Apple is shutting down its own help forum. A banner now sitting on top of every page of discussions.apple.com says, “The Apple Support Community will permanently close on November 20, 2026.” The same notice adds that “starting today, the site will no longer accept new posts and is available in a read-only state.” That notice went up on November 10, so the forum already stopped taking questions and replies.
If you have ever typed an error message into Google and landed on a ten-year-old thread with the exact fix, you know what is about to go away. You still have nine days to read, search and save what you need. After that, Apple has not said what stays online.
You can still read and search the forum, but you can no longer post or reply
Right now the site is a frozen archive. You can open any thread, browse the boards and search past answers. You cannot start a new question or add a reply. On the thread we checked, the banner shows in two parts on every page, and the newest reply is stamped 5:49 p.m. on November 10, which is roughly when posting stopped.
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
Signing in won’t help either. The Sign in button now leads to an Apple internal login page, 9to5Mac found, so regular members have no way to get back into their accounts to post. The notice ends with a short thank you: “We want to thank the community members who have contributed their time and expertise to help others with their Apple products.”
Apple told MacRumors it made the call after “a careful evaluation of strategy and customer needs.” It has not given a longer explanation.
Apple has not said what happens to your posts, points and levels after November 20
This is the part that stings for long-time helpers. The notice says nothing about whether threads will stay up as an archive or disappear on November 20. It also says nothing about the points and levels members spent years earning.
Those levels were not small. Apple’s own guide to community points lists ten levels, from Level 1 at 0 points to Level 10 at 80,000 points. You earned 6 points each time someone upvoted your reply as helpful, up to 30 per reply, and 10 points each time someone upvoted one of your User Tips, up to 200 per tip. Higher levels came with real perks:
- Level 3 let you upload a custom avatar.
- Level 4 brought exclusive news from Apple and more My Subscriptions features.
- Level 5 let you write User Tips.
- Level 6 opened The Lounge and community meetups.
None of that carries over anywhere. Apple has not announced any badge, credit or recognition to replace those levels, and there is no other Apple forum to take them to.
The Apple Support Communities Use Agreement explains why Apple can do this without asking anyone. It says Apple “reserves the right to delete any Submission, or take action against any account, at any time, for any reason.” You keep ownership of what you wrote, but posting also gave Apple a broad license to use and publish it.
There is no export tool, so save the threads you rely on before the deadline
Apple’s notice does not offer a download of your posts, and neither the Use Agreement nor the points guide mentions one. So if a thread fixed a problem you keep running into, treat November 20 as your deadline and keep a copy yourself.
- Open the thread in Safari on a Mac and use File, then Export as PDF, to keep a full copy with replies.
- On iPhone or iPad, tap Share, pick Print, then use the Share button in the print preview to save a PDF to Files.
- Search your own profile for the answers you wrote if you want a record of your work.
- Don’t count on bookmarks. If Apple takes the pages down, the links will break.
Apple now points you to its support site, the Apple Support app and live chat
The only link in Apple’s closing notice goes to support.apple.com, where Apple says you can “continue to find trusted guidance and support.” That site hosts the official troubleshooting articles. When you need a person, Apple’s contact page lists three routes:
- Chat with Apple in the Apple Support app on iPhone or iPad.
- Call Apple Support using the phone number for your country or region.
- Use getsupport.apple.com to pick your product, such as iPhone, Mac, iPad or your Apple Account, and choose how you want to get help.
The Apple Support app has been getting attention from Apple lately. It recently gained a layout that fits the wider iPhone Duo screen, and it’s where you can start a repair or book a Genius Bar appointment. What you lose is the peer help. Forum volunteers often knew workarounds that never made it into an official article.
Apple’s forum ran for well over a decade under the Support Communities name
The forum began life as Apple Discussions. Apple relaunched it as Apple Support Communities in April 2011, with the redesign covered by MacStories at the time, and that version introduced the points and levels system. MacRumors traces its roots further back, to an Apple Tech Exchange launched in 1998, which would put the shutdown at roughly 28 years after the start.
For you, the practical takeaway is short. Read and save what you need before November 20, move your questions to Apple Support, and expect peer help to live on in third-party forums instead of on Apple’s own site.
Discussion