Apple is permanently closing the Apple Support Community on Friday, November 20, 2026. The forums at discussions.apple.com — where Apple users have helped each other fix iPhones, Macs, iPads and more for 28 years — are already read-only, and the site will shut down for good in just over a week.
The forums stopped accepting new posts and replies on November 10, 2026. The last public post went up at 5:49 p.m. PT that day. Since then, visitors can still read existing threads, but they cannot ask a new question or reply to an old one. Signing in now routes to an internal AppleConnect page instead of the community.
Apple confirmed the closure to MacRumors, saying the decision followed “a careful evaluation of strategy and customer needs.” The company is pointing users to the official Apple Support site instead.
Key Takeaways
- The news: Apple is permanently closing the Apple Support Community on Friday, November 20, 2026.
- Already read-only: The forums stopped accepting new posts and replies on November 10, 2026 — the last public post was at 5:49 p.m. PT.
- 28 years of history: The community started in 1998 as the Apple Tech Exchange, making it one of the oldest user-run support forums on the internet.
- No export tool: Apple has not provided a way to export your saved threads, and has not said whether the archive will stay online after November 20.
- Where to go instead: Apple points users to the official Apple Support site; MacRumors Forums and Reddit are the main community alternatives.
What Apple Announced
The Apple Support Community is one of the oldest corners of the Apple ecosystem. It launched in 1998 as the Apple Tech Exchange, a place where Mac users could trade fixes and workarounds, and it grew into the official discussions.apple.com forums covering every Apple product — iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple TV and all of Apple’s software and services.
For many users, it was the first stop when something went wrong. A strange error message, a battery draining overnight, a macOS update that broke a printer — chances are someone had already asked about it, and an Apple Community Specialist or a veteran volunteer had already answered. The forum’s archive became a huge, searchable library of real-world fixes that Apple’s own support pages often did not cover.
That run ends on November 20, 2026. Apple told MacRumors the decision followed “a careful evaluation of strategy and customer needs,” and the company is directing users to the official Apple Support site, where they can browse support articles or contact Apple directly.
The shutdown has been swift. The forums went read-only on November 10, 2026, with no new posts or replies since. The last public post was published at 5:49 p.m. PT that day. Sign-in now routes to an internal AppleConnect page, a sign that the community’s backend is already being wound down ahead of the final date.
What Happens to Your Posts
This is the part Apple has not fully explained. The forums are still readable for now, but Apple has not said whether the archive of nearly three decades of threads will stay online after November 20 — or whether it will disappear entirely when the site closes.
What is clear is that the community itself is finished. No new questions can be posted, no answers can be added, and the discussion threads that made the forum useful are frozen as they were on November 10. Any thread you bookmarked, any solution you saved for later, and any conversation you were part of is only accessible while the archive remains up — and there is no guarantee it will be there after the shutdown date.
There is also no export tool. Apple has not provided a way to download your posts, your saved threads or your profile history, so anyone who wants to keep something from the forums will have to save it manually before November 20.
How to Save Your Threads
If you have threads worth keeping, do it now — do not wait for the final day. The forums are still readable, so the saving part is straightforward:
Copy the text. Open the thread, select the useful posts and paste them into a document or note. Include the thread title and the discussions.apple.com link at the top so you can trace where it came from.
Save as PDF. Most browsers can save a page as a PDF from the print menu (Print → Save as PDF). This keeps the layout and the order of replies intact, which is useful for long troubleshooting threads with many steps.
Screenshot the key replies. For short fixes — a single settings change, a Terminal command, a workaround — a screenshot is the fastest way to keep the exact wording.
Save the links somewhere safe. Even a simple list of thread URLs in a note is better than nothing. If Apple does keep the archive online, those links will still work; if it does not, you will at least know which threads you wanted to keep.
Start with the threads you have actually used: the fix that solved your problem, the thread you return to every time an update breaks something, and any post you wrote that others found helpful.
Where to Get Help Instead
Apple’s official direction is the Apple Support site, support.apple.com, where you can search support articles, check your warranty and repair options, and start a chat or call with Apple Support.
For community help — the kind of peer-to-peer troubleshooting the forums were known for — the main alternatives are MacRumors Forums and Reddit, where Apple users already discuss the same problems. Apple’s own support articles cover the official fixes, but for unusual bugs and workarounds, the community discussions on those sites are the closest replacement for what discussions.apple.com used to offer.
The closure is a reminder that even the longest-running corners of the internet can disappear quickly. The Apple Support Community survived 28 years, the move from dial-up to broadband, and the shift from Mac-only to every Apple device — and it went read-only with a week’s notice. If any of its threads ever helped you fix a device, save them while you still can.
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FAQ
When is the Apple Support Community closing? Apple is permanently closing the Apple Support Community on Friday, November 20, 2026. The forums at discussions.apple.com will shut down for good on that date, after 28 years online.
Is the Apple Support Community already read-only? Yes. The forums went read-only on November 10, 2026. No new posts or replies have been possible since then, and the last public post was published at 5:49 p.m. PT on November 10.
What happens to my posts and points when the forums close? Your posts are still readable for now, but Apple has not said whether the archive will stay online after November 20. With the forums read-only, no new posts, replies or activity are possible, so save anything you want to keep before the shutdown date.
Can I export my threads from the Apple Support Community? No. Apple has not provided an export tool for saved threads, posts or profile history. You will need to save threads manually — copy the text into a document, save the page as a PDF, or take screenshots — before November 20.
Where do I get Apple help now? Apple points users to the official Apple Support site (support.apple.com) for support articles and direct contact with Apple Support. For community help, the main alternatives are MacRumors Forums and Reddit.
Sources: MacRumors (Nov 11, 2026); 9to5Mac (Nov 10, 2026).
