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Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

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Re: Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

#231

Post by soylentgraham »

xp84 wrote: post #184
Nightshaxx wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Android, an App's manifest designates which deep links it can handle. Then when the user clicks on a link, it gives the user the option of which app to use when there are multiple apps that can handle it. Maybe since at one point you did tell it you want to use news to handle it, it keeps going back to it? Although that means most likely the News app was not updated to remove support for that link. Or maybe iOS de…

issue with ios is that there is never any control over who handles what links. Apps can register custom protocols, but for common protocols that have an apple default (https, http, mailto being the main ones) you are stuck with what they decide. No option to even install an alternate such as Chrome or Gmail, and be prompted. And similarly, even though it's not a protocol, but more like a filetype, Apple News hijacks…

In what situation do you not get a prompt?

You can install an alternative like chrome or google search (chrome but better UX IMO) And when you do, anything that opens a page that isn't an embedded webkitview prompts me to pick a browser. It even suggests chrome which I don't have installed (I guess I installed it once and it remembers the protocol registration)

Re: Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

#232

Post by asiachick »

tedunangst wrote: post #213
asiachick wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this sounds like a privacy issue and should be filed as a bug. if I can't open a link in a private tab in Safari (or ideally the browser of my choice) then I can not protect my privacy. The launched app will get to record my activity or via the non private browser tab the site will track me. file a bug / feedback that this is not in line with Apple's privacy first stance

If you're in private mode, it asks before opening in the app. As ever, check first, then complain.

Apple News has a private mode?

Re: Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

#233

Post by randomdata »

jankiehodgpodge wrote: post #114
mastrsushi wrote: post #38

More people spend time worrying about the decline of RSS than the amount of people actually using RSS.

I don't know. I use Podcasts every day.

That was my first thought as well. Apple's Podcast software still seems to be fully supported.

Re: Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

#234

Post by spacemonkey92 »

When I first created this app "7Web"(https://7web.co) couple of years back many suggested why don't I just use RSS feeds.

Personally I'm not a big fan of RSS feeds mainly because I miss the familiarity and UX of the original website where I spend half the time browsing through Desktop and rest on mobile/iPad.

I thought its just me but many of my users still use this app everyday.

Re: Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

#235

Post by matt_the_bass »

Funny this came up today. I was just trying to generate an RSS query from archive.org so that I could load a set of search results as a podcast on my phone.

Every time I tried the archive.org advanced search RSS results, my iPhone kept redirecting to News app. Super annoying.

I ended up just figuring out the syntax manually and typing it into a text editor before copy/pasting to Podcasts.

Re: Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

#236

Post by tripzilch »

DocG wrote: post #79
blotter_paper wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree that this is weird play, and I don't like OS vendors doing it. I'll add that while I personally prefer Android to iOS, Google implements similar behavior; clicking on a YouTube link launches the app by default, without asking the user. It's super annoying -- a web browser should never launch another app without at least consulting the user, but really, it probably shouldn't happen at all without the u…

It asks first time - do you want to open it and should it remember your choice. Later you can set default in android settings or remove the yt app default setting. It's buried in there somewhere.

It really wouldn't let me open a Google Photos shared album in Firefox Android[0], always going to the Photos app. I am certain it never asked me before.

[0] which I needed to share the link to my laptop, as Google Photos only gives you a "copy link" option for a shared album, not actually sharing it. I am SO fed up with this shit, programs fighting to keep me "in the ecosystem" while sacrificing UX and just blocking you from completing a task.

Re: Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

#237

Post by benologist »

pseudalopex wrote: post #204
benologist wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple actually recanted and removed the special rule they had added to make those apps violate the TOS. Their review process didn't enforce that rule for years until after Apple started competing, then the apps were suddenly "abusive" but it was actually platform abuse all along. > The company estimated that Apple’s move cost it around $3 million, a spokeswoman told the Times. https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/04/with-a…

What did Apple recant? The rules weren't special. The new exception allowing parental control apps to use MDM is. The intended use of MDM was always clear. Apple admitted abuse wasn't on their radar until 2017. Cracking down right away would have left users without a replacement. Do you have any examples that are still in effect?

I'm having trouble finding the 2017 version of the guidelines where they added the rule but they specifically targeted competing parental control apps and mention that update and the subsequently-contrived violations here:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/04/the-facts-about-paren...

> We started exploring this use of MDM by non-enterprise developers back in early 2017 and updated our guidelines based on that work in mid-2017.

Then they did nothing about it for two years until Screen Time was ready:

> When we found out about these guideline violations, we communicated these violations to the app developers, giving them 30 days to submit an updated app to avoid availability interruption in the App Store.

The backlash they faced led them to recant and update their guidelines allowing the very same parental controls and using the very same MDM technology instead of the APIs they built for Screen Time:

> and in limited cases, companies using MDM for parental control services.

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/ (5.5)

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/04/apple-lets-parental-app...

Re: Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

#238

Post by manderley »

soylentgraham wrote: post #231
xp84 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

issue with ios is that there is never any control over who handles what links. Apps can register custom protocols, but for common protocols that have an apple default (https, http, mailto being the main ones) you are stuck with what they decide. No option to even install an alternate such as Chrome or Gmail, and be prompted. And similarly, even though it's not a protocol, but more like a filetype, Apple News hijacks…

In what situation do you not get a prompt? You can install an alternative like chrome or google search (chrome but better UX IMO) And when you do, anything that opens a page that isn't an embedded webkitview prompts me to pick a browser. It even suggests chrome which I don't have installed (I guess I installed it once and it remembers the protocol registration)

Ios doesn't support changing default apps. If you get a prompt, it's because that app has independently implemented browser choice. This is also why you can select browsers that aren't installed, because there's no way of checking whether anything's installed.

Were you to use the default mail application, for example, its links would always open in Safari.

Re: Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

#239

Post by actsof »

gvjddbnvdrbv wrote: post #220
int_19h wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

File extensions are the de facto type indicator on all platforms, not just Windows. Even when the FS has some other way to specify the type (e.g. a separate MIME type metadata field), the extension still normally sets the default value for that. This is orthogonal to all that, though. It's about the UX to associate an app with a file type, regardless of how that file type is determined.

doesn't Linux use libmagic?

What you're referring to as Linux is actually...

GNU/Linux doesn't automatically choose which program to use for anything (you can't ./file.png like you can in Windows). In my experience file managers tend to use file extensions to choose which application to use, and that application might then use libmagic and ignore the file extension. (e.g. giving a PNG file the .JPG extension will make the file manager think it's a JPEG, and therefore open it with an image viewer, but the image viewer program will use headers to recognise it as a PNG)

Re: Apple News No Longer Supports RSS

#240

Post by Shivetya »

newscracker wrote: post #2

Apple News was already flakey and unreliable in the sources (websites) it would allow to be added. With its highly limited geographical availability (years after launching) and its problematic focus on News+, I switched back to a plain RSS Reader to follow specific sites. Apple News seems like a niche product with hardly any technical effort put into it. In comparison, Google News, with its ads, generally looks like…

doesn't matter if it is half done or not as feature complete as other sites, it just is the default on an iPad so people like my parents end up using it because Apple makes sure to highlight it being added.

so for those who did not consider looking for a source of news and one just appears it pretty much is a lock. the local newspaper (AJC) has their own app but its not great and worse when sending links they don't format to the device opening it; comics are the worst as half the frames are missing

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