Skip to main content

Apple’s answer to low viewership on Apple News? A Twitter account

apple news app iOS.
Malarie Gokey/Digital Trends
The Internet is full of traditional news websites, but if you’re more tech savvy, you may have used sites like Google News or social media networks like Twitter to get news. One place you may not have turned to is Apple News on your iPhone or iPad. The service may not be as popular as Apple would like, but the company seems to be making an effort to ramp up readership

Apple has created a Twitter account (@AppleNews) to tweet stories curated by Apple editors in the News app. The stories are made up of some top stories and other articles curated by the team at Apple. If you click on the link from an iPhone or iPad, you’ll be taken straight to — you guessed it — the Apple News app.

Recommended Videos

We don’t know exactly how many users Apple News has, and nor does Apple. What we do know, however, is that at least a few of Apple’s publishing partners expected to get a lot more traffic from the service.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

“The traffic has been modest relative to the enormous install base of iOS devices,” said Julie Hansen, president of Business Insider, in a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Because of this, it makes sense that Apple is trying to step up the number of people using News. If partners were to pull out of the partnership with Apple, it would spell certain doom for the Apple News service.

The Twitter account isn’t the only thing Apple is doing to try and promote News. The company has also taken out ads in places like the New York City subway.

Sure, opening a Twitter account and running a few ads probably won’t save Apple News from low viewership numbers, but it could certainly raise awareness for the service and bring at least a few more eyes to the app.

Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
Twitter bans, then unbans account tracking Elon Musk’s jet
A digital image of Elon Musk in front of a stylized background with the Twitter logo repeating.

Hours after Twitter suspended the account that tracks the movements of Elon Musk’s private jet, the company reversed its decision and put it back online.

Twitter also suspended the account of Jack Sweeney, the person behind @elonjet, and @jxacksweeney remains out of action at the time of writing.

Read more
Many Twitter accounts could soon lose blue checkmarks
Twitter Blue menu option on a white screen background which is on a black background.

If your Twitter profile page currently displays a blue checkmark and you’re not planning to subscribe to Twitter Blue, expect to lose the mark before too long.

Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, said on Monday that “all legacy blue checks” will be removed “in a few months,” adding that the way they were given out was “corrupt and nonsensical.”

Read more
Elon Musk meets Apple’s Tim Cook to settle dispute
A digital image of Elon Musk in front of a stylized background with the Twitter logo repeating.

Apple boss Tim Cook invited Twitter chief Elon Musk to the tech giant’s stunning spaceship-like Cupertino headquarters on Wednesday, with Musk later thanking Cook for the tour around the company’s “beautiful HQ.”

The meeting between the pair came a day after Musk fired off tweets accusing Apple of “threatening to withhold Twitter from the App Store.” He also questioned the company’s commitment to free speech after claiming Apple had reduced its ad spend with Twitter since he took over, though Apple certainly won't have been the only company to have done so. Earlier in November, Musk also complained that Apple’s cut from developer sales is too high at 30%, though this only applies to developers who make more than $1 million a year through the App Store.

Read more