Apple News+ audio stories are expanding to new regions five years after their initial launch. The feature, which offers professionally narrated articles, is now available in Australia, Canada, and the U.K., in addition to the United States.
The audio stories feature was first introduced in the U.S. in July 2020 and allows users to access narrated versions of articles from various publications through the Apple News app and, for some content, the Podcast app. Apple’s original announcement described the audio stories as “about 20 audio stories a week across a wide range of interests.” These stories are narrated by professional voice actors and include audio versions of feature reporting and long-form pieces published by prominent publications such as Esquire, Essence, Fast Company, GQ, New York magazine, Sports Illustrated, TIME, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Wired, and newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal.
With this expansion, the audio story feature is now available in all four countries where Apple News+ has been released. The global rollout has been limited due to challenges such as distribution agreements, contractual arrangements with publishers, and the complexities of producing localized content in multiple languages. Despite these limitations, Apple continues to invest in the News+ platform, as seen with the introduction of a Food section last year and a new Emoji Game.
Apple News+ is available for $12.99 per month with a one-month free trial and is also part of the Apple One Premier bundle. The continued investment in the platform highlights Apple’s commitment to enhancing the Apple News+ experience for its users.
