Apple Support Community is closing: save your threads now

What happened to the Apple Support Community

Apple's notice on the forum, as reported by MacRumors on 11 November, says the Apple Support Community will permanently close on Friday 20 November 2026. The forum is the place where iPhone, Mac and iPad owners have answered each other's questions for years. Apple put the site into read-only mode the same day. You can still open old threads and search them. You cannot start a new question or add a reply.

The notice sits on every page of the forum. It says the site no longer accepts new posts and points readers to the official Apple Support site instead. You can read the notice yourself on the forum's home page while it is still up. Apple has not given a fuller reason in public.

The forum has served Apple owners for many years. Its threads hold fixes, workarounds and answers from other owners. Many of those threads are the top result when you search for an odd error message or a setting that stopped working. The closure ends that living archive as a place to ask. Losing it leaves a gap no single support page fills.

Apple Support Community closing: what changes on November 20

Until then the forum works as a frozen archive. Search still finds threads. Links from Google still open. You can read every answer that other owners posted over the years. Nothing new appears.

On the closing date the site closes for good. The notice only talks about the permanent closure. It says nothing about the threads after that date. Treat the closing date as the last day you can count on reading anything there. Anything you have not saved by then may be gone. This guide was written on 12 November 2026, eight days before the closure. If the pages are deleted, bookmarks and Google links to them will stop working too.

There is no export tool. Apple offers no button to download your posts, your saved threads or your answers. MacRumors found the sign-in button led to an internal Apple page when it checked the site on 10 November. If a thread holds the one fix that keeps your printer, your old iPad or your Mac working, save it yourself before the deadline.

The forum also served owners in other languages, and those versions close too. They will meet the same fate as the English forum, even though some of them carried no closure notice at first.

Save the threads you rely on before November 20

Start with the threads you actually use. Think of the fix you search for every few months. The one for the printer that drops off Wi-Fi. The one for the Mac that will not wake from sleep. The one for the iPhone battery that drains overnight. Open each thread now, while it still loads, and save it in a form you control.

The simplest save is a PDF. On a Mac or a Windows PC, open the thread in your browser, choose File, then Print, then Save as PDF. Give the file a clear name, such as the error message or the fix it holds. Put it in a folder you will find again. On an iPhone or iPad, open the thread in Safari. Tap Share, then Print. Press and hold the preview to save it as a PDF in Files.

A PDF keeps the whole page: the question, the answers and the steps in order. A bookmark does not. A bookmark only points at a page, and the page may not exist after 20 November. Screenshots work for a short thread, but a long thread needs many of them, and the text in a screenshot cannot be searched. Save the full page as a PDF and you keep a searchable copy.

Copy the fix itself into your notes too. A PDF is a backup. A short note is what you will actually open next time. Paste the key steps, the setting path and the model it worked on. Add the date you saved it. If the fix came from a member whose answers you trust, note the name. Your own posts are worth saving the same way, because Apple has said nothing about keeping them.

1. Find the threads you use most and open them now.
2. Save each one as a PDF from the Print menu.
3. On an iPhone or iPad, save it from Safari with Share, then Print.
4. Give the PDF a clear name and keep it in one folder.
5. Copy the fix itself into your notes as well.

Where to get help after the forums close

Apple's own support site is the official replacement. The closing notice links to support.apple.com, where Apple says you can continue to find trusted guidance and support. Start there for step-by-step guides, warranty checks and repair booking. The Apple Support app on your iPhone or iPad does the same job and can start a chat or a call with Apple.

For a problem with a clear error, the fastest route is usually a chat or a phone call. Open the Apple Support app or support.apple.com, pick your device, describe the fault in a sentence, and choose chat or call. Have your serial number ready. On an iPhone or iPad, find it in Settings, then General, then About. On a Mac, open the Apple menu, then About This Mac.

For a hardware fault, book a Genius Bar visit at an Apple Store or an authorised repair shop. Back up the device first. A repair visit takes longer than a forum search, so keep the saved threads from the last section handy. They often hold the test that tells you whether the fault is software or hardware before you leave the house.

Other owners still gather elsewhere, on forums run by other people rather than Apple. Check any fix against Apple's own pages before you follow it. Never hand your Apple ID password to anyone who offers help in a forum or a chat.

What happens to your posts and points

If you answered questions on the forum, your posts sit in the same archive as everyone else's. Apple offers no way to download your posts. If you want a record of what you wrote, save the threads yourself before the deadline, the same way the last section describes.

The forum also ran a points system that rewarded helpful members with levels. Members spent years earning those levels. Apple has announced no badge, credit or recognition to replace them, and the notice says nothing about what happens to them.

Those levels also marked the members other owners trusted. A high level told a reader the answer came from someone who had solved the same fault many times before. That trust was built in public, one answer at a time, over years. It cannot be carried to another site, because no other site holds the same record.

That silence is the point. Apple has not publicly explained the closure. It has not said why the forum had to close, what will happen to the archive, or what replaces the community. The Register reported that it asked Apple for the reasoning behind the closure and Apple had yet to respond. Until Apple says more, assume the threads and the points go with the site on 20 November. Save what matters now, while the pages still load.

Myths you can ignore about the closure

The forum will stay online as an archive. Maybe, but Apple has not said so. The notice says the site will permanently close. A permanent closure with no archive promise is not a promise to keep the pages. Save what you need and treat anything left behind as lost.

You can still post until the site closes. No. New posts and replies stopped the day Apple announced the closure. The days until the closing date are for reading and saving, not for asking. If you have a question now, ask it on the Apple Support site or through the Apple Support app instead.

Apple will email you your posts. There is no sign of that. The closing notice links only to the support site. Nobody will send you your threads. If they matter, you have to save them.

Some other company will take the forum over. Nobody has said so. No buyer, no move and no replacement forum has been announced. The MacRumors Forums and Reddit are the nearest gathering places, and they are separate communities with their own rules.

The closure is a reminder to keep your own copy of any fix you depend on. Forums close. Companies change direction. A saved PDF and a short note in your own files will still be there when the site that held the answer is not.

Quick answers

When does the Apple Support Community close?

It closes for good on Friday, 20 November 2026. It has been read-only since Tuesday, 10 November, so you can read old threads but cannot post or reply. MacRumors reported the dates on 11 November, based on Apple's own notice on the forum.

Can I still read old threads?

Yes, until 20 November. Search still works and links from Google still open. After the 20th, the threads may not be there at all, so save any thread you rely on as a PDF before then.

Is there a way to download my posts?

No. Apple offers no download link for the forum. The only way to keep a thread is to save it yourself before 20 November. Save it as a PDF, or copy the fix into your notes.

Where do I get help with my iPhone or Mac now?

Use support.apple.com or the Apple Support app for guides, chat and phone help, and book a Genius Bar visit for hardware faults. Other owners gather on the MacRumors Forums and Reddit, but check any fix there against Apple's own pages first.

What happens to my community points and level?

Apple has not said. The forum rewarded helpful members with points and levels, but the closing notice says nothing about them. No replacement has been announced.