Apple News+

How to play Apple’s daily crosswords on iPad and iPhone

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Daily Puzzles in Apple News
Get a crossword every day in the Apple News app.
Image: Wil540 art/Wikimedia Commons/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

Apple has a daily crossword and crossword mini that you can play on your iPad and iPhone inside the News app. This new feature of iOS 17 is available to anyone with an Apple News+ subscription or the Apple One Premier bundle.

I absolutely love playing the crossword puzzles every day. I’m not very good at them, but it’s a fun challenge and it’s a well-designed app.

Here’s how it works.

Apple News+ adds content from The Athletic and Wirecutter

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The Athletic homepage
If you subscribe to Apple News+, you now have top sport journalism at your fingertips.
Photo: The Athletic

Apple News+ subscribers now get access to The Athletic‘s sports journalism and will see Wirecutter‘s in-depth product ratings in the feed early in 2024, Apple said Tuesday.

“Like so many lifelong sports fans, I am a devoted reader of The Athletic and their fantastic sports reporting and local coverage,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services.

“We’re so proud to now bring sports fans The Athletic in Apple News+ — which millions of News+ subscribers are going to love,” he added.

10 more sweet tweaks and changes in iOS 17

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Text:
These are smaller features, but they’re no less awesome.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

iOS 17 has a lot of great headlining features — and many more features Apple didn’t have time to mention during the WWDC23 keynote. Today, I’m going one level deeper: Here are 10 more tweaks and smaller changes that could have a big impact on daily life with your iPhone after you update to iOS 17.

Apple News+ subscribers are sick of seeing ads and paywalls

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Apple News+ trial
"Apple News sucks."
Photo: Apple

Some Apple News+ subscribers are reportedly unhappy that they see so many ads — and are blocked from accessing certain publishers — despite paying a monthly fee for supposedly unlimited access to magazines and newspapers included in the service.

Many users say they already canceled their subscriptions, with some criticizing Apple for not paying publishers enough to remove ads.

Apple One subscription isn’t fazed by different Apple IDs for Apple Music and iCloud

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An Apple One bundle might be announced in September. Or October.
Apple One is the Amazon Prime-style bundle for all your services in one.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Apple One subscription bundle service promises to make your monthly Apple subs easier by rolling them into a simple, one-off payment. But what if your existing subscriptions, such as Apple Music and iCloud accounts, are tied to different Apple IDs?

Fortunately, Apple’s longest-serving employee, Chris Espinosa, says that poses no problem. “It manages that,” he wrote in response to a question on Twitter. “I just double-checked.”

Apple One is the Prime-style bundle that will lock us into Apple services

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Amazon Prime video
Can Apple follow the Amazon Prime formula?
Photo: Morning Brew/Unsplash CC

Apple One, which bundles several of the company’s vaunted services together, is a genius move. At best, it saves you money. At worst, it looks like it does.

I think it’s going to be a massive hit for Apple, and will provide a much-needed boost for struggling services like Apple News+ and Apple Arcade. However, it might cause some big headaches in Cupertino, too.

From Apple TV+ to Apple Arcade, Cupertino’s new services fail to bring in big money

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Share Apple TV+
Apple services may not be bringing in the cash, Bloomberg says.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

As Apple’s services division grows in importance, the company’s newest services — Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+ and Apple Card — are failing to bring in significant revenue, according to a new report.

Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman writes that, while services likely will increase yet again when Apple announces its Q3 earnings this week, most of these gains will come from older services like the App Store.

Apple gets hacked, and the vanishing of prolific leaker Jon Prosser, this week on The CultCast

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CultCast 442: AirPods with health sensors
This week's gigantic Twitter hack gives us the creeps.
Image: The CultCast

This week on The CultCast: A massive Twitter hack has Apple pushing a bitcoin scam to millions! Plus: iOS 13.6 brings some cool new features to Apple News. And we’ll tell you the newest info on Apple Glass, while pondering the fate of Jon Prosser, the prolific Apple insider who vanished right after leaking details on the AR specs.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

iOS 13.6 brings expanded Apple News features and other cool stuff

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Apple News layers on new features in iOS 13.6.
Apple News layers on new features in iOS 13.6.
Photo: Apple

Apple released iOS 13.6 Wednesday, boosting its Apple News offering and bringing other new features to iPhone and iPad.

As expected, the company added audio versions of key stories from Apple News+, the paid version of its news aggregation service. Apple also added a new daily audio show called Apple News Today, which is available in the free version of the Apple News app.

In addition, the company beefed up its list of organizations pumping news content into the service. However, the Apple News audio features will only be available to U.S. users, the company said.

Google rival to Apple News+ will be free

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News app top stories
Apple News+ could be about to get fresh competition from a premium version of Google News.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Google will pay publishers so it can create “a new news experience launching later this year,” the company said Thursday. While the announcement is vague, Google seems to be putting together a rival for Apple News+, a subscription news-aggregation service for Mac, iPhone and iPad.

iOS 13.5.5 beta hints at possible Apple services bundle

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Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+
Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and Apple News+ could all be part of 'Apple Prime.'
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple seemingly hasn’t abandoned its possible plans for an “Apple Prime” service that combines all its subscriptions into one single package. In a report published late Wednesday, 9to5Mac discovered references in the iOS 13.5.5 beta code to a “bundle offer” and “bundle subscription” that didn’t previously exist.

