Apple News+ How does ‘Suggest More/Less’ for Apple News Work?

[JayParris]

DISCLAIMER: POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING

So as the title says, I’m interested to know how suggesting less or more of something works on apple news. I’ve been using apple news since it’s inception, on a daily basis and since that day I have ALWAYS swiped to suggest less of news articles involving Child abuse, child murder, child deaths, child rape, child kidnappings etc, now I must have suggested less on HUNDREDS of articles of this nature by now, why am I still shown them?

I’ve contacted Apple for an answer on this multiple times and never received a response. This is triggering for me and possibly for others too, I’ve come close to quitting my subscription on multiple occasions and just binning the app then and there, but I do enjoy it for many other reasons, I just don’t understand why whatever algorithm runs the suggested articles, seems hell bent on not listening.

 

[whshep]

My unscientific observation is that ”Suggest Less” in Apple News has no effect. I have diligently been asking Apple News not to suggest Elon Musk/Twitter news ever since it became a thing, with no success. Sometimes it even shows me the same story I have already given the thumbs down.

A quick search shows that people have been making the same sort of complaints about Apple Music.

BTW, if you’re paying for Apple News+, consider whether the same publications you regularly read might be available through your local public library. Less convenient, I know, but depending on where you live, free.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I’ve given up on Apple News. I cannot stand ads so I’ll pay for news I use (Economist, WSJ, etc) and use them in Safari with an adblocker. Apple News recognizes that I pay for these and …… still …. shows me ads. Lol.

Like you I’ve spent time trying to help it focus my interests and yeah, I’ve given up. Despite having an Apple One subscription or whatever that is.

My only assumption is these organizations make so much money off of previous presidents, bad news, Elon that they force feed it to everyone. Just like social media.

 

[martens]

I am a subscriber, since day one (I was a Texture subscriber, which formed the basis of News+), but I'm not seeing any of the topics that are triggering you in my feed.

Are you Following any Topics or Channels? Any Favorites? I probably Follow 4-5 dozen Channels & Topics. You can also rank them. These are what dominate my news feed. Siri Suggestions are based on those.

Likewise you can Block Topics or Channels if their headlines are too salacious or triggering or not worthy of your attention. For example, I no longer follow sports, and so most of my Blocks have to do with that. I didn't think to block World Cup 2022, so that continued to feed in, but it's more of a crossover topic than most sports (as is Olympics).

Also I block Trending Stories, Top Videos, Spotlight. Too much of that seems driven by what's popular or attention grabbing, as opposed to what is newsworthy.

Suggest Less and Suggest More seem like weak versions of Follow and Block, and it's harder to evaluate what effect they are having.

If you haven't done much of this customization, perhaps that accounts for what you're seeing. Because Texture worked the same way, I did a lot of this when I first started using News+, and probably could stand to review it once in awhile to keep things fresh.

As for ads, they pay the bills for the content providers. I have long since trained my attention to ignore them, and I try to remember to turn off Personalized Ads (in Settings) and deny Tracking requests on each new Apple device I set up, which reinforces my 'ignore' response. I've never felt any need for ad blockers. It baffles me that anyone pays real money for ads with such a dubious return on investment. But if they didn't, subscriptions would be more costly than they are.

 

[geobo20]

Try this

This one trick will make the Apple News app way better

Making the Apple News app show you only things you care about requires one simple trick. Here's how to tweak your Apple News feed.

www.cultofmac.com