AppleInsider Staff
Apple launched a promotional Apple News+ offer this week that nets new users free access to the service for three months, two months longer than the typical one-month trial.
Announced in a tweet posted to the official Apple News+ Twitter account, Apple's limited trial offer went live on Wednesday and is valid through Monday in Australia, Canada the UK and the U.S.
The standard Apple News+ trial period is capped at one month. Apple's news service is available for $9.99 a month or as part of the $29.95 Premiere Apple One bundle.
This week's promotion arrives as Apple struggles to gain new subscribers amid a tepid response from both customers and participating publications. In July, Apple issued a similar program to woo back former subscribers.
Apple rarely publicizes figures for Apple News, but in April said the service had 125 million users across its free and paid tiers.
Apple News+ launched in March 2019 with access to a number of publications, including The Wall Street Journal. Also included is access to a host of magazines previously offered through Texture, which Apple purchased in 2018.
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24 Comments
Well, if they would move Apple News+ into the Family Share Plan of Apple One (rather than Apple Arcade...which as adults my wife and I could care less about), then I would use the service. My wife an I shared an AppleID since iTools or MobileMe days (for those of you who remember). When she got a watch, we decided to set her up with a separate AppleID and I then chose the Family Share Plan. Besides having Apple Arcade which is useless to me (as was/is Game Center), sharing iCloud space with multiple AppleIDs on a share plan is not what I wanted. Apps that can be shared (e.g., Notability) don't share the same library so what's the point? If you could decide to have your own space (which is the default and only option with iCloud sharing), and a shared space, then Family Sharing makes sense when sharing Apps. I think I'll end my Family Sharing Plan and go back to both of us having the 5GB Free options...anyway, I digress. Apple One should be an a la carte system, build your own. In fact, I will probably get rid of Family Share Plan of Apple One soon because of the limitation. I'm not going up to the Ultimate package just to get News+...let the user decide what they want in their Family Share Plan!
After getting countless offers for another free trial of News+, I clicked on this offer last night while half asleep, assuming it was the same thing. It wasn’t, and I was charged $9.99. So I immediately canceled and submitted a refund request today. I’m not complaining, as it’s on me for having assumed that I was one of the “eligible subscribers only” referenced in the fine print since I get these offers almost weekly. I’m only writing to warn others not to make the same mistake I did. This is literally only for those who have never tried it before, regardless of how many notifications and emails they send to lure you back.
Paying for news...what a waste of money.