Roger Fingas
The iOS 9.1 update activates the News app for users in the U.K. and Australia, users and Apple itself confirmed on Thursday.
Content for the U.K. launch includes the BBC, The Times, The Sun, The Telegraph, The Guardian, and the Financial Times, as well as magazines from publishers like Haymarket and Conde Nast, Apple told TechCrunch. This is on top of the material already present for U.S. readers.
It was not immediately clear which Australian publications were on board.
The News app is a replacement for the Newsstand feature in iOS 8 and earlier, which simply gathered together select apps in a shelf motif, with behind-the-scenes work done to allow background downloads and notification of new issues.
By contrast, News is essentially a Flipboard-style RSS reader, allowing users to browse through multiple sources at once and see stories presented in a magazine-like format. The app will also let users track stories on specific topics, such as space exploration.
iOS 9.1 is otherwise a relatively modest update, mainly adding new emoji, and compatibility with the iPad Pro and fourth-generation Apple TV. When shooting Live Photos on an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, the OS will now detect when an iPhone is being raised or lowered and skip recording those motions.
Recently it was revealed that Apple is actively blocking News within China, even for readers simply visiting the country.
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18 Comments
I would like News for OS X.
Anyone know how I change the news sources that show on the search screen? It's still showing nonsense from The Telegraph despite me not selecting it as a source.
In the UK and made my preferences today. The hideous pink colour of the News app was a surprise and not quite Applesque. The source of the news story should be highlighted more prominently under each headline, and it all has quite a boring look about it at the moment. Surely the Apple designers can do better than this.
How is it not obvious?
The news preference setup was tedious and could have been simplified in the same way Newsify and Flipboard does it. Why can I not just select the general news topics like technology, science, film etc. Then all the topics I do not select here could be filtered out of the more detailed selections. Poorly thought out. I'm surprised at you Apple. Once I got past this longwinded setup I was happy. So far my post setup experience is a positive one.
[quote name="RichL" url="/t/189683/ios-9-1-enables-apples-news-app-new-content-sources-for-users-in-uk-australia#post_2794576"]Anyone know how I change the news sources that show on the search screen? It's still showing nonsense from The Telegraph despite me not selecting it as a source. [/quote] Yeah go to setting >Lang and region. Then down at the bottom change your country to USA or Australia and Uk which ever you like Hope it helps