Apple is closing its Support Community forum on November 20

A banner on the forum's home page does the talking. In Apple's words, the community "will permanently close on November 20, 2026." It adds that, starting today, the site no longer accepts new posts and is in a read-only state.

Read-only means you can look, but you can't touch. You can browse threads and search for answers. You can't ask a new question or reply to an old one.

The notice ends on a polite note. Apple thanks the members who "contributed their time and expertise to help others with their Apple products."

By the numbers: the notice appeared on November 10, 2026, in the evening Pacific time. The closing date is ten days later.

It's a place where regular people help each other. You post a problem with your iPhone, Mac or Apple Watch, and another user, often a very patient one, tries to solve it. Apple calls this kind of site a community forum, which is just a message board with threads.

The forum's history goes back to at least 1998. Back then it was known as the Apple Tech Exchange. Later it became Apple Discussions.

In April 2011, Apple relaunched it as Apple Support Communities. The new version had a redesigned look, personal profiles and a reputation system. Members who helped others earned points and moved up levels.

Apple kept adding to that idea. In 2022 it announced Apple Community+, an invitation-only club for its top contributors, with promised "special perks, white-glove experiences, and more."

Apple hasn't given a detailed reason. It told MacRumors that it decided to sunset the forum "after a careful evaluation of strategy and customer needs."

That's a short answer, so people are filling the gap with guesses. They're only guesses, but here are the ones going around:

• Other places took over: many people now ask for help on Reddit, Discord and social media instead.
• AI answers: some commentators point to AI chat tools, and to Apple's own support tools, which can answer questions without a human thread.
• Mixed quality: some users on Reddit said the forum's answers were often not very useful. Others said they will miss the good advice stored there.

Apple has confirmed none of these. The only official reason is the one quoted above.

In real life You search "iPhone won't charge after update." The top result is a forum thread from 2019, with a long reply from someone who tried five fixes. After November 20, that result may lead nowhere.

Not quite. In August 2023, MacRumors reported, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, that Apple planned to remove its paid "Community Specialist" role from the Support Community. These were Apple staff who helped answer questions on the forum.

The same report said Apple planned to end human replies on its Support account on Twitter, now called X, and on YouTube comments. The sources said Apple told staff that many customers prefer phone-based support. Apple did not immediately respond to the report at the time.

That report was based on unnamed sources, and Apple did not confirm it in the article. Still, it shows that the forum had been moving away from Apple staff for some time.

Nobody knows yet. Apple hasn't said whether the threads will be archived, moved or deleted.

This matters because the forum is more than a chat room. Its pages are often among the first results when you search for a fix. Years of answers about settings, error messages and old iPhone models sit there.

If the whole site goes offline, those links will stop working. The only thing we know for sure is that the site closes on November 20.

The catch: Apple's banner talks about the closing date, not about keeping the content. Treat any old thread as something that might vanish.

You can try, but there's little point. A "Sign in" button is still visible on the site. However, it leads only to an Apple employee login page labeled as an internal one.

That suggests access is now limited to Apple staff. The forum was also still showing a post made only about an hour before the first reports, which hints that Apple disabled new posts very recently.

Apple's banner uses the name "AppleCare Support Community," while the platform's official name is "Apple Support Community." It looks like a small naming mix-up, but both names point to the same site.

Reactions are mixed. A few users on Reddit said they were sad to see it go. One called it "a shame" and said there was "some good stuff on there when Googling for help." Another said there was "so much good advice" on the forum.

Others weren't sorry at all. Some described poor experiences and a lack of helpful replies. One called it "routinely a useless top hit on Google."

Both views make sense. A forum run by volunteers can hold a brilliant answer next to a vague one. Which one you got often depended on the day and the thread.

The 2011 relaunch added a reputation system, which is a scoreboard for helpfulness. When you solved someone's problem, they could mark your reply as helpful, and you earned points. More points meant a higher level.

That idea turned answering questions into a bit of a game. It also explains why some threads have long, careful replies from people who were never paid by Apple.

The "Me too" button worked a little differently. It let you tell others you had the same problem, so a popular question stood out from a one-off.

Apple's own answer is its official Apple Support site. The banner says you can keep finding "trusted guidance and support" there.

The site is Apple's own help library, so it's different from the forum. It has articles written by Apple, and it won't have the "me too" threads of the community. Those "Me too" buttons and voting still work on old posts for now, but only for the next few days.

For problems the articles can't fix, you'll need to contact Apple directly or look to other communities online. Some tech sites and forums run their own help boards too, so there are places to ask.

• Save what you need: if a thread holds a fix you still use, copy the steps before November 20.
• Search Apple's help site first: Apple's banner points there for guidance.
• Expect broken links: old forum links in blog posts and bookmarks may stop working after the closing date.
• Ask elsewhere: if you want advice from other users, you'll need a different forum or social site.