2024-05-23

Semafor recently posted a story suggesting that Apple News is proving to be a significan source of income for some publishers. It's a default app on Apple devices so I'm not too surpsised that it is popular. Tech enthusiasts tend to use RSS readers and I don't hear much said about Apple's News app.

Like many digital publishers, The Daily Beast was struggling at the end of 2023. Facebook, long a primary driver of clicks to the publication, had turned away from news. Search traffic had become increasingly erratic, as Google adjusted its algorithm to combat a flood of AI-powered junk.

But it had a new lifeline: Apple.

I really like the magazine grid style of the visual design of the News app. It's very well done! The display of articles is also well done. And when you follow a publisher you can tap into their publication for a very nice display of their specific articles.

There are four two downsides:

• The lack of support for RSS means I can't read blogs so I still need a reader app.
• Lots of ads in articles and the magazine grid view of the articles
• The display of articles is littered with Apple+ articles I don't pay for and don't want to see
• The display of articles shows placeholders for articles from publishers I've hidden

That's a poor experience. For non-tech folk who don't want to bother with RSS it's an easy option. But for anyone that's used an RSS reader it's a downgrade from an an ad-free experience that allows for easier sharing and more customization.

Corrections! It's possible to resolve two of the above mentioned downsides:

• There is an option for Apple News in the settings app to "Restrict Stories" which will hide stories from sources you do not follow.This fixes the problem the blank placeholders I mentioned.
• It's possible to use an app like NextDNS to block Apple's ads in the news app: 1. Download app 2. Create account at NextDNS 3. Add these domains to the deny list of your configuration (you set this up on their website) news.iadsdk.apple.com, iadcontent.apple.com, iadsdk.apple.com 3. Open app and enable it.