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Tomorrow marks a month since Apple announced its Apple News+ subscription service, which means if you signed up on March 25 following the event, you're going to start getting charged $9.99 per month.

cancelapplenews.jpg

If you're not happy with Apple News+ and want to avoid the fee, make sure to cancel today. Here's how:

cancelapplenewssubscription-800x780.jpg
  • Open up the Apple News app.
  • On iPad, scroll to the bottom of the side bar. On iPhone, tap the "Following" tab.
  • Choose "Manage Subscriptions."
  • Tap on "Cancel Free Trial."
Once you've canceled Apple News+, the free trial ends immediately and you won't be charged. If you don't cancel, your subscription will renew at $9.99 per month going forward. After canceling, you can opt to resubscribe, and you'll be charged $9.99 right away.

An estimated 200,000 people signed up for Apple News+ during the first 48 hours after the service launched, which is more users than Texture had at its peak, but it's not clear how many subscribers will continue to use the service now that free trials are beginning to end.


Apple News+ has been criticized for its confusing layout, lack of clear controls for managing and accessing magazines, poor customization and recommendations, inability to delete downloaded magazines, outdated PDF interface for some magazines, and nearly unreadable content on iPhone and Mac for magazines that aren't digitally optimized.

applenewsplusmymagazines-800x779.jpg

As for news, what many people may be subscribing for, it's also a bit limited. You can access all of the content from The Wall Street Journal, for example, but Apple is only highlighting a selection of general interest news stories, and to find anything else, you have to search. Apple News+ also only retains three days of archived content.

applenewsmymagazines-800x687.jpg

Aside from The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal, no other newspapers, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, have agreed to join Apple News+, making it of limited interest to those who don't read magazines. Newspapers have refused to join because Apple takes 50 percent of the revenue from an Apple News+ subscription, splitting the rest between publishers based on how much time is spent on their content.


Former Texture users have also expressed displeasure with Apple News+ because the interface is not as streamlined or as easy to use as Texture, there's no Android app, and there's a limited collection of back issues. Texture is shutting down at the end of May.


There are customers who enjoy magazines and those who are subscribers to The Wall Street Journal who are satisfied with the experience, but for many, Apple needs to make improvements to make Apple News+ feel more finished, less confusing, and more polished.

Article Link: PSA: Make Sure to Cancel Apple News+ If You Signed Up for a Free Trial After Apple's March 25 Event and Don't Want to be Charged
 
Last edited:

melliflu

macrumors regular
Mar 15, 2010
103
383
For every "free" trial, it is always safer to cancel the subscription immediately after subscribing. It's not logical, but it's the only way to be sure not to forget the "free" trap at the end of the trial period. A reminder by Apple that the trial period is over before charging any fee would be honest, even if the standard is NOT to send any reminder.
 

ctg7w6

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2014
486
857
Was going to cancel long ago but, unlike most trials, it would not last until the end of the period I signed up for. So, I kept it until about a week ago just on the off chance that I would change my mind (which was their plan all along I bet haha). Nope, not interested. It wasn’t intuitive enough and mostly had content I didn’t care much about. I could see someone liking and wanting the content, but I just found the service and way things worked to not be very refined.
 

macduke

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,100
19,598
I like how matter of fact the title for this story is: "PSA: Make Sure to Cancel Apple News+ If You Signed Up for a Free Trial After Apple's March 25 Event"

It's not really a very good service.

I have a feeling that Apple TV+ is going to be similar. I'm not sure how you can possibly launch a streaming service with only a handful of shows and actually charge people monthly for such little content—especially when you're talking about different genres and people might only be interested in one or two shows—and you're going to tell me that they're all going to be must-see hits? If they're lucky they'll have a hit or two out of the whole bunch. At least with other streaming services you get access to a large backlog of older content, as well as other content from various sources. I'm not sure if Apple fully understands what makes a good service. Just look at iCloud storage—it still can't do most of the things you can do in Dropbox.
 

ctg7w6

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2014
486
857
For every "free" trial, it is always safer to cancel the subscription immediately after subscribing. It's not logical, but it's the only way to be sure not to forget the "free" trap at the end of the trial period.
See my post above. I tried with this one but they don’t let you have access until the end of the trial period.
 
