4 ms·

For the link hijacking, it's worth noting that Apple News only exists/is pre-installed in a handful of markets and is uninstallable. But yeah, baffling.

microcolonel 7y ago
What if you want to use both Apple News and RSS feeds on one phone? I know it sounds crazy, I'm asking for a friend.
bnt 7y ago
Yea, I love the fact that my macOS update is only to update Apple News which is unavailable in my region.
- okareaman 7y ago
  Steve Jobs used to use the terms "brain dead" and "bozos" for software devs who did this. Perhaps it's time to bring these terms back just for Apple
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    Steve Jobs was great at many things, and I definitely preferred Apple when he was at the helm. But I do not think we should seek to emulate this aspect of his management style. What does calling names accomplish? If the software sucks, criticize the software. Life is hard enough when other people aren't degrading you.
    - catalogia 7y ago
      > What does calling names accomplish? Shaming may not be a nice way to manage a company, but I don't think we should pretend it lacks for efficacy just because we don't like it. Pretending it doesn't work will never change the minds of people who already know from experience that it does work. If you want to change their minds you should first acknowledge that it works, then explain why it working isn't sufficient moral or ethical justification for doing it.
jtbayly 7y ago
I have it uninstalled, but every time somebody sends me a link they read in Apple News, my phone prompts me to install the app and won’t show me the article unless I do.
- derefr 7y ago
  That would be because they sent you a deep link into the app, not a regular link to a webpage. The same thing would happen if someone sent you e.g. a link to an item on the iTunes Store, or to a Spotify playlist.
  - irq 7y ago
    Sending the deep link is the default behavior when you hit the convenient "Share" button. The only way to share the regular web page link is incredibly cumbersome: (1) Copy the Apple News deep link to your clipboard (2) Paste it into a browser that will actually show you the final destination of the app link. This step is impossible to do in Safari on iOS (it will force you to use Apple News, and if that's not installed, it will force you to go to the App Store). So you end up pasting the link into say, iOS Chrome. This still prompts you to go to the App Store for Apple News, but it allows you to cancel this and just load the web page. (3) After the link has loaded in your alternate iOS web browser, now you can copy the real article link and share it. The above is way, way, way too cumbersome for the vast majority of iOS users to ever want to do, let alone think about. So, in a practical sense, sharing true article links surfaced via apple news is cumbersome enough to be virtually impossible for most users.
  - jtbayly 7y ago
    This is an example of a url from the app: https://apple.news/A4my1m78WSvGiuorZbkAUiQ https://apple.news/A4my1m78WSvGiuorZbkAUiQ I thought deep links used something beside http to specify which app to open. Regardless, I can’t open that link.
    - askbjoernhansen 7y ago
      Opening it in Chrome (or with curl...) I got a (HTML) redirect to https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/12/27/coast-to-coast-storm-system-bring-heavy-snow-severe-weather-much-nation/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/12/27/coast-to-c...

microcolonel 7y ago

What if you want to use both Apple News and RSS feeds on one phone? I know it sounds crazy, I'm asking for a friend.

bnt 7y ago

Yea, I love the fact that my macOS update is only to update Apple News which is unavailable in my region.

okareaman 7y ago
Steve Jobs used to use the terms "brain dead" and "bozos" for software devs who did this. Perhaps it's time to bring these terms back just for Apple
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  Steve Jobs was great at many things, and I definitely preferred Apple when he was at the helm. But I do not think we should seek to emulate this aspect of his management style. What does calling names accomplish? If the software sucks, criticize the software. Life is hard enough when other people aren't degrading you.
  - catalogia 7y ago
    > What does calling names accomplish? Shaming may not be a nice way to manage a company, but I don't think we should pretend it lacks for efficacy just because we don't like it. Pretending it doesn't work will never change the minds of people who already know from experience that it does work. If you want to change their minds you should first acknowledge that it works, then explain why it working isn't sufficient moral or ethical justification for doing it.

jtbayly 7y ago

I have it uninstalled, but every time somebody sends me a link they read in Apple News, my phone prompts me to install the app and won’t show me the article unless I do.

derefr 7y ago
That would be because they sent you a deep link into the app, not a regular link to a webpage. The same thing would happen if someone sent you e.g. a link to an item on the iTunes Store, or to a Spotify playlist.
- irq 7y ago
  Sending the deep link is the default behavior when you hit the convenient "Share" button. The only way to share the regular web page link is incredibly cumbersome: (1) Copy the Apple News deep link to your clipboard (2) Paste it into a browser that will actually show you the final destination of the app link. This step is impossible to do in Safari on iOS (it will force you to use Apple News, and if that's not installed, it will force you to go to the App Store). So you end up pasting the link into say, iOS Chrome. This still prompts you to go to the App Store for Apple News, but it allows you to cancel this and just load the web page. (3) After the link has loaded in your alternate iOS web browser, now you can copy the real article link and share it. The above is way, way, way too cumbersome for the vast majority of iOS users to ever want to do, let alone think about. So, in a practical sense, sharing true article links surfaced via apple news is cumbersome enough to be virtually impossible for most users.
- jtbayly 7y ago
  This is an example of a url from the app: https://apple.news/A4my1m78WSvGiuorZbkAUiQ https://apple.news/A4my1m78WSvGiuorZbkAUiQ I thought deep links used something beside http to specify which app to open. Regardless, I can’t open that link.
  - askbjoernhansen 7y ago
    Opening it in Chrome (or with curl...) I got a (HTML) redirect to https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/12/27/coast-to-coast-storm-system-bring-heavy-snow-severe-weather-much-nation/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/12/27/coast-to-c...