Apple Support Community Deserved a Proper Goodbye

Apple on Tuesday abruptly placed the Apple Support Community into a read-only state and announced that the forums will be permanently closing on Friday, November 20. Those who contributed to the site — some for more than two decades — were blindsided by this decision and had no chance to post farewell messages.

Even if you felt the Apple Support Community contained too many generic or unhelpful answers from users trying to boost their post counts and earn points, the people volunteering their time to the site still deserved a proper goodbye.

Below, we have highlighted some of those people and their experiences.

Jeff Donald from Florida was a member of the Apple Support Community since November 2000, when the forums were still known as Apple Discussions. This past year, Apple recognized his efforts by inviting him to the Apple Community+ program, which launched in 2022 and provided members with a few extra perks and experiences.

Leroy Douglas was a member since July 2009. He said he was a bit shocked to see Apple’s sudden announcement, but he saw the writing on the wall.

Here is a fun fact that you might not have known: In addition to English, Tobias Steen in Germany said there were also Apple Support Communities in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. For some reason, the French and German versions do not have closure notices, but we are told they will meet the same fate.

The forums brought together people of all ages, from 16-year-old Evan Bato Rousseau in France to 83-year-old Nobel Prize winner Sir Tim Hunt in England, who told us he found it to be a helpful resource, even if some of the answers were wonky.

John Daniel, the Canadian developer of macOS diagnostic tool EtreCheck, said he was active in the Apple Support Community for more than two decades. Users like him who reached “Level 6” or higher based on their contributions received access to The Lounge, a private category of forums where Apple employees sometimes participated.

Prior to 2020, John said Apple occasionally hosted in-person meetups for Support Community members, including a special visit to Apple Park.

“I don’t agree with comments that so many are making about the Apple Support Community right now,” he said, in response to those who described it as useless. “We regularly solved problems, identified significant issues with Apple projects, traced the cause of bugs and fixed them, and always learned new things. That’s what I’m going to miss.”

Elías Rojano Núñez of Chile participated in the Spanish forums. He told us that he found it deeply satisfying when he was able to help others, and he was saddened that the Spanish forums were shuttered without any advanced notice, but he is grateful for the opportunity that he had and will always value the interactions he had with fellow contributors.

Rojano Núñez shared a photo of some of the items he received from Apple over the years, including a 5-year Apple Support Community anniversary pin. There were also 10-year, 15-year, and 20-year pins. Over the years, merchandise given out included Apple-branded hats, shirts, tote bags, and even umbrellas once.

Whatever its shortcomings, the Apple Support Community was more than just a place to ask questions. For some, it was a place to belong.