Apple Support Community is closing after 28 years
Apple has made its Support Community read-only and will shut it for good on 20 November 2026, ending a forum that began in 1998.
SUMO· the number puzzle
Dialo· learn languages by speaking
ediviewer· read EDI files like documents
giftdetect· the right gift in minutesApple Support Community, the user forum where people swapped fixes for iPhone, iPad and Mac problems, is on its way out. Since 13 November nobody can post or start a new thread, and the whole thing disappears on 20 November 2026.
A notice on the site confirms it. The forum is now read-only, so old threads stay visible for about a week. After that, the platform closes permanently. Apple gave no reason. It only points people who need help with an iPhone, iPad, Mac or other device to its official support site.
How old is the Apple Support Community?
Older than most people expect. It launched in 1998 as Apple Tech Exchange, became Apple Discussions two years later, and took its current name, Apple Support Communities, in 2011. That makes 28 years of questions, answers and workarounds, all written by users.
Why is Apple closing the forum?
The company hasn't said, but the trend is easy to spot. More people now go to Reddit and other discussion sites when something breaks. AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini also give a quick answer to a specific technical problem, without scrolling through a thread.
The forum's quality may have played a part too. On Reddit, some users complained that useful answers had become harder to find there in recent years, and said they got more help from independent communities. Others were happy with it and said they got good advice over the years.
What should you do now?
If you have a solution saved in an old thread, you have until 20 November to copy it. After that, the archive goes with the forum. For new problems, Apple's official support page is the route it recommends.
For many people this is more than one forum closing. Decades of community-written tips on Apple products are about to vanish.
Apps worth a look
SUMO: the number puzzleTap the right tiles, add them up, hit the target. Easy to learn, hard to master. Free, for all ages.
Dialo: learn languages by speakingTalk to an AI conversation partner; every sentence comes back corrected and explained in your language. 9 languages, A1 to C2.
ediviewer: read EDI files like documentsOpen EDIFACT and X12 messages, see every segment explained, convert to JSON/XML, export PDF and Excel. Runs locally, no upload.
giftdetect: the right gift in minutesPick who it is for, the occasion and their personality. The search engine reads product descriptions from local shops and ranks what fits. Free, no sign-up.
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