Apple News launches new audio features, gets more local news on board

The curated local news feature for Apple News is being rolled out for five cities and regions for starters and Apple will expand this to more areas soon.

Apple has also introduced support for the News app in CarPlay, so users can listen to audio stories and Apple News Today while driving. (Apple )

Apple has introduced a bunch of new features for both Apple News and Apple News+ that includes audio stories of some of the top stories on Apple News+, audio news briefings hosted by Apple News editors, curated local news collections etc. The curated local news feature is being rolled out for five cities and regions for starters and Apple will expand this to more areas soon.

Apple News will now also include more local and regional news including stories from The Charlotte Observer, Miami Herald and The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina).

About 20 audio stories will be produced every week on Apple News from now on and these will be narrated by professional voice actors. Covering a range of topics, these are going to be the audio versions of some of the top feature pieces and long-from articles published by the likes of Esquire, Essence, Fast Company, GQ, New York magazine, Sports Illustrated, TIME, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Wired, etc. These also include stories from newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Audio stories are available to Apple News+ subscribers in the US.

With Apple News Today, which is the daily audio news briefing, Apple News editors and co-hosts Shumita Basu and Duarte Geraldino will guide listeners through some of the most important stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.

Both the Audio stories and Apple News Today can both be found in the newly added Audio tab, located at the bottom of the News app. Users can manage their queue and also get personalised recommendations and the new audio features are available on iPhone, iPod touch, and CarPlay.

Apple has also introduced support for the News app in CarPlay, so users can listen to audio stories and Apple News Today while driving. Users will be able to sync listening progress across devices so as you can start listening to an audio story with CarPlay from your iPhone, stop when you need and pick up listening to or reading it later at home.

Apple News' new curated local news experience is currently available in the Bay Area, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco and the platform has also added more local and regional newspapers to its catalogue like The Charlotte Observer, the Idaho Statesman, The Kansas City Star, the Miami Herald, The News & Observer, and The State (Columbia, South Carolina). In Canada, leading French-language newspaper Le Devoir is now available to Apple News+ subscribers, and The Globe and Mail will be available to subscribers later this summer.

Apple News is available for free in the US, the UK, Australia and Canada across Apple devices. To access the new audio features, users must update to iOS 13.6. To access the new local news features, users must update to iOS 13.6, iPadOS 13.6, and macOS 10.15.6.

Apple News+ is available in the US for $9.99 a month, Canada for $12.99 a month, the UK for £9.99 a month and in Australia for $14.99 a month.