Apple News widget gone (Germany, maybe whole EU?)

[Cobold]

Hi.
Today morning, my Apple News widget showing the latest headline news was suddenly gone.
Okay, no problem, just put it back there…. No! It is completely GONE from within the widget selection screen!

I could get it back switching my region from Germany to United States, add the widget back and revert, however that only lasted for a couple of hours. It disappeared again!

The news app was never released here in Germany, but the news widget was and worked flawlessly with local news sites and I liked using it!

Anyone else from Germany (or maybe the whole EU is affected?) having the same problem? What the heck? 😵‍💫


Edit:
I first noticed it on my main device, an iPhone 14 Pro Max running iOS 17.5 beta 4 but the news widget is also gone on my 11 Pro with 17.4.1 and my X running latest iOS 16.

 

[ManuCH]

I am located in Switzerland (so Europe but not EU), and I cannot add the News widget, it doesn't exist here. I saw it at some point a few months ago when clicking through stuff, but now it's gone.

 

[qwanah]

I can also confirm this happened to me today as well, both on my iPhone mini 12 and my brand new Macbook Pro 16". Running latest OS updated on both devices... My region is Sweden.

I hope this is fixed asap, very annoying.

 

[Cobold]

Thank you both guys! That is so annoying. So they deactivated it on the server side in Europe.
I hope that it is just a bug and has nothing to do with all the EU-changes following DMA requirements and stuff, resulting in the news widget being turned off permanently on Europe 😵‍💫

 

[UliBaer]

Confirmed, the news widget is gone - in Germany - starting around midday.
This is a real bummer and *WITHOUT* any prior notice from apple!
Their arrogance is proceeding to new dimensions... - ...aaand you'll love it!

...maybe it is time to leave the already sinking ship?

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

Yep! Apple News gone for me too in Ireland and my wife’s iPhone! Posted it on Twitter and got 4 replies from people all over Europe sayings it’s gone too! No option to add it back in either! What’s going on?

 

[contacos]

Same here 🤯

 

[drak22]

In Spain I have never seen anything related to Apple News, neither widgets nor app. So it is not an error that has disappeared, the error was that you could use it.
If the app is not officially launched, it is because Apple has not reached an agreement with the press associations, either at the European level or in each country. Because she cannot show any news, because she runs the risk of being sued in court by newspapers and magazines. Surely they have notified Apple that this widget was functional and Apple has fixed the problem.

 

[bwApple! fwApple!]

I’m from Belgium.
Same thing here. The ‘News’ widget has disappeared from all my devices.

 

[pjsingh]

From New Zealand here, the widget is gone and unable to add back in. This widget was my daily dose of the local news

 

[UliBaer]

(...) This widget was my daily dose of the local news

Same here and it is imho absolutely unbearable to simply ignore this...

 

[Cobold]

From New Zealand here, the widget is gone and unable to add back in. This widget was my daily dose of the local news

Wow, that is interesting! So not only Europe is affected!

Me too used it so get a quick glance at the latest news from different sources. There is no app that offers a widget with the same functionality ☹️

 

[T2Rife]

I am from the USA but live in Germany and have for over a year. I think since I have a USA icloud account (I have both a USA and local German sim) the widget still works for me. it must have something to do with what drak22 said though. The rights to distribute info are very complex.

 

[contacos]

In Spain I have never seen anything related to Apple News, neither widgets nor app. So it is not an error that has disappeared, the error was that you could use it.
If the app is not officially launched, it is because Apple has not reached an agreement with the press associations, either at the European level or in each country. Because she cannot show any news, because she runs the risk of being sued in court by newspapers and magazines. Surely they have notified Apple that this widget was functional and Apple has fixed the problem.

Spain has very specific and restricted laws in regards of news copyrights

 

[drak22]

Spain has very specific and restricted laws in regards of news copyrights

All countries have them, not just Spain. If it were a problem of local laws, which many reflect laws approved by the European Union, the service would be in Germany or France, but that is not the case.

 

[drak22]

I believe that Apple News is only in countries where their official language is English. If you are not in Europe, Asia or Latin America, I sense that the problem is not so much reaching agreements with the press organizations that exist in these places, but rather that Apple tends to forget about the rest of the languages for many of its features, both of operating systems as services. Some of the features announced in iOS 17 only arrived in English, leaving the iOS version in the rest of the languages very empty. No english, no party.

 

[one more]

It is gone for us in France too, not sure when, but noticed it this morning. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[one more]

I believe that Apple News is only in countries where their official language is English. If you are not in Europe, Asia or Latin America, I sense that the problem is not so much reaching agreements with the press organizations that exist in these places, but rather that Apple tends to forget about the rest of the languages for many of its features, both of operating systems as services. Some of the features announced in iOS 17 only arrived in English, leaving the iOS version in the rest of the languages very empty. No english, no party.

Not true, as before yesterday it was working just fine in French in France.

 

[one more]

Apparently it has also stopped working in India and Dubai (UAE), so not quite a European thing:

My Apple news widget disappeared after up… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1cibnvf

 

[rob2bob]

Lucky me then. I’m UK and the News widget is still on my iPhone and iPad and updating ok.

 

[Cobold]

Apparently it has also stopped working in India and Dubai (UAE), so not quite a European thing:

My Apple news widget disappeared after up… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1cibnvf

Wow! So more Like an „all, except US and UK thing“ 🤪

 

[Nipperserphil]

Here in Germany. On my wife's iPhone11 the news headlines widget has completely vanished. On my 14Pro I still have the widget .. but no content at all.
We are both running iOS 17.4.1

All seems a bit odd.

 

[CindyVenter]

Hi.
Today morning, my Apple News widget showing the latest headline news was suddenly gone.
Okay, no problem, just put it back there…. No! It is completely GONE from within the widget selection screen!

I could get it back switching my region from Germany to United States, add the widget back and revert, however that only lasted for a couple of hours. It disappeared again!

The news app was never released here in Germany, but the news widget was and worked flawlessly with local news sites and I liked using it!

Anyone else from Germany (or maybe the whole EU is affected?) having the same problem? What the heck? 😵‍💫


Edit:
I first noticed it on my main device, an iPhone 14 Pro Max running iOS 17.5 beta 4 but the news widget is also gone on my 11 Pro with 17.4.1 and my X running latest iOS 16.

Mine is also gone after 17.4.1 update. I'm in New Zealand

 

[Cobbler82]

In Italy, the same issue is happening. On the phones of two relatives (both using the 13 Pro model, if that matters), the widget has disappeared. On those phones the standard language is set to Italian, and there's no option to add ithe widget again. On my 15 Pro, with the default language set to English, the widget is still present, but no content is showing up. All the phones are running iOS 17.4.1

 

[JonoNZ]

Yep, disappeared in NZ from all devices (iOS, iPadOS, macOS). For anyone running iOS 17.5 beta, do you still see the widget in those counties affected?