iOS 13.6 Beta Saves Your Reading Position in Apple News Articles

[MacRumors]

The iOS 13.6 beta, which is currently in testing, introduces an Apple News feature that's designed to save your place in an article when you start reading something and then exit out of the article or the app.

In iOS 13.5.1 and earlier, if you exit out of an article while reading it and then attempt to return to that same article later, the Apple News app automatically starts back at the beginning of the article. In iOS 13.6, it opens back up to the place that you left off so you don't need to scroll down to find the portion of the article you were last reading.

As noted on the MacRumors forums, it takes about thirty seconds for the Apple News app to register and save your position in an article before it's safe to exit out. This isn't a feature that's needed for short articles that you read right away, but for longer content, such as Apple News+ magazine articles, it's a welcome change.

The iOS 13.6 update also appears to be laying the groundwork for an Apple News+ audio feature that will see Apple offering audio versions of some Apple News stories. Audio is not enabled at this time, but it looks like it's a feature Apple plans to launch in the near future.

Along with these Apple News changes, iOS 13.6 includes a toggle that offers more granular control over the downloading and installing of iOS updates and it adds a new Symptoms section to the Health app.

iOS 13.6 is in beta testing and is limited to developers and public beta testers at this time, but the new features will be available to everyone when it sees a public release.

Article Link: iOS 13.6 Beta Saves Your Reading Position in Apple News Articles

 

[sos47]

iOS 29.7 saves your playlist position in Apple Music

 

[Deliro]

Any other app/platform this would be a single line entry in the release notes.

 

[now i see it]

This is a welcome feature for the 500 people using apple news

 

[mazz0]

iOS 29.7 saves your playlist position in Apple Music

But still doesn’t reliably save your position in Books!

 

[trigf]

I hope iOS 13.6 will also correctly mark articles as Apple News+ exclusives. So tired of clicking on links that are behind a paywall, with no indication they are.

Also I'm tired of seeing "curated" content that is nothing more than lists of items that are sponsored posts. I chose food as my interest, not "148 Gadgets That Are On Sale Right Now!" Ads between ads.

 

[jonnyb098]

I hope iOS 13.6 will also correctly mark articles as Apple News+ exclusives. So tired of clicking on links that are behind a paywall, with no indication they are.

Also I'm tired of seeing "curated" content that is nothing more than lists of items that are sponsored posts. I chose food as my interest, not "148 Gadgets That Are On Sale Right Now!" Ads between ads.

If you pay for news plus there should be zero ads but there are unfortunately.

 

[JGIGS]

This is a welcome feature for the 500 people using apple news

I use Apple News from time to time. But I never use Apple News+. I'll assume you're taking about the Plus.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

But still doesn’t reliably save your position in Books!

I know, same on macOS, this drives me insane with having to try and remember where I am. Clearly the developers don't eat their own product. Why oh why oh why do we no longer have "it just works"? More and more I am thinking about if my next laptop will even be a Mac. Blasphemy, I know, but it's how it's heading.

 

[dguisinger]

Well, seeing how bad they screwed up saving your open windows in the past few releases of Mac OS... I can't wait for them to screw up reading position in stuff I'm not reading.

Seriously, I close most of my applications with Command-Q, reboot, and here they all are, about 50 apps loading everytime I reboot, things I hadn't had open in days. Ever since 10.15 came out. Even on SSD it takes minutes to reboot sometimes, and before the setup screen disappears anything that was playing audio or video starts playing behind the startup screen with no way to stop it. Last I heard thats only supposed to happen for apps that were still running when you shut down, not apps you ran once upon a time.

I'm so tired of the downward spiral of quality control .... I can't wait to see what a disaster saving your reading position becomes.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I'm glad they prioritized this over fixing the mail app.

 

[MattLeidholm]

There are a few reasons I canceled my News+ subscription after the free trial, but this issue was definitely number one. They claimed to "love magazines" during the intro, but if I'm going to read a 15000-word New Yorker profile on my phone, I can't lose my place just because I sent a couple of text messages.

 

[trigf]

Well, seeing how bad they screwed up saving your open windows in the past few releases of Mac OS... I can't wait for them to screw up reading position in stuff I'm not reading.

I know exactly what you mean. I close every window and application before shutting down or rebooting my laptop. Doesn't matter if I do though, because every time I log in, my Documents folder opens and my OneDrive folder as well. I work on sensitive information, and can't really run the risk of someone seeing what's in these unless I'm meaning to show them.
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If you pay for news plus there should be zero ads but there are unfortunately.

That's enough of a reason to ever keep me from upgrading. The completely useless curation of content is another.

 

[TheDailyApple]

Any other app/platform this would be a single line entry in the release notes.

This probably will be one line. It’s MacRumors where you’ll find whole articles on what will be small changes, since readers here enjoy being notified of them. (I know I do)

Seriously, I close most of my applications with Command-Q, reboot, and here they all are, about 50 apps loading everytime I reboot, things I hadn't had open in days. Ever since 10.15 came out. Even on SSD it takes minutes to reboot sometimes, and before the setup screen disappears anything that was playing audio or video starts playing behind the startup screen with no way to stop it. Last I heard thats only supposed to happen for apps that were still running when you shut down, not apps you ran once upon a time.

This issue is one of the top reasons I reverted back to Mojave from Catalina; it never happened to me before upgrading. And since restarts are needed more often in Catalina, I’d of had to deal with it all the time

 

[TooMuchPhone]

Not updating until they remove the code for contact tracing

 

[PsykX]

Not updating until they remove the code for contact tracing

Is it even enabled in your country?

It's not enabled in Canada and it bothers me.
Luckily cases are still going down 10-fold over here.
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This is a welcome feature for the 500 people using apple news

You're definitely talking about Apple News+.
Otherwise, I'm one of the 500.

 

[The Cappy]

It's been saving my reading position for awhile. Granted, that was because I don't use the service

 

[nvmls]

I hope iOS 13.6 will also correctly mark articles as Apple News+ exclusives. So tired of clicking on links that are behind a paywall, with no indication they are.

Also I'm tired of seeing "curated" content that is nothing more than lists of items that are sponsored posts. I chose food as my interest, not "148 Gadgets That Are On Sale Right Now!" Ads between ads.

But privacy bla bla..

 

[Kabeyun]

This is a welcome feature for the 500 people using apple news

I’m reading and posting into this thread via Apple News. There must only be 499 others. Or are you thinking of Apple News+?

 

[DrKarl]

So little; so late. I often think that Apple really only has 5 or 10 employees who actually work, so little gets improved in any product over time. Why aren't there bookmarks with News+? I'm reading various magazines and want to bookmark articles for future reading. There is no equivalent to "Save Story". I'm reading half a dozen photography magazines and cannot remember which one had an article on X. For my $10/month, there is no way to bookmark a story (much less a magazine). Another feature that Zinio has had for many years.

 

[Bustycat]

Useless for people not in the 4 countries, even after 4 years.

 

[Sasparilla]

Nice, I'll use this.

I'm glad they prioritized this over fixing the mail app.

I sympathize with the sentiments, but almost certainly a different development team.

 

[Kylo83]

Apple news who uses it

 

[AppleTO]

It would be really interesting to know how many employees actually work on iOS development at Apple. They make it sound like there are thousands, yet the development process seems very slow, and so many bugs seem to make it passed QA.

I’m legitimately curious.

 

[Digital Dude]

Whoop Dee Doo I was expecting a new set of emoji's for our adolescent consumers.