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Introducing the 9to5Mac app for iPhone and iPad

Earlier in the year, we released a major redesign for all of the 9to5 sites and we continue to roll out improvements to this design. However, we’ve also been working on something else for 9to5Mac … today we are releasing the 9to5Mac app for iPhone and iPad. As a complement to the website, you can now read our latest stories directly from your Home screen.

Download the app from the App Store for free right now. The app runs on iPhone and iPad with custom layouts for the respective screen sizes. It’s the essence of our website, the news stories, reflowed into a format that’s optimized for iOS.

We love the website, but the app allows us to offer you many additional features to further the 9to5Mac experience for our readers. You can subscribe to breaking news notifications, jump into Dark Mode for late night reading and add our latest headlines to the Today view with the included widget. More details after the break …

The app is universal, so it looks great on iPhone and iPad screens. You can scroll the feed to see headlines and just tap into posts when you want to see more. The app respects system text size, so it should match up with your personal reading preferences. You can even go landscape on an iPhone to get a split-view of the post list and stories. Tap on the left hand column to quickly skim through the news. You can also read the post comments, with threaded replies, directly inline without leaving the app experience.

I’ve been working on this project for 9to5Mac for several months; there are some nice touches. While I’ll spare the technical details for my own blog (I’m available for iOS development work), be sure to check out the beautiful parallax imagery and the pull-to-refresh UI. I love it.

There’s a lot more in the pipeline too: the next update will include support for iOS 9’s split-screen multitasking on iPad as well as 3D Touch Peek and Pop integration for article and link previews. There’s crossover with the website for sure but stuff like this just isn’t feasible in a browser … and it’s also true that a lot of people just love the app experience. We purposefully don’t force you down one particular path, so you can choose to use the website however you please, perhaps solely as a breaking news notifications source.

Check out the app right now on the App Store and we very much appreciate your feedback. This is version 1.0 of a fantastic vision for getting the best Apple news reporting on iOS.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

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Comments

  1. Look promising. I’ll definitely check this out. Does this mean the commenting system will get finally better? Sorry to be pain in the A about this guys but this really needs an edit function at least :)

    • Seth Weintraub - 8 years ago

      We’re looking at comments. I suppose everyone wants Disqus?

      • dcj001 - 8 years ago

        Disqus? Yes, please.

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        I guess I’m in the minority here when I say I prefer vBulletin.

        Anyway, what I think is even more important, to me, is the option to pay you guys and have the ads removed.

      • finngodo - 8 years ago

        Definitely check out Spoot.IM, EW.com just switched from Disqus to them and its pretty great experience

      • rnc - 8 years ago

        Discuss attracts lots of trolls…

        But it’s easy to use…

    • dman238 - 8 years ago

      Yes!! We really need a NATIVE comment system in the app. The current system that just throws you into Safari isn’t good

      • dcj001 - 8 years ago

        I get thrown into Chrome. I guess that, if I were to delete Chrome, I would be encouraged to use Safari.

        It would be great if we could choose a default browser for Comments or to open a 9to5 website.

  2. crichton007 - 8 years ago

    Is this meant to help prevent users from visiting the site with ad-blockers enabled?

    • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

      Of course. It’s a sensible business move.

      • Mike Beasley - 8 years ago

        Well, it’s partially that, but there’s stuff you can do with native you can’t do with the website (like push notifications).

      • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

        I don’t know why you guys gimp your Apple News page. Like new stories don’t come up immediately.

        This is unrelated but can anyone tell me why I have never received an Apple News notification? I have them on, but I have not been notified of a single new story.

      • Victor - 8 years ago

        You’re not alone, I also haven’t.

    • shareef777 - 8 years ago

      That was my first thought as well, which is not a bad thing as long as the app ads don’t get out of hand. I like the app, very fluid and easy to navigate. I can see this as a positive move for 9to5 as I’ve had ad-block for years.

      • crichton007 - 8 years ago

        I’m not complaining. In fact, it was an honest question. I rarely visit 9to5 outside of Reeder which doesn’t use the Safari view controller yet so I see the site with ads anyway.

      • shareef777 - 8 years ago

        lol, didn’t take your original comment as a complaint.

  3. Eduardo Freitas - 8 years ago

    I’ve being expecting for that for so long. Good job, Guys. Congrats!!!

  4. Looks great for a 1.0! Please consider adding a reader mode for use with the speak screen accessibility feature for those with accessibility needs.

    Thank you!

  5. dcj001 - 8 years ago

    Yes! Now I just need to buy an iPhone or iPad so that I can use this app!

