In this tutorial, we share a few simple tips to get Apple News to work on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac in any country.
As of September 2024, Apple News and Apple News+ are officially available in only 4 countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
But thanks to these basic tricks, you can use, explore, and get the latest headlines from Apple News on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, even if you live in a country or region where it’s unavailable. Of course, this won’t have all the features that people in the above four countries have, but still, you will get the ability to browse important news stories in one convenient spot.
Mac
1) Go to the Applications folder inside Finder.
2) Press Command + Shift + . (dot/period) to show hidden files.
3) You will see the faint News app logo. Double-click to open it.
4) This hidden app won’t show in Mac’s Launchpad – where all apps are. So, add it to the Dock by dragging it from the Applications folder onto the Dock. From here, you can open it anytime you like. You can even drag it to Mac’s desktop and have it there.
iPhone or iPad
On iOS and iPadOS devices, the only way to get Apple News is by changing your device region to one of the four countries where it’s officially available.
1) Open the Settings app and tap General.
2) Tap Language & Region.
3) Tap Region and choose one of the four supported countries – Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, or the United States.
4) Tap Change to [country name].
You will instantly see the Apple News app icon on your iPhone or iPad Home Screen. If not, restart your iPhone. If you still don’t see it, switch to a different supported country. You may also try getting it manually from the App Store using this link. But note that it may say App Not Available.
Related: How to download an iPhone app that’s not available in your country
Important: If the News app asks for your location, don’t allow it to access it. If you do, it will figure out you aren’t in the said country, and as a result, you might have a poor experience in the app, with many channels saying “Unavailable in your region.”
The Mac’s method mentioned above is better. But if you want to, you can change your Mac’s region from System Settings > General > Language & Region > Region and select one of the four countries to get the Apple News app.
Apple Watch
Your Apple Watch mimics most iPhone settings. So, once you change the region of your iPhone to one of the four supported countries, you will find that the News app automatically shows on your Apple Watch as well. From here, you can read the headlines on your wrist.
Use the News app widget
If you don’t want to change your iPhone region, you can still use Apple News – to a limited extent – in the form of widgets.
In non-supported countries, Apple hides the News app. But the News widget continues to be available. You can add it to the Today View or Home Screen. Note that the biggest-sized News widget in the Today View lists more headlines than the largest Home Screen News widget.
The best part of these widgets is they will primarily serve you news links from your country’s local publishers or relevant to it.
How to remove Apple News from your device
If the news displayed by Apple News doesn’t suit you, or you find the app lackluster and most things behind a paywall of a foreign currency, follow the same steps to switch back to your original country. After this, the Apple News app will disappear from your Home Screen.
Let me recap the steps:
- Go to Settings/System Setting > General > Language & Region > Region and choose your actual country.
- If you followed the first method on your Mac, drag the News app icon out of the Dock to remove it. Or, go to the Applications folder and press Command + Shift + . (dot/period) to stop showing the hidden files.
How to read Apple News on Windows PC, web browser, or Android?
Apple News and its premium News+ service are only available on Apple devices, like iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod touch, and Apple Watch. As of now, it isn’t possible to read Apple News on Android, Windows PC, or a web browser. It’s also not available on Apple TV.
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