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So, where the hell is the News App for the rest of the world?

LordQ

LordQ

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Original poster
Sep 22, 2012
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I mean, is there a reason why it is US, UK and Canada-only?
I understand the publishing and monetizing thing, but it's been almost two years and nothing for the rest of the world. The worst is, if I set my region to USA, the stories won't even load.
 
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Armen

Armen

macrumors 604
Apr 30, 2013
7,408
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Los Angeles
CarlosQG said:
I mean, is there a reason why it is US, UK and Canada-only?
I understand the publishing and monetizing thing, but it's been almost two years and nothing for the rest of the world. The worst is, if I set my region to USA, the stories won't even load.
Click to expand...

You're not missing out on much honestly. The fact that the news widget keeps pushing CNN and Huffpo articles on me even though I chose to mute those 2 sources made me *delete* the news app.
 
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H

Hype-149

macrumors member
Dec 13, 2015
89
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Vancouver, BC
CarlosQG said:
I mean, is there a reason why it is US, UK and Canada-only?
I understand the publishing and monetizing thing, but it's been almost two years and nothing for the rest of the world. The worst is, if I set my region to USA, the stories won't even load.
Click to expand...

There's no news app in Canada.
[doublepost=1484879619][/doublepost]
Techrebel said:
You can change the region to US and have it.
Click to expand...

The issue with that is all measurements are then changed to imperial, not metric.
 
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P

Paddle1

macrumors 603
May 1, 2013
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CarlosQG said:
I mean, is there a reason why it is US, UK and Canada-only?
I understand the publishing and monetizing thing, but it's been almost two years and nothing for the rest of the world. The worst is, if I set my region to USA, the stories won't even load.
Click to expand...
Apple News is not available in Canada. Apple News is available in the US, UK and Australia. You can switch to those regions if you want it.
 
LordQ

LordQ

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Sep 22, 2012
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If you change region, the stories for pretty much all my sources won't even bother loading. Is like it is coded to do so if I am not in US or U.K.
 
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Shirasaki

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
16,263
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Well, Apple News cannot load whatsoever for those Chinese users anyway, whether they use VPN or not.

There are reasons more than just publishing and monetizing.
 
K

KALLT

macrumors 603
Sep 23, 2008
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As was pointed out, Apple uses regional restrictions for the content. This is a complete non-starter for me. I recommend forgoing this nonsense and using a decent RSS feed reader or dedicated apps such as Flipboard. A multilingual person such as me will never be satisfied with arbitrary regional barriers and it looks as though Apple is heading in that direction.
 
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willmtaylor

willmtaylor

macrumors G4
Oct 31, 2009
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Here(-ish)
CarlosQG said:
I mean, is there a reason why it is US, UK and Canada-only?
I understand the publishing and monetizing thing, but it's been almost two years and nothing for the rest of the world. The worst is, if I set my region to USA, the stories won't even load.
Click to expand...
You can have mine. I never use it. PM me for a reasonable price. ;)
 
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jpn

Cancelled
Feb 9, 2003
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hi

i totally agree with the original poster CarlosQG.
the "rest" of the world would certainly want to have this app.

here is what i encounter:

i set my region to USA in order to get the News app on my iPhone.
although before iOS10 this also reset most other regional formats, iOS10 has an independent setting to at least set Temperature Units to Celsius.

since i am accessing News from outside the USA, the following are the limitations:
the For You tab on News doesnt seem to have any restrictions as to content that can be accessed.
but if you access the Channel from Favorites, it is dependent on if that Channel allows access from outside the USA, frequently giving the message content not available in your region (so it definitely is IP sensing).
the above is true for Channels that are proprietary in the sense that the Channel is a Channel for a specific mag or news source. but, if the "Channel" in Favorites is a generic theme such as "Astronomy" or "Politics" then although the actual news in that theme may be limited it at least does provide most articles.

as was mentioned, News is totally inaccessible from within mainland China.

and, i totally agree that Huff Post is way too prevalent...although i have reset my preferences and re-trained it and was more specific to be clearer what i want more of and it seems to have understood.

