Apple Unveils Apple News Plus Magazine Subscription Service

A digital subscription service from Apple has just been announced, aptly parlaying off of its current news app — Apple News Plus.

The service was just announced by the Cupertino company during its keynote today, March 25, as a rollout of updates from Apple. News Plus builds on the News app by incorporating a massive library of magazines and periodicals such as National Geographic, Vogue, Esquire, Men’s Health, The Wall Street Journal and more. During the keynote, details of the service were divulged; speakers Wyatt Mitchell and Roger Rosner explain that over 300 magazines will be made available to read, all with rich imagery and layouts custom developed for both iPad and iPhone orientations. The library of what’s available, in total, would equate to over $8,000 USD a year worth of subscriptions, but all would be accessible by subscribers for only $9.99 USD a month with Apple News Plus.

The keynote also explained that Apple News Plus could be family-shared between Apple IDs, a free first-month of service would be included for new subscribers, along with a statement from Roger Rosner that no personal information or data would be sold to advertisers: “Apple doesn’t allow advertisers to track you,” stated one slide, reinforcing that user privacy is still of utmost importance.

Apple is unveiling more news during its keynote today, so stay tuned for more product announcements as the conference continues. Last week, a highly-anticipated update to Airpods was announced, one that incorporates “Hey Siri” functionality and wireless charging.