Are you looking for a new way to get your favorite news sources delivered to your iPhone or iPad? Try the News app!
In today's world, we don't just want to read "the news." We want it delivered: Not tossed onto the digital porch like a newspaper, but curated, with articles that fit our interests. Apple's News app isn't the first one to do this—Flipboard has been a high-profile example of this model for quite awhile—but the company's program has an advantage over all those in the App Store: It's part of iOS and available to everyone with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
What's new in the News app?
Get started with the News app
How to read articles in the News app
How to purchase a new subscription inside the News app
How to add new channels to Favorites
How to remove a channel or genre from Favorites
What the "Like" button does, and how to Like a story
How to save articles and read them later
How to view and remove items from your reading history
How to open a News app article in Safari
How to share articles
How to report a concern to Apple's News staff
How to adjust settings for the News app
What's new in the News app?
Apple is always tweaking, adjusting, and redesigning their software and the News app is no exception. As the app changes, we report on what's new.
What's new in the News app for iOS 10
Get started with the News app
The first time you launch the News app, you need to tell it what you like to read. You do this by selecting channel and category favorites.
Open the News app.
On its initial screen, tap a few channels (specific outlets or publications) or general categories. Other topics, based on what you've selected already, appear at the bottom.
Tap Continue when you feel you've chosen enough favorites. You can always add more later.
Choose whether you want to receive emails containing news items by tapping Sign Me Up or Not Now.
When you're done, the app switches to the For You screen and presents articles from your selections.
If you use more than one iOS device, be sure to go to Settings > iCloud and turn on the News option for syncing your articles between them.
News is divided up into five sections:
For You, which gives you a list of articles based off channels or genres you've selected and liked
Favorites, a collection of all channels and genres you've added
Explore, which displays other suggested channels and topics for you to peruse
Search, to help you find new articles, channels, and genres
Saved, which stores your reading history along with any articles you've saved for later reading
How to read articles in the News app
Reading articles that interest you is simple enough: You can either read selected articles for you from the Spotlight screen or pop into the News app itself. You can open Spotlight by swiping right on your primary Home screen; snippets of important News articles will show up below all other Spotlight content. You can then tap on one to open it in the News app.
Select a story to read when you are in the News app. Swipe up to scroll down and continue reading.
Within the News app, tap the For You tab, then select an article to open it. Or tap Favorites, tap a Channel, and then select an article. Tap the Back button (<) to return to the story list, or swipe left or right to read the previous or next story.
If you own an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, start the presses: A number of 3D Touch options are available for your devices. You can 3D Touch the News icon on your Home screen to jump directly to the For You screen or to one of your three most-visited channels; when viewing articles, you can also press on one to get a 3D Touch peek of its contents, and press harder to pop into the full article.
How to purchase a new subscription inside the News app
Starting in iOS 10, Apple made it possible for us to subscribe to a news organization from within the News app on the iPhone and iPad. Not all organizations support in-app subscriptions. When they do, you'll see a "Subscribe" notification at the top of the screen.
Launch the News app.
Navigate to a channel that supports premium content in the News app (like the Wall Street Journal or Time).
Tap a premium news story. You will see the word subscription next to the story.
Tap Subscribe Now.
Tap a subscription option.
Enter your Apple ID or fingerprint ID.
Tap Confirm to confirm your subscription.
If you decide you no longer want to subscribe to a news organization, you can cancel your subscription at any time.
How to add new channels to Favorites
Tap the Explore tab.
Peruse the Suggested Channels and Suggested Topics groups and look for items that interest you. Or, under the Browse section of the screen, navigate through general topics to find what you're looking for.
Tap the Add (+) button to add the item to your Favorites collection.
A different option is to tap the Search button and type in keywords you're looking for. After you find what you're looking for, tap the Add (+) button to add any of the results to For You.
It's also possible to add partner websites from outside of the News app. In Safari, for example, you can tap the Share button; if the website supports News, you'll see an Add to News button in the share sheet that appears.
How to remove a channel or genre from Favorites
Go to the Favorites tab.
Tap the Edit button.
Tap the X button in the corner of the channel or topic you want to remove.
On 3D Touch supported iPhones, you can streamline the process:
Press a Favorite to peek at it.
Slide up to view options.
Tap Remove from Favorites.
What the "Like" button does, and how to Like a story
In order to better tailor articles for your tastes, the News app automatically takes stock of your favorite channels and what you read. You can further narrow your reading options by using the Like button: When you come across something you enjoy, tap the button (in the shape of a heart) at the bottom of the screen.
Alternatively, you can press and hold (or press for a peek and then slide up on 3D Touch supported devices) in the article list and choose Like from the options that appear.
To dislike an article, tap the heart with a slash through it at the bottom of the screen.
How to save articles and read them later
Don't have time to read an article right now, or want to get back to a longer piece later in the day? Tap the tap Save button (the bookmark icon) to store it for future viewing. (You may need to tap the menu bar or scroll to the top of the screen to make the button visible, since it's normally hidden while you're reading.)
On a device with 3D Touch, you can peek at an article and save it for later without even loading the story:
Press on an article to peek at it.
Swipe up to reveal actions you can take.
Tap Save.
When you want to resume reading any of the saved articles, tap the Saved tab and then select the article you wish to read. Saved articles are also available when your device is offline. To remove a story from the Saved screen, open it and tap the Save button again. Or, using 3D Touch, peek on the article and swipe up, then tap Don't Save.
How to view and remove items from your reading history
You can return to any story you've ever opened in Apple News by going to your history screen. This contains all articles you've read within the News app. To do so:
Tap the Saved tab.
Tap the History button at the top of the screen.
Tap an article to read it.
Swipe to the left on an article to share, unsave, or delete it.
If you'd rather just clear everything from your previously read list, tap Clear at the top of the Saved articles list, then tap Clear History.
How to open a News app article in Safari
If News isn't rendering an article correctly—for example, if a video doesn't appear—or you'd just rather read it in a web browser, you can send it off to Safari.
When viewing an article, tap the Share button.
Tap the Open in Safari button. The page then opens in the browser.
How to share articles
Sometimes the best part of reading the news is spreadin' the news. There are three ways to do it:
When viewing an article, tap the Share button to bring up the standard share sheet.
From the list of articles, tap the Share button to bring up the standard share sheet.
On 3D Touch supported devices, 3D press an article in a list to peek at it, and then slide up and tap Share Story.
Each action gives you the option to send the article to someone via text, email, or social media. You can also add an article's web address to the Reminders app, Notes app, or other apps that support text snippets.
How to report a concern to Apple's News staff
If something about an article looks off—perhaps a video doesn't play, it's offensive, or mis-categorized—you can easily report a concern to Apple's News department.
Bring up the Share sheet using one of the previously mentioned methods.
Tap the Report a Concern button.
Select a reason from the list of available options.
Enter details about the issue.
Tap Send.
How to adjust settings for the News app
While you can adjust the kinds of articles you want to read within the News app itself, adjusting other settings requires a trip to the Settings app.
Go to Settings > News if you want to change any of the following settings:
Notifications: Choose how to receive and view notifications.
Background App Refresh: If you'd prefer that News not fetch articles in the background when you're not actively using the app, turn off this option.
Cellular Data: Turn this option off if you want to use News only on Wi-Fi networks in order to limit the amount of cellular bandwidth you use.
Show Story Previews: This option applies only to channels that are fed by RSS feeds. When it's on (the default), you see a basic rendition of an article, much as if you were to use Safari's Reader view. When the option is off, tapping an article loads the article's complete Web page, extraneous graphics and all.
Questions about the News app?
Let us know and we'll try to answer them.