it gets more complicated from there if you need to manage credit cards / apple pay through wallet.

and then of course it gets very complicated if i use the Japan version of iPhone 7 in order to have access to Mobile Suica transportation mobile money chip and apple pay using my Japanese bank issued credit card.

in the future: i think two more converging technologies may also require apple to rethink its world's regionalization set up:
1 carrier programs that allow roaming at no extra charge or limited extra charges (cross border device, as is)
2 virtual SIM tech that appears on the horizon (if iPhone 8 in fact has zero ports...)

on the other hand, apple appears to be more willing than i want it to be, for it to pull apps that the governments of China or Russia dont want. so appears to be willing to cave in to "requires server to be physically present within the country" threats.
 
pacorob

pacorob

macrumors 68020
Apr 8, 2010
2,118
507
the Netherlands
It's strange that Apple News still is limited to a few countries and when it is available is pretty limited in it's functionalities as well so you aren't missing much.

Look for great alternatives like Newsify, Feedly or Heartfeed to get your RSS feeds from all your favorite apps.
 
willmtaylor

willmtaylor

macrumors G4
Oct 31, 2009
10,314
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I'm personally a fan of Feedly & Heartfeed. Of course, it doesn't have the magazine layout of Flipboard or Apple News, but I can quickly peruse my news sources.
 
addamas

addamas

macrumors 65816
Apr 20, 2016
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Apple doesn't give a **** about Poland :D No Siri in Polish, no keyboard suggestions, no News app, no integration with Maps (recommended places)... Maybe in iOS 20 ? :D
 
Farsider

Farsider

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2014
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London, UK
Personally, I think the iOS10 Apple News App is great. Its fast, clean, functional and shows me relevant news (after a bit of training) from sources I'd never normally visit.
 
EJ8

EJ8

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Oct 13, 2010
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You're not missing much. I really want to like it but it's inability to sort / prioritize news sources makes it unusable for me. It also decides how much of a news source you see and you get no say in the matter. So I open the app and I am inundated with garbage from DailyMail before I see anything important. And I like DailyMail stuff at times. Just not 4 pages of it at the top of my feed. The app kinda sucks.
 
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TwoBytes

TwoBytes

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2008
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No matter what you do, the news app force displays news from sources you don't want. It's not really 'news' but just companies that paid apple to push content.. The app could happily be renamed 'ads' or 'propaganda'. You can't control what you read. It's not a great news app.
 
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W

Wrong Turn

macrumors member
Aug 14, 2013
51
15
As previous posters has mentioned, the list of features that are exclusive to the US or just a few regions is getting longer and longer.
Say iPhone 6, one of the bigger features that was released alongside with it was Apple Pay. Now, where is it then?
The incentive to buy an apple device is starting to wear thin, if I don't have access to integrated features which I consider to be an strong point apple have, then why should I buy one in the first place?
 
willmtaylor

willmtaylor

macrumors G4
Oct 31, 2009
10,314
8,198
Here(-ish)
Wrong Turn said:
As previous posters has mentioned, the list of features that are exclusive to the US or just a few regions is getting longer and longer.
Say iPhone 6, one of the bigger features that was released alongside with it was Apple Pay. Now, where is it then?
The incentive to buy an apple device is starting to wear thin, if I don't have access to integrated features which I consider to be an strong point apple have, then why should I buy one in the first place?
Click to expand...
Do you sincerely find it odd that a U.S. based company gives priority to the U.S.? This is not a new phenomenon to Apple. This is not a new phenomenon to any international corporation.

If your "incentives" are wearing thin, then vote with your KRONAS. No amount of whining here will change a single thing.
 
Last edited:
F

Fattytail

macrumors 6502a
Apr 11, 2012
902
242
musio said:
No matter what you do, the news app force displays news from sources you don't want. It's not really 'news' but just companies that paid apple to push content.. The app could happily be renamed 'ads' or 'propaganda'. You can't control what you read. It's not a great news app.
Click to expand...

I think this just changed in the last update. You can now dislike certain sources and the app hides those forever.
 
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