Even if you’re not already playing with iOS 14 or macOS Big Sur, there’s a setting you’d like to know if you’re an Apple News subscriber. In fact, from iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur, Internet links to stories you tap or click will show them in Apple News, which on the publisher’s website.
This “feature” only applies to publishers participating in Apple News, however, it’s a somewhat shocking acquisition through the Apple app. While it’s not unusual for Internet sites to redirect links to your apps whenever possible, or at least ask if you need to launch the related app instead of the Internet content you want to access, Apple’s iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur deployment sends directly to the News app. And, as far as I know, this habit is enabled by default.
To disable it in iOS 14, because you would continue to scale on an editor’s website instead of publishing that same content to the Apple app, you want to access Setup News. There, look for the option “Open Internet links in news” and turn it off:
And if you don’t need to perform the same procedure on macOS Big Sur, you should launch the News app and demonstrate your personal tastes through the News menu on the menu bar. You’ll see this screen:
Uncheck this box if you prefer your Internet browsing to stay away from reading news.
Apple’s implementation of this redirect is perfect. As Dieter Bohn writes for The Verge:
“I find the habit a little strange. If you click a link in Safari, Apple News opens. If you click a link in Chrome, it stays in Chrome. If you click a link in some other app like Slack, it opens in Apple News, even if its default browser is Chrome. This is because it is not transparent how Big Sur knows it has to redirect some websites, but not others. Do you sign in with a pre-approved list of attractive publishers sites (if so, at least offline)? Is this list stored locally or registered with Apple? Whatever the answer, the fact is that what happens when you click on a link is inconsistent. Maybe it opens a browser, maybe it opens Apple News ».
Of course, there is also great merit in keeping those functions on. If you subscribe to Apple News, but not separately from news websites, by clicking on articles hosted on sites that use a paywall, you deserve to demonstrate the full article in Apple apps, rather than sending yourself to a “Connect here!” or “sorry, just subscribers.”
Still, is this a little exaggerated through Apple? I’ll be curious to see what other people think once the latest versions of iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur are introduced for everyone.
– Tony Haile (@arctictony) August 10, 2020