It'll soon be harder than ever to get iPhone, iPad, and Mac support from Apple

Apple is reportedly ready to ditch its current approach of offering support via X and YouTube, with the company's own Apple Support Community not immune to changes that will see support roles slashed.

According to a new MacRumors report, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Apple intends to eliminate social media support advisor roles across X, YouTube, and Apple's support forums.

Starting from October 1 Apple will no longer offer human support via the @AppleSupport X account. An automated message will instead be sent to anyone who mentions the account, informing them of other ways that they can get support for their problems. The same goes for the comment section of YouTube videos uploaded by the Apple Support channel.

In a more surprising move, Apple's own forums will no longer be staffed by Apple employees which means that the only responses available to those seeking help will be from other users.

The report says that Apple is offering hundreds of impacted employees the chance to transition to a phone-based support role, but there will no doubt be some who are unwilling or simply unable to do that. Chat-based roles won't be made available to those affected unless it is deemed to be medically necessary, sources are reported to have told MacRumors.

Apple has so far not publicly commented on the move, but it is sure to be one that will impact users around the world who would otherwise receive support from these channels. It will also surely impact those who do work on the phone-based support lines with more people now likely to go that route with no other options available to them.