed. AirPortUtility helps me do that admirably. This morning I finally unplugged my fast but unreliable new TP-Link router to return it (piece of junk), then dug out my trusty Time Capsule and hooked it up. Got the flashing amber light and no internet connection. Hm. Opened AirPortUtility, which showed me in a few words and some handy pictures what the problem was. Fixed it and was immediately up and running.

Thanks, Apple. Boy, I wish you still made routers.

by Seany Sharko

I’ve been using my 3rd Gen AirPort Extreme for 10+ years as well as the AirPort Utility app for as long as it’s been available and understand that Apple has long since discontinued their router sales and support. That said, I can’t 1 star review due to how well it has worked and how useful it’s been in the past, however I/we can only hope Apple addresses this issue. With the last app update being more than a year ago, we can only cross our fingers. My AirPort Extreme has been the best router I’ve ever used and have even considered purchasing a used one as a backup in case mine ever kicks the bucket. Help, Apple! 😬

by Lovely Truth

Have two of them as I love that o can use for music without having to use tye tv screen as is done with Apple TV. One I have doubled as a WiFi extender and to wirelessly pump music into my stereo using the laser link into my boutique stand alone fav for greater music reproduction. This air device is like a one in all and very versatile even though it’s kind of old and obsolete I never want to be without it in life as nothing like it exists anywhere. Never should be taken out of production in my view. Nice and compact with pretty darn good rage still today. Both mine are the last version.

by Jon French

This utility has a no-nonsense interface. The only graphics are the startup screen that show icons of all the nodes on the network and their connections. Clicking on any node brings up basic, but important info for that node. Touching Wireless Clients brings up the MAC address of any connected machine. Touching any address brings up the helpful info you need to dig for: Connection data. AirPortUtility shows the Connection quality, Data Rate, S/N and Mode for each device. That is priceless This info isn't even available on the desktop version. The only options you can't change are DHCP Reservations and Port Settings. Access Control is included and is very helpful because you can go to a machine and check its MAC address then set Access Control from the iPhone.