Apple Is Closing Its Support Community Forums on November 20

The company posted a notice on the community's home page announcing the closure, which MacRumors was first to spot. The site is still online but now read-only, and it no longer accepts new posts. In its announcement Apple said that "you can continue to find trusted guidance and support on the official Apple Support site."

Apple told MacRumors that it made the decision "after a careful evaluation of strategy and customer needs." It did not say whether existing threads would stay available after November 20.

The closure takes away one of the most visible sources of peer-to-peer technical help on the web. Answers from the forum, which was called Apple Discussions before it took its current name, often appear among the first search results when people look up a device problem or how to use a feature. Its quality has varied, but its archive covers years of questions about Macs, iPhones and other Apple hardware and software.

With the community gone, users who want advice from other Apple owners will have to turn to social media and third-party forums, while Apple sends them to its own support pages. The company did not give a fuller explanation of the change.

The forum stays read-only until the shutdown date of November 20.