The idea could be to offer a services bundle combination of Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV+ and, potentially, Apple Arcade, at a lower price than buying each individually. Whether it happens, of course, is another matter entirely.

Apple could pivot to audio to bolster flagging Apple News+ service

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Some publishers report that Apple News+ isn't a 'huge boon' for business
Apple News+ could try offering audio versions of top articles.
Photo: Apple

Of all the services launched by Apple, its premium Apple News+ has seemingly made the least impact. And now Apple is reportedly pivoting to audio to try and raise user interest in its all-you-can-eat news and magazine subscription service.

That’s according to a report by DigiDay, published Wednesday. The publication claims that Apple has started asking publishers for permission to produce audio versions of its stories. These could be listened to like mini-podcasts or audio briefings.

Google is readying its own Apple News competitor

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Apple News
Apple News+ growth has been unimpressive so far.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Google is allegedly planning to launch its own news aggregation service that will compete directly with Apple News.

The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Google has been in talks with multiple publishers about paying a licensing fee for content used in its upcoming news product. So far it sounds like the company is mostly talking to publishers outside the US, but the company says it views the initiative as an important tool for an informed democracy.

Head of Apple News+ leaves after lackluster start

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Liz Schimel was Apple’s Head of News Business.
Liz Schimel handled the business side of Apple News+, but apparently not any more.
Photo: Condé Nast

Liz Schimel joined Apple’s news division in 2018, and was on board during the launch of News+. But the subscription service hasn’t seen much success, and now Schimel has left the company according to a published report on Tuesday.

Some publishers report that Apple News+ isn’t a ‘huge boon’ for business

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Some publishers report that Apple News+ isn't a 'huge boon' for business
News+ offers more visibility, but doesn't bring in masses of cash for publishers.
Photo: Apple

Compared to the likes of Apple Music and Apple TV+, Apple News+ doesn’t exactly seem to be setting the world on fire, publishers say.

A new report claims that, nine months after its launch, publishers are not viewing News+ as the “cure-all” they might have hoped for. While the subscription service is helping them reach wider audiences, some publishers report seeing “little impact” on their bottom line.

No longer receiving App Store and iTunes receipts? You’re not alone.

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Appstore
You can request them manually if you need to.
Photo: Apple

Some Apple customers have stopped receiving email receipts for their App Store and iTunes transactions.

The issue appears to have arisen in late October, and it affects all purchases made through Apple’s digital storefronts — including subscriptions. But there is a way you can request receipts manually.

Apple News now sends daily email newsletters nobody asked for

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Apple News+ in Australia
Another email you didn't want.
Photo: Apple

No, you didn’t ask for it, but you might soon start receiving a daily Apple News newsletter by email.

“Good Morning” features top news, analysis and features pulled from various sources around the web. You could find all this inside Apple News yourself, at your own convenience, but Apple negates the need to do that by forcing it down your throat.

And good luck trying to unsubscribe.

Condé Nast CEO unsure Apple News+ will be a success

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Rogerlynch
Roger Lynch kickin it in Cannes.
Photo: Roger Lynch/Twitter

One of Apple’s biggest publishing partners for Apple News+ is still waiting to be impressed by the fledgling subscription service.

Speaking at Recode’s Code Media conference this week, Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch said the “jury is out” on the service. His less-than-enthusiastic endorsement of Apple News+ comes a week after a report claimed Apple is struggling to significantly increase the number of paid subscribers for Apple News+.

Apple News+ subscriber growth is stuck in neutral

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Some publishers report that Apple News+ isn't a 'huge boon' for business
Apple News+ hasn't been as big a hit as Apple hoped.
Photo: Apple

Apple News+ has been struggling to ramp up its subscriber numbers since launching in March, according to a new report that claims growth has been stuck in neutral for months.

News came out this morning that Apple is considering bundling services like Apple Music, Apple News+ and Apple TV+ together for a monthly fee. At this point, the company might need to do that to get more people onto the Apple News+ platform in order to make it worthwhile for publishers.

CNN’s ‘NewsCo’ will take on Apple News+

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CNN logo
CNN’s NewsCo will go head to head-with Apple’s news service, as well as ones from Facebook and others.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

CNN is creating a news aggregator that will collect content from a variety of sources, with some portion of the service requiring a subscription. If this sounds familiar, it’s because that’s exactly what Apple News is.

There’s no coincidence — CNN thinks Apple and other big tech companies have too much control over the news.

Apple Prime? Giant bundle of entertainment services under consideration

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Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+
Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and Apple News+ could all be part of “Apple Prime.”
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple is reportedly mulling offering all its entertainment services in one giant bundle as a sort of “Apple Prime.” If true, then a single subscription would include the company’s music, video, and gaming services

This news is apparently leaking from music-industry executive who aren’t thrilled with the idea.