Google’s overhauled News app is now available on the App Store. Originally unveiled at Google’s I/O conference last week, the new Google News features not only a redesigned user interface that promises “an improved reading experience,” but also new AI-powered machine learning to try and create a personalized news feed for each user, using algorithms that try to stay on top of breaking news and organize it into more relevant storylines, allowing users to more easily sift through the news and focus on the topics they’re interested in.
The new Google News app — which replaces Google’s former Play Newsstand app — appears to borrow some of its UI concepts from Apple News; for example, a new “Your briefing” section provides an overview of user-tailored content in one place, mixing headlines, local news, and breaking developments on a focused set of topics. “Full coverage” allows users to dig deeper on a given story, highlighting different perspectives and providing a timeline of key events and other relevant info.
Additional “credible sources” and “stories, for you” sections provide additional ways of accessing and discovering new content, including surfacing new publishers and sources and providing more in-depth news on the user’s favorite topics.
The app also provides access to more than 1,000 magazine titles in a mobile-optimized reading format, and supports a subscription model that allows users to subscribe to news sources with their Google account, and an upcoming “Subscribe with Google” platform will allow users to access their paid content across all platforms and devices, and even on publishers’ own websites. Unlike the considerably more limited availability of Apple News, which remains available only in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, Google has rolled out its new Google News app to 127 countries worldwide, replacing both the Google Play Newsstand and Google News & Weather apps with a single, unified app.
