Skip to Content

Apple Releases AirPort Utility 5.5.3 for Mac and Windows

by

airport iconApple today released AirPort Utility 5.5.3 for both Mac (10.8 MB) and Windows (10.1 MB). The updates to Apple's software for managing the AirPort Express Base Station, the AirPort Extreme Base Station, and Time Capsule primarily address an issue that may cause the application to crash during setup.

This update contains bug fixes including the following:

Resolves an issue that caused the AirPort Utility to unexpectedly quit during setup

The Mac version requires OS X 10.5.7 or later, while the Windows version requires a minimum of Windows 7 SP1, Vista SP2, or XP SP3.

Related Forum: Networking

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple Released Seven New Products Today

Wednesday March 11, 2026 7:05 am PDT by
Starting today, the seven new Apple products that were announced last week are available at Apple Stores and beginning to arrive to customers. The colorful MacBook Neo and all of the other new products are on display at most Apple Store locations around the world starting today. Apple Stores have inventory of the new products for both walk-in customers and Apple Store pickup, but...
Read Full Article • 22 comments
ios 26 4 yellow

Everything New in iOS 26.4 Beta 4

Monday March 9, 2026 3:50 pm PDT by
Apple is continuing to test the iOS 26.4 beta, and the latest update is now available for developers and public beta testers. As testing goes on, there are fewer new features in each beta, but today’s release adds new emoji characters and a few other changes. New Emoji Apple added new emoji characters, including trombone, treasure chest, distorted face, hairy creature, fight cloud, orca,...
Read Full Article • 71 comments
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

Apple Planning 'MacBook Ultra' With Touchscreen and Higher Price

Sunday March 8, 2026 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is planning to launch an all-new "MacBook Ultra" model this year, featuring an OLED display, touchscreen, and a higher price point, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Gurman revealed the information in his latest "Power On" newsletter. While Apple has been widely expected to launch new M6-series MacBook Pro models with OLED displays, touchscreen functionality, and a new, thinner design...
Read Full Article • 488 comments

Top Rated Comments

N
neek
192 months ago
Software Updates

Looks like the ability to cache Software Updates is coming. From AirPort Utility.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/AirPortSettings.strings:


"bsUP.productName" = "Store Apple software updates on this %@";
"bsUP.description" = "Apple software updates that are copied to this %@ are available to anyone using this network.";
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
J
Jeroen
192 months ago
Screenshot before and after the update

Before: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4310180/01%20Time%20Capsule.png

After: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4310180/02%20Time%20Capsule.png
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ghostlyorb Avatar
ghostlyorb
192 months ago
I always love updates
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Intell Avatar
Intell
192 months ago
Looks like the ability to cache Software Updates is coming. From AirPort Utility.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/AirPortSettings.strings:


"bsUP.productName" = "Store Apple software updates on this %@";
"bsUP.description" = "Apple software updates that are copied to this %@ are available to anyone using this network.";

That was actually in the older pre-5.3.3 version as well.

There are some references to the new Time Capsule and Airport Extreme though:

"syAP.113" = "Time Capsule 802.11n (3rd Generation)";
"syAP.114" = "AirPort Extreme 802.11n (4th Generation)";
"syAP.116" = "Time Capsule 802.11n (4th Generation)";
"syAP.117" = "AirPort Extreme 802.11n (5th Generation)";

113 and 114 are the current ones. 116 and 117 are currently unreleased.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
J
jonnyz
192 months ago
New APE and TC?

