Apple News+ Audio fully exposed in new leak
Recent rumors have been pointing to Apple releasing an update to its pay-monthly Apple News+ service that would make stories available in both text and audio formats, with a leak yesterday showing some of the icons expected to be included in the service.
Now, 9to5Mac have been able to fully exposed the new “Apple News+ Audio” feature, which is hidden in the recently released iOS 13.5.5 developer beta.
As seen in the image above, Apple will add a new “Audio” tab to the News app that will offer paid Apple News+ subscribers the option to listen to content that is expected to be voiced by Apple voice actors. Non-paying Apple News users are said to be able to listen to previews of stories, which in one example had a length of just over 1 minute.
We reported last month that Apple was said to be approaching select Apple News+ publishers to pitch the new audio stories feature, with Apple offering to handle production costs, and compensate publishers in the same way it compensates them for the written content available on Apple News+.
The leak doesn’t confirm when the new Apple News+ Audio feature will officially launch, but given that it is hidden within the iOS 13.5.5 developer beta, it is assumed we may see the service arrive with the software’s public release.