Apple News adds new features for US Election 2024

Sam Shedden / Last Updated: Jan 16, 2024 / Apps / News
A symbolic representation of the Apple News app's introduction of new live features for the US election 2024, with a completely text-free approach.

Apple News is aiming to be the go-to source for following the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election by enhancing its app with several new features.

New Apple News Live features

Most notably, the news app has added support for Live Activities on iPhones running iOS 16. Live Activities allow Apple News to display constantly updating information directly on the lock screen or in the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro models. During the recent Republican Iowa caucuses (Jan.15), the app’s editors utilized Live Activities to show real-time delegate count percentages as results were coming in, reports Apple Insider. Users can now choose to follow specific election-related stories to enable these updates.

The world’s most popular news app has had a dedicated Election 2024 section for some time now, but new personalization options have been added. Readers can now select their preferred news sources, topics, candidates, and even region-specific coverage that will then populate the “For You” section with relevant stories.

For users wanting election coverage in audio form, Apple News+ subscribers and Apple One Premier members can access audio versions of articles in the app. There is also a daily Apple News Today podcast that summarizes top stories in a 10-minute format, as well as Apple News Narrated – a dedicated feed of selected articles read aloud.

With still months to go, more election-centric features may continue being added to the app. But for now, installing the latest iOS 16 update and exploring Apple News’ special election section looks to be a strong starting point to track caucus developments.

What other news apps are out there?

The news app market is a competitive space and Apple has several rivals who will also want a bigger slice of the election traffic pie.

Google News, Flipboard, SmartNews, Feedly, and Pulse Reader are some of the most popular alternatives to Apple News for iOS users.

Google News offers personalized news with cross-platform availability, Flipboard has a magazine-style interface for custom feeds, SmartNews uses AI for intelligent curation while Feedly focuses specifically on RSS feeds rather than general news sources and Pulse Reader is known for readability and topic customization. While no competitor matches Apple News’ iOS integration, each provides something for users wanting alternatives for news aggregation,

Featured Image: Dalle-E

Sam Shedden

Managing Editor

Sam Shedden is an experienced journalist and editor with over a decade of experience in online news. A seasoned technology writer and content strategist, he has contributed to many UK regional and national publications including The Scotsman, inews.co.uk, nationalworld.com, Edinburgh Evening News, The Daily Record and more. Sam has written and edited content for audiences whose interests include media, technology, AI, start-ups and innovation. He's also produced and set-up email newsletters in numerous specialist topics in previous roles and his work on newsletters saw him nominated as Newsletter Hero Of The Year at the UK's Publisher Newsletter Awards 2023. He has worked in roles focused on growing reader revenue and loyalty at one of the UK's leading news publishers, National World plc growing quality, profitable news sites. He has given industry talks and presentations sharing his experience growing digital audiences to international audiences. Now a Managing Editor at Readwrite.com, Sam is involved in all aspects of the site's news operation including commissioning, fact-checking, editing and content planning.