Apple has removed the News app from the iPhone in the Netherlands, without making an announcement. What is going on?
Apple News disappeared
If you regularly check the latest news via Apple News, you have probably already noticed: the News widget is no longer there. Apple News has been stopped in the Netherlands for a few days now. The strange thing is that Apple hasn’t made any big announcement about this at all. Instead, the Apple News app widget has silently disappeared from your iPhone, as if it was never there.
Also read: This nice Apple feature is missing in the Netherlands (and that’s a shame)
So there is no software problem that is causing the news in the widget to no longer load. In the News widget you saw the most important news of the moment in one overview. That was news from multiple media, not just from one news site. You could add the Apple News widget to your iPhone’s home screen, or to the all-widgets screen on the device’s Today View. Apple has now removed that option and taken the News widget offline.
The Netherlands has to make do without Apple News
Apple News was launched in 2019 for the iPhone, iPad and Mac. At Apple’s own news service you saw a collection of publications from various news sites, magazines and periodicals. Several major newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, Times and Forbes are affiliated with the news service. Dutch titles are virtually impossible to find in Apple News, because the news service was not available at all in the Netherlands and Belgium.
So here we have to do without the Apple News app, but there was a way to use the news service in a roundabout way. The Apple News widget was available for the iPhone. Here you still saw an overview of the most important news, without using the Apple News app. Now the widget has also disappeared, meaning we in the Netherlands have to do without Apple News altogether.
Apple does not provide clarity
It is currently unknown why Apple has decided to take down the Apple News widget. Users in several countries have the same problem, for example, Apple News has also disappeared in countries such as Norway, Austria and Singapore. There are no problems with Apple News on the iPhone in the United States. It is therefore quite possible that Apple has quietly stopped its news service in the United States.
Also read: Tip: This is how you read Apple News (Plus) in the Netherlands
However, this does not necessarily mean the end of Apple News in the Netherlands and Belgium. On Tuesday, May 7, Apple will host an event to announce the new iPads. Perhaps we will also see a new version of Apple News for the iPad and iPhone. That doesn’t make it any less strange that Apple has already removed the widget. According to rumors, Apple will respond by May 8, so we may hear the latest news about Apple News then.
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