# AO3 is back online but with limited features

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/ao3-is-back-online-but-with-limited-features/
- Published: 2026-11-15T21:33:18+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-15T22:04:19+00:00
- Original publisher: Engadget
- Original article: https://www.engadget.com/2317218/ao3-is-back-online-but-with-limited-features/
- Topics: Gadgets

## Key points

- AO3 is back after two weeks offline.
- Some features remain temporarily disabled.
- OTW recommends changing passwords as a precaution.

## Summary

Archive of Our Own (AO3) has returned after a two-week outage caused by a security incident, but some features remain unavailable. The return matters to the site’s users, who can access their works and accounts again while the organisation investigates the incident and works to prevent further problems.

The Organization for Transformative Works says icons and external work importing are temporarily disabled, and downloads are limited to HTML; it says these features will return and no icons were deleted. Works, bookmarks and kudos remain safe, and drafts were preserved, but drafts older than 30 days will again be deleted from 29 November. The cause is unclear, and although OTW has no reason to believe its user database was compromised, it recommends changing AO3 passwords and any reused passwords, as well as updating linked email addresses.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.