Apple Support Community closing on 20 November: the help forum is already read-only

Your Mac won’t wake up, so you search for the problem. Very often the answer sits in an old thread on Apple’s own forum, written years ago by another user who had the same trouble and stayed to explain the fix.

That forum is about to go. Apple says the Apple Support Community will close permanently on 20 November 2026. Since 10 November it has accepted no new posts and is read-only. Apple’s notice points people to its official Apple Support site, and it names no replacement forum.

The Apple Support Community closing matters because users have answered each other there since 1998. For many people, it was the first place a search led when something broke.

What Apple’s notice on the Apple Support Community closing says

The notice is two short paragraphs on the forum’s welcome page. It gives the closing date, says the site is read-only from the day it was posted, and sends readers to support.apple.com for “trusted guidance and support”.

Apple’s notice in full, as published on the Apple Support Community on 10 November. Image: Apple

Apple gave its reason to MacRumors, not on the page. It told the site the decision followed a “careful evaluation of strategy and customer needs”. MacRumors reports that the last user post appears to be from 5:49 p.m. Pacific time on 10 November, and that the sign-in button now leads to a login page for Apple staff.

According to MacRumors, the forum began in 1998 as Apple Tech Exchange. It became Apple Discussions in 2000, Apple Support Communities in 2011, and Apple Support Community in 2022. That is roughly 28 years of questions and answers.

The open question is what happens to the old threads

Apple has not said whether the forum stays online as an archive after 20 November. MacRumors calls it unclear, and The Apple Post and IBTimes Australia report the same gap. The notice also says nothing about members’ points or the Community+ programme.

This is the part readers should care about most. A forum is useful long after people stop posting, because search engines keep sending people to old answers. If the pages go offline, years of fixes for older devices could disappear with them.

Some reports have linked the closing to Apple’s wider plans for AppleCare. Rumour: there is no confirmed link, and Apple has not said so.

If you rely on an Apple Community thread, save it this week

You can still read the forum until at least 20 November. If a thread helps you with a device you still use, save it now. On most phones and computers, “Print” and then “Save as PDF” keeps a copy that works offline.

For new problems, Apple’s other help is not changing. Its contact page lists the support website, the Apple Support app (with chat, repair bookings and how-to videos), phone support for your country and Genius Bar appointments. So if you are wondering how to get Apple support now, the app is the simplest place to start a chat.

If you prefer to ask other users, MacRumors and Samaa suggest independent places such as the MacRumors Forums and Reddit’s r/applehelp. Apple does not run those.

Apple’s own channels are clearer, but the crowd’s memory is worth keeping

There is a fair case for Apple’s move. Official answers are checked, and a busy forum takes real work to keep safe and accurate. Pointing everyone to one support site is simpler, especially for people who just want a repair booked.

The cost is what users built for each other. Volunteers often explained odd problems that no official page covers, in plain words, for free. Apple has also moved away from public help before: MacRumors reported in 2023 that it stopped answering support questions on X and YouTube.

On balance, closing the forum to new posts is a reasonable business choice. Taking the old answers offline would be a bigger loss. The kindest outcome for users would be a read-only archive that stays searchable.

Watch for word on the archive before 20 November

The date to watch is 20 November. If Apple says the old threads will stay online, most of this worry fades. Until it does, save the answers you depend on.