News comes at us from all directions, and avoiding the latest hot topics can be difficult. So if you can’t beat the news, why not embrace it?

While the Apple News app has been a staple of iOS for some time, the application only arrived in macOS with the release of Mojave in 2018. We’d forgive you for not noticing the app’s presence on your Mac, as it gets a little lost in the clutter.

However, Apple News is well worth exploring, so let’s take an in-depth look at the Mac application and its most noteworthy features.

How to Save Stories in the Mac Apple News App

When using the News app, you may stumble upon a story you want to save to read later or bookmark for reference. Apple makes saving stories simple and offers multiple ways to get the job done. You can use any of the following methods to bookmark an article in the macOS News app:

  • Click the Save Story bookmark icon at the top of the app when viewing an article.
  • Click the More Options (…) icon on an article and select Save Story.
  • Click File > Save Story when viewing an article.
  • Control-click an article and select Save Story.
  • Click the Share icon and select Save Story.
macOS News app with Save Story showing beneath bookmark icon.

With so many avenues available, missing the Save Story feature would take some serious effort. Once you’ve bookmarked an article, it’ll appear under Saved Stories in the side menu.

Currently, Apple doesn’t allow you to create folders or order the list in any way, so your collection can get a little messy as articles accumulate. Therefore, as a long-term filing solution, the Save Stories feature isn’t ideal.

How to Follow or Block Channels in the Mac Apple News App

Following and blocking channels is an excellent way to curate your news feed and gain easy access to the publications you enjoy. When you follow a channel, the name of the publisher appears in the side menu under Following. If you want to remove a channel from your feed completely and avoid seeing anything from that specific publication, blocking will do the trick.

Once again, Apple provides multiple methods for completing the task. Here are all the ways you can follow or block a channel in the macOS News app:

  • Click File > Follow Channel or File > Block Channel when viewing an article.
  • Click the More Options (…) icon on an article, hover over the publisher’s name, and select Follow or Block Channel.
  • Click the Share icon and select Follow or Block Channel.

From the same menus, you can also Unfollow a channel when needed. Additionally, Control-clicking the name of a followed publication in the side menu provides Unfollow and Block Channel options.

If you want to view a list of channels you’ve blocked, you can do so by clicking File > Manage Blocked Channels and Topics. From here, you can use the Minus (–) button to remove an entry from the list.

Other Useful Apple News Features

The Apple News app offers some additional features that are worth mentioning:

  • Suggest More and Suggest Less
  • History
  • Tabs
  • Discover Channels

Using the Suggest More and Suggest Less buttons teaches the app your taste in news. The options appear in the File, Control-click, and Share menus, but the easiest way to use the feature is by clicking the Thumbs up or Thumbs down icons above a story.

macOS News app with Suggest More showing beneath thumbs up icon.

Apple News also maintains a history of articles you’ve viewed, which makes locating previously read stories easy. History is available in the side menu, and you’ll find additional options under News > Clear History.

Tabs work pretty much same as they do in most other apps. You can open a new tab using Cmd + T or by clicking File > New Tab. If you’ve accumulated a lot of open tabs, you can use Shift + Cmd + \ or View > Show All Tabs to get a better view.

Finally, the Discover Channels feature under the File menu can help you choose publishers to follow if you’re unsure where to start. Simply click the channels you want to add and hit Done when finished.

Using the Apple News Widget

Good news, everyone! The Apple News app comes with a widget that provides a convenient feed right in your Notification Center. Adding widgets in macOS is a simple process:

  1. Click the date and time in the menu bar to open the Notification Center.
  2. Click Edit Widgets.
  3. Click News in the side menu.
  4. Select a size for the widget you want to add.
  5. Click the widget to add it to the Notification Center.
macOS News widgets in Notification Center.

With News widgets enabled, you can open the Notification Center at any time to view your mini feed.

Also, you can select a topic for the News Topic widget in the Edit Widgets menu. Simply click the added widget to spin it around, click the current topic, and select a new option from the list.

Changing Apple News Preferences

Apple News preferences are sparse, but the app does provide some options. Within News > Preferences, you can Restrict stories in Today, which makes it so that only followed channels appear in your feed.

You also have the option to Restrict stories with explicit content and Automatically download issues for magazines in Apple News+.

What Is Apple News+?

Apple News+ is a magazine subscription service you can use on your Mac or iOS device. Subscribing grants you access to a whole lot of magazines and newspapers under one Apple account.

Related: Getting Started With Apple News+: Everything You Need to Know

Removing paywalls from some of the more popular publications may be worth the price, and you can share your subscription by setting up and using Family Sharing.

Apple offers a one-month free trial of News+, so the service is worth trying, especially if you’re a heavy news consumer.

Apple News for macOS Is a Solid Application

Overall, the macOS Apple News app is intuitive and does most of what you’d expect from an application of this type.

Saving stories is simple, and using Block, Follow Channel, Suggest More, and Suggest Less is effective for curating your news feed. Additional features, including the News widget, help make this the premium app you’d expect from Apple.

News+ requires a subscription to access, but you can take advantage of a one-month free trial to see if the service provides good value for money.