Found this tidbit that appears multiple times in the binary (/AirPort Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPort Utility):

APPLE-FIRMWARE
<unknown>
P19 Apple AirPort (Snow)
P85 Apple Xserve RAID
P81 Apple AirPort Extreme (802.11g)
Q57 S5 Q60 Apple AirPort Extreme (802.11g, Multiple Ethernet)
Q61 Apple AirPort Express
M28 Apple AirPort Extreme (802.11n)
M91 Apple AirPort Extreme (802.11n, Gigabit Ethernet)
Time Capsule M52
M48 Apple AirPort Express (802.11n)
K10 Apple AirPort Extreme (Simultaneous Dual-Band)
K30 Time Capsule (Simultaneous Dual-Band)
K30A Time Capsule (Simultaneous Dual-Band, Gen2)
K10A Apple AirPort Extreme (Simultaneous Dual-Band, Gen2)
K31 K30B Time Capsule (Simultaneous Dual-Band, Gen3)
K10B Apple AirPort Extreme (Simultaneous Dual-Band, Gen3)

Notes:
- I added returns and changed spacing for readability
- Mactracker refers to the original Time Capsule as 'M52', adding some verification to these; it also would add verification for the fact there are three numbers with "AirPort Extreme (802.11g, Multiple Ethernet)" - one each for standard, modem, and PoE
- I have no idea why the Xserve RAID is listed with all the APs
- For the most part, the code numbers make sense, especially with the K30(x) and K10(x) listings

Interesting part:
K31 K30B Time Capsule (Simultaneous Dual-Band, Gen3)
K10B Apple AirPort Extreme (Simultaneous Dual-Band, Gen3)

The 'Simultaneous Dual-Band' Extremes and Time Capsules are currently in Gen2 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort or the old AirPort Utility.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/AirPortSettings.strings), so I would say this is additional proof of new base stations.

The raw text can be found in the binary at offsets 136e54, 2bdb74, and 453170 starting at 'APPLE-FIRMWARE' for those wondering. The first offset's text is missing the first Time Capsule for some reason, so I didn't use that one.

Devices are also added (with internally changed names in some cases) in the AirPortSettings.strings file also referenced above:

"syAP" = "Product Name";
"syAP.80211nFormat" = "%@ with 802.11n";
"syAP.0" = "AirPort Base Station";
"syAP.0.useAlternateArticle" = "0";
"syAP.1" = "AirPort Base Station";
"syAP.1.useAlternateArticle" = "0";
"syAP.3" = "AirPort Extreme 802.11g";
"syAP.3.useAlternateArticle" = "0";
"syAP.102" = "AirPort Express 802.11g";
"syAP.102.useAlternateArticle" = "0";
"syAP.104" = "AirPort Extreme 802.11n (1st Generation)";
"syAP.104.useAlternateArticle" = "0";
"syAP.105" = "AirPort Extreme 802.11n (2nd Generation)";
"syAP.105.useAlternateArticle" = "0";
"syAP.106" = "Time Capsule 802.11n (1st Generation)"; --> was Time Capsule
"syAP.106.useAlternateArticle" = "1"; /* See note above */
"syAP.107" = "AirPort Express 802.11n";
"syAP.107.useAlternateArticle" = "0";
"syAP.108" = "AirPort Extreme 802.11n (3rd Generation)"; --> was AirPort Extreme (Simultaneous Dual-Band)
"syAP.108.useAlternateArticle" = "0";
"syAP.109" = "Time Capsule 802.11n (2nd Generation)"; --> was "Time Capsule (Simultaneous Dual-Band)
"syAP.109.useAlternateArticle" = "1"; /* See note above */
"syAP.113" = "Time Capsule 802.11n (3rd Generation)"; --> was Time Capsule (Simultaneous Dual-Band II)
"syAP.113.useAlternateArticle" = "1"; /* See note above */
"syAP.114" = "AirPort Extreme 802.11n (4th Generation)"; --> was AirPort Extreme (Simultaneous Dual-Band II)
"syAP.114.useAlternateArticle" = "0";
"syAP.116" = "Time Capsule 802.11n (4th Generation)"; --> New listing
"syAP.116.useAlternateArticle" = "1"; /* See note above */
"syAP.117" = "AirPort Extreme 802.11n (5th Generation)"; --> New listing
"syAP.117.useAlternateArticle" = "0";
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
O
oxocube
192 months ago
Before: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4310180/01%20Time%20Capsule.png

After: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4310180/02%20Time%20Capsule.png

Interesting name for your TC. I wonder what the names are of other devices on your network ;)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments