Hands-On With Apple's 'News' App Introduced in iOS 9 Beta 3

[teslo]

And NBC edited the Zimmerman tapes. Look, if you watch/read any of these outlets and expect 100% journalistic integrity, then you're a fool. I would hope Apple includes all sources and viewpoints, so people can make up their own minds and biases.

it's still a false equivalency. FOX has to report most of what their viewers consider 'news' as opinion/editorial behind the 'scenes'... aka: in press/outlets that their viewers don't read or take seriously.

it's called a bubble for a real reason. no other network does what they do to the degree that they do it.

rather than make this rant my whole point, i'd hope that this apple curation isn't akin to what google does for you and your locality: cater to your belief system and geographical demographic rather than open your eyes to opposing (or ludicrous) news items. it doesn't seem to have constructs to do this if that's your style. there should be a few choices as to what type of news consumer you are. something like "A) confirm my biases B) give me all available viewpoints and opposing reports C) i'm feeling frisky, so give me everything i don't want to read.
Silly, but you get my point.

i don't believe News is something you can Apple-fy regarding 'one experience fits all'... there aren't enough filters and choices like there are in an entire OS - this is an app and it's seemingly pretty limited in how you can control your feed. the only solution to this is Apple being a bit too data-scrapey on the backend -or- to simply offer more choice. i vote for the latter.

 

[GuilleA]

The app looks really nice. I like to stick to stock apps as much as possible, since I hate having redundant apps on my iPhone, this way I force myself to really milk the stock apps. So far I'm very happy. It's a shame is US-only at the moment, can't think of a good reason why this is. At the very least, they could simply let non-US users add RSS feeds and activate the curated content later on. Otherwise it'll join "Tips" and "Compass" in my " Extras" folder.

 

[AndyUnderscoreR]

Thanks Apple! ...now allow us to delete it.

 

[Toltepeceno]

I'll never draw my conclusions from one source.

Bingo. None of them are going to get you the complete news, except what they want you to see.

Here in mexico the news is very heavily controled, the big two are televisa and azteca tv. It's common knowledge you cannot get the real news from them but people have to search for the real news. In the us it's bias that counts. Both sides like to think "their" stations give the real news when they are just being fooled.

 

[Fionn2003]

Honestly, if they don't let me subscribe to Fox News, Drudge, CNN, and maybe one or 2 others, then I have no real interest in this App.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I bet watching videos from the News app is wifi only.

 

[igneousc]

anyone else try to submit their site and get denied already? No there's no political reason for the denial, but still disappointing

 

[devinthomas]

I'd like it to be more magazine style as it was shown at WWDC. I'm getting a lot of text previews and tiny thumbnails.

 

[myrtlebee]

That dudes thumbs in the video have officially freaked me out. I thought they were big toes.

tiny tiny thumbs

Why bother making fun of people for something they can't help? Did it not cross yur minds that he might have a medical condition? It's called "clubbed thumb" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clubbed_thumb

 

[crsh1976]

It's the first release of a new App inside a beta operating system, perhaps you should reserve judgement for the final release.

The final version won't change dramatically, this is the core of it - after that it's just bugs to resolve.

 

[Codestud]

You do know that creating integrated solutions inside its ecosystem is part of Apple's attractiveness to most users don't you? It's also part of its very DNA.

So why bother letting anyone create third-party apps, because this goes down the road of saying to people like Flipboard "well don't bother creating apps with an original idea because as soon as we see a good idea we will just take it and put it as part of the core OS".

 

[mattoligy]

So you can't add paid magazine subscriptions like you can in NewsStand? Is that not a step backwards... If this app is replacing NewsStand surely it needs to support paid subscriptions and have a "News" section in the App Store!?

 

[gprovida]

I get the news dimension to the app, however, I primarily use newsstand for magazine subscriptions e.g., Cooks Illustrated, Jamie Oliver, Scientific American, Consumers Report, Vanity Fair, and the New Yorker. How will these magazine subscriptions be handled under iOS9?

 

[powers74]

I might actually use this.

 

[mwhetnall]

Did you add it through the News app or did you have to do it through Safari share sheet?

I added it through the news app. After adding a few other channels (iDB, 9to5mac, etc., I found it then in the explore tab under suggested channels. Thing is, the newest articles I'm getting are like 6 days old.

 

[sniffies]

I added it through the news app. After adding a few other channels (iDB, 9to5mac, etc., I found it then in the explore tab under suggested channels. Thing is, the newest articles I'm getting are like 6 days old.

Ohh, I see. You know what, the News app has MR under the wrong channel address forums.macrumors.com. That's why you're seeing old articles.

You should add the correct main address (which is macrumors.com) through Safari share sheet. It's not available through the News app.

 

[ConnYoungy]

Why bother making fun of people for something they can't help? Did it not cross yur minds that he might have a medical condition? It's called "clubbed thumb" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clubbed_thumb

I was observational only - I didnt comment on them either way

 

[mwhetnall]

Ohh, I see. You know what, the News app has MR under the wrong channel address forums.macrumors.com. That's why you're seeing old articles.

You should add the correct main address (which is macrumors.com) through Safari share sheet. It's not available through the News app.

Yeah, I tried that but when I pull the news app up it shows a channel for MR start to appear then doesn't. I haven't figured out how to resolve yet but I'm not too concerned since, well, this is a beta release.

 

[sniffies]

Yeah, I tried that but when I pull the news app up it shows a channel for MR start to appear then doesn't. I haven't figured out how to resolve yet but I'm not too concerned since, well, this is a beta release.

Same here. MacRumors doesn't seem to add itself through Safari share sheet.

 

[576316]

Just updated my iPad to iOS 9 and I don't see the News app anywhere??

 

[mwhetnall]

Same here. MacRumors doesn't seem to add itself through Safari share sheet.

By the way, I see what you're talking about now with forums.macrumors.com in the suggested channels. I added that now but deleted the other one I had that was the actual macrumors.com. I'm trying to see if I can find it again and I'll add a screen shot as that was the one I was referring to with old news.

 

[sniffies]

Just updated my iPad to iOS 9 and I don't see the News app anywhere??

For now, U.S. only.

 

[576316]

For now, U.S. only.

Why? Why is there a country block on this app? What about it possibly means it can't be supported internationally right now. Apple are so dumb sometimes! Infuriating!

 

[CFreymarc]

Why? Why is there a country block on this app? What about it possibly means it can't be supported internationally right now. Apple are so dumb sometimes! Infuriating!

It is called following international copyright treaties. This is a whole new field for Apple Legal. I'm sure some new lawyers and para-legals have been hired that are familiar with mass media copyright laws for this one.

 

[mwjdavies]

Why? Why is there a country block on this app? What about it possibly means it can't be supported internationally right now. Apple are so dumb sometimes! Infuriating!

Go to settings and general, change the region to U.S. Then go to iCloud and select news app, reboot and it's there