  6. ps3zocker (@ps3zocker) - 8 years ago

    What’s the bar at the bottom for?

  7. dcj001 - 8 years ago

    In the top right corner of the app, there is an option to open 9to5 Mac, Google, or Toys in Chrome, and only Chrome. It is important to at least give an option (in the app’s Settings) to open these websites in Safari.

    • Benjamin Mayo - 8 years ago

      Open Settings. There is an Open In Chrome toggle in the Settings (only visible if you have Chrome installed)

      • dcj001 - 8 years ago

        Thanks. I could not read what the setting description said because my iPhone’s font size was too large.

        When I go back to this setting, it just makes sense that this is what it is for.

        Now the app is perfect!

  8. uniqphotos - 8 years ago

    Apple Watch companion on the way? I’m sure this isn’t everyone but I use the RSS feed app on my Apple Watch often and a native app with headlines and a photo would be awesome

    • Seth Weintraub - 8 years ago

      A watch app is certainly possible if enough people want to read stories on their wrist

      • joannbendzsas - 8 years ago

        I want to read full blown stories on my wrist, it is perfect with the crown. Please do this!!!

  9. dcj001 - 8 years ago

    The app is really good. I like the Dark Mode and the font size. Both allow for the text to be easily read.

  10. Joost - 8 years ago

    The pull to refresh clock matches the current time.. HOLY CRAP

    • Mike Beasley - 8 years ago

      Someone noticed! I didn’t pick up on this during the beta until Ben pointed it out to me. I was blown away. I had hoped someone would notice that little detail :D

      • kyemaloy2015 - 8 years ago

        They don’t show the time on my 6S, it just shows the generic 9 o’clock hand position when I pull down to refresh in the app, and theres no parallax imagery for me :/ :(

      • iSRS - 8 years ago

        I’m with you, @kyemaloy2015 – 6s shows no parallax or clock with the time.

    • Benjamin Mayo - 8 years ago

      :)

    • iSRS - 8 years ago

      I don’t see it. Just stuck at 9 o’clock

  11. would it be too much to ask for if i ask you remove ads from the app or make in-app purchase be available? those ads are gigantic. Looking at the size of ads, it takes 50% of the space on the screen on iphone 6s, that to me is ad-bait.

    • o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

      That’s one of those things a business would misjudge. They’d just think, nope buying off ads wouldn’t make as much money, but they don’t consider the fact that plenty of people will just not use the app and instead use the site with content blockers.

      I mean it’s the reason The Weather Channel doesn’t offer an ad free app anymore. The used to have an ad free paid app, and a free app with ads. Now they only offer the free app with ads because it makes them far more money. It’s a slap to the face for everyone that bought their paid app which they discontinued updating when they introduced their new redesigned app.

      • Smigit - 8 years ago

        Sounds reasonable. Anyone wanting to pay money to hide ads probably doesn’t want to click them anyway, so may as well give them that choice so you get some money out of them. When ad-blockers are so readily available, including iOS now, having customers asking for the option to pay to remove the ads isn’t the worst position to be in.

    • TechSHIZZLE.com - 8 years ago

      Even a subscription model would work. I’d happily pay a reasonable fee for an ad-free experience (app or web).

    • surfingarbo - 8 years ago

      I’d pay to remove ads.

      Not sure what works better for 9to5, but if you are able to consider it, I’ll happily pay directly for an ad free environment.

    • charilaosmulder - 8 years ago

      I’d happily pay a subscription of, say, 2-3$ monthly for a (much) better UX (meaning no ads). They’re too big in the app. Other than that, great app! Love the splitview landscape on the Plus.

  12. Michael Weisberg - 8 years ago

    Finally! Been looking forward to this for a very long time.

  13. I do appreciate the ‘night mode’ since we’ll be starring at news feed and notifications. One feature i’d like for you to add is: in-app commentating. that would be far easier than 1) opening the app, 2) reading comments, 3) clicking on ‘post’ to add opinion/reply to existing comment 4) using safari to comment.

  14. hayesunt - 8 years ago

    Very cool. Congrats!

  15. o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

    Why don’t you guys offer a dark mode for the website?

  16. nickdillon91 - 8 years ago

    Love it. Hopefully we can see comments added. 9to5Mac definitely just moved up on my Apple News rankings haha.

  17. So happy to see this, hopefully it’s a full native application rather a hybrid app :D.

  18. And just a FYI, you guys should release a native Mac client too ;).. just saying.

  19. Alex (@Lexdexia) - 8 years ago

    This is cool and all, but I think I’ll stick to the website since I can block ads. Apps are all able to circumvent content blockers, so unless the app can offer something compelling that the