End of an era: Apple Support Community Forums will be permanently closed

Users visiting the Apple Support Community this evening were greeted with a message informing them that the platform will shut down permanently on November 20. Here are the details.

If you’ve ever had a question or encountered a problem with an Apple product, chances are you’ve come across the Apple Support Community, the company’s official discussion forums where users around the world help each other resolve problems and share advice.

The platform has a history dating back at least to 1998, when it was known as the Apple Tech Exchange. Since then, it has been renamed Apple Discussions before relaunching as Apple Support Communities in April 2011, with a redesigned interface, personalized profiles, and a reputation system that rewarded users for helping others.

This evening, however, users who attempted to access the platform were greeted with the following message:

The AppleCare Support Community will permanently close on November 20, 2026. Starting today, the site will no longer accept new posts and is available as read-only.
You can continue to find reliable advice and support on the official Apple Support site.
We would like to thank those members of the community who have dedicated their time and expertise to help others with their Apple products.

Currently, the portal still displays a “Sign In” button, although it only leads to an AppleConnect login page titled “AC Communities Web – Internal,” suggesting that access is now limited to Apple employees.

Interestingly, Apple’s post refers to the “AppleCare Support Community” rather than the “Apple Support Community,” which is the platform’s official branding.

Yet the forums are already in read-only mode, with users able to browse existing discussions, search for answers, and interact with posts via the “Me Too” and vote buttons, but can no longer submit new questions or answers.

At the time of writing, the most recent post was posted 57 minutes ago, suggesting that Apple only recently disabled new submissions.

9to5Mac has reached out to Apple for comment and clarification on the scope of the shutdown, and we will update this story if we hear back.

(with Tim Harbison)