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Totemsflare

macrumors member
Dec 24, 2017
56
143
London
For every "free" trial, it is always safer to cancel the subscription immediately after subscribing. It's not logical, but it's the only way to be sure not to forget the "free" trap at the end of the trial period.
Thing is, Apple changed this. The moment you cancel the subscription, the trial ends. I realised this last week when a friend was telling me he set up a reminder to cancel Apple Music. I told him what you just wrote but he showed me the new policy Apple implemented. Now, we all need to cancel the day before the trial ends instead of doing it immediately after subscribing.
 

ir_fuel

macrumors newbie
May 14, 2018
15
145
Seems they put the team that was in charge of the first version of Apple Music on the interface design of this thing.
 

Elian_Gonzalez

macrumors member
Mar 17, 2016
73
125
I think a person has to stamp his little feet in order for the full effect of making one think his economic choices influences others to such a great degree. Otherwise, it's just bib-dribbling for self-aggrandizement.

I am also bemused that techie boyz wish to push the fiction that they actually *read* anything longer than a couple of paragraphs. It's cute. Really.
 
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melliflu

macrumors regular
Mar 15, 2010
103
383
Thing is, Apple changed this. The moment you cancel the subscription, the trial ends. I realised this last week when a friend was telling me he set up a reminder to cancel Apple Music. I told him what you just wrote but he showed me the new policy Apple implemented. Now, we all need to cancel the day before the trial ends instead of doing it immediately after subscribing.
No reminder at the end of trial and new Apple policy: no trial if one tries to be smart. Run away!
 

AppleBonker

macrumors newbie
Sep 20, 2014
19
87
The only news services I’ve found worth subscribing to are The Athletic (the best sports reporting and app out there) and New York Times (only at $4 a month though).
 
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Crowbot

macrumors 68000
May 29, 2018
1,701
3,913
NYC
For every "free" trial, it is always safer to cancel the subscription immediately after subscribing. It's not logical, but it's the only way to be sure not to forget the "free" trap at the end of the trial period. A reminder by Apple that the trial period is over before charging any fee would be honest, even if the standard is NOT to send any reminder.

I believe that cancelling during the free trial turns off access immediately.
 

SteveJobs2.0

macrumors 6502a
Mar 9, 2012
938
1,713
I preferred the old Texture app. You could easily see the available magazines, choose your favourites, and get some additional features.

Apple created news+ as a solution in search of problems. If anything, their solution to curating and organizing content is the problem.
 

az431

Suspended
Sep 13, 2008
2,131
6,122
Portland, OR
For every "free" trial, it is always safer to cancel the subscription immediately after subscribing. It's not logical, but it's the only way to be sure not to forget the "free" trap at the end of the trial period. A reminder by Apple that the trial period is over before charging any fee would be honest, even if the standard is NOT to send any reminder.

That doesn’t work here. Trial ends when you cancel.
 

Fozziebear71

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2014
637
1,642
I never signed up for the trial because as I stated when they announced the service, why would someone want to pay for "news" in this current climate in our society? You can get plenty of "news" for free these days. I'm not gonna PAY for "news" that only gives me the agenda that the "news" source wants me to believe. I suspect the TV service will be the same sort of "entertainment".
 

Benjamin Frost

Suspended
May 9, 2015
2,405
5,001
London, England
I can read unlimited magazines and newspapers from around the world, including backdated issues, for free, on my iPad, iPhone and Mac, courtesy of my local library. All issues can be downloaded for off-line reading. As this is the case for all UK residents, it is hard to see Apple News+ as being competitive.
[doublepost=1556125604][/doublepost]
I believe that cancelling during the free trial turns off access immediately.

If that's the case, then it's extraordinarily cynical by Apple. Every subscription that I've cancelled on the App Store has always lasted until the end of the trial period, regardless of when in the trial period I cancelled.
 

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,069
30,940
I didn't need a month to decide. Awful, half-baked, lazy product from a company that should know much better.

When someone like Jason Snell says he hopes the app/service gets a redesign announcement at WWDC you know it’s bad. It sure feels like something that was rushed because the company is panicked about slowing hardware sales.
 

Crowbot

macrumors 68000
May 29, 2018
1,701
3,913
NYC
I can read unlimited magazines and newspapers from around the world, including backdated issues, for free, on my iPad, iPhone and Mac, courtesy of my local library. All issues can be downloaded for off-line reading. As this is the case for all UK residents, it is hard to see Apple News+ as being competitive.
[doublepost=1556125604][/doublepost]

If that's the case, then it's extraordinarily cynical by Apple. Every subscription that I've cancelled on the App Store has always lasted until the end of the trial period, regardless of when in the trial period I cancelled.


It's a free trial so they feel they can change the rules. Most just set a reminder.
 
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