Apple has just unveiled its new premium News service featuring premium newspaper and magazines for $9.99 a month. The service is branded as News+ and is available today with the release of the new iOS and macOS software updates. $9.99 includes family sharing, so you can share with up to six Family members at no extra cost.
The service is integrated directly into the News app and features magazines from National Geographic, Popular Science, New Yorker, Vogue, Rolling Stone and more.
Apple said there are over 5 billion articles read every month inside Apple News, making it the #1 news app in the world. Apple touted its new service as a defence against clickbait with a focus on quality journalism.
Apple News+ includes magazines from Time, Vogue, People, Popular Science, Billboard, the New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and many others. Topics span from lifestyle, health, politics and more.
The UI is updated to integrate magazine issues into the main flow of the News app. The app features latest issues and featured content, including live covers that animate like a video rather than a static image. Inside an issue, users can jump to individual episodes or browse the magazine at their leisure.
There is a new News+ tab which contains all of the magazines available on the service. First look and featured issues are curated by human Apple News editors.
Magazines can have rich customized layouts on iPhone and iPad and are not necessarily just PDF scans of the paper magazine. It’s not clear how many of the 300 magazines will feature these kind of custom layouts.
Apple News Plus will also include content from the Los Angeles Times newspaper, the Wall Street Journal and some online news sites like TechCrunch.
Apple News+ is available today in the United States and Canada with a free one-month trial. It costs $9.99 USD and $12.99 CAD. The service will launch in the United Kingdom and Australia later in the year.
