Apple has posted a notice saying it will close the Apple Support Community, the forum where users post questions and answers about its products, on Friday, November 20, 2026. The site has already stopped accepting new posts, and as of this writing (November 15, JST) it is available for reading only. The company is pointing users to its official support site going forward.
The Notice Appears on the Japanese and English Home Pages
The home page of the Japanese-language Apple Support Community carries a notice stating that the community will close on Friday, November 20, 2026. It goes on to say that new posts are no longer accepted "starting today" and that the site will be view-only from then on. The notice itself does not show the date it was posted.
The English-language home page has a notice to the same effect, which uses the phrase "permanently close." A notice giving the same November 20 closing date could also be confirmed on the Spanish-language edition.
The German and French home pages, by contrast, showed no notice about a closure as of this writing. Apple has not said how those language editions will be handled.
Apple Gives No Reason and Does Not Say What Happens to Past Posts
The notice conveys four things: the closing date, the end of new posts, the move to read-only status, and a pointer to the official support site. It gives no reason for the closure. It also does not state a time of day for the closure or which region's time zone applies.
The open question is what becomes of the questions and answers accumulated so far. The notice does not say whether past posts will remain readable after November 20 or be deleted. The Japanese page still displayed a button for posting a question as of this writing, although the notice says new posts are not accepted.
The Forum Was Run as a Place for Users to Help One Another
The Japanese home page describes the community as a forum where Apple users help one another with the products they use, and participation is through an Apple Account. Topics span a wide range of the company's products and services, including iPhone, iPad, macOS, Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple Vision Pro, Apple Intelligence, and iCloud. The page also notes that posts are user-contributed reference information and that Apple does not guarantee their content.
To encourage participation, the community had a system of points and levels. According to an Apple support document published on August 11, 2026, members earn points by posting helpful answers or having their content upvoted by other members, and gain perks as they level up. For example, replying to another member's question adds 8 points, and having a reply upvoted adds 6 points.
There are 10 levels, and the points required to reach each are as follows.
| Level | Points required |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 150 |
| 3 | 500 |
| 4 | 1,000 |
| 5 | 4,000 |
| 6 | 8,000 |
| 7 | 20,000 |
| 8 | 35,000 |
| 9 | 50,000 |
| 10 | 80,000 |
The top level, Level 10, requires 80,000 points, 10 times as many as Level 6. Listed perks include setting a custom avatar at Level 3, creating User Tips that explain how to do things at Level 5, and joining a members-only gathering space at Level 6. As of this writing, the document does not mention the closure.
The Official Support Site Becomes the Point of Contact
The notice says users can continue to find trusted information and support on the official Apple Support site. The link leads to the company's official support site, Apple Support.
For users, the change is that the place to ask other users questions and get answers disappears from Apple's own site. Because new questions can no longer be posted, users with a question will have to look up information on the official site. The notice does not say whether Apple will set up a new place for user exchange to replace the community.
Our Take
For tracking down minor glitches that official documents do not cover, or information on older models, exchanges between users were arguably a useful source. Consolidating support on the official site should have the advantage of making it easier to reach information whose content Apple manages.
That said, it is a concern that the closing date is just days away and that Apple has not said whether past posts will remain. Users who reached past answers through search results may be affected. For members who kept answering under a system that requires 80,000 points for Level 10, the fate of the record they built up is likely a worry as well.
Even so, whether to keep the site in a read-only state or remove it entirely is Apple's call. Anyone with posts they want to refer to later would probably be wise to save the contents by November 20.
Summary
Apple will close the Apple Support Community on November 20, 2026, and the place where users exchanged questions and answers gives way to a pointer to the official support site. Those affected are users who posted questions and users of Apple products who relied on past answers. The reason for the closure, the handling of past posts, and plans for the language editions without a notice had not been disclosed as of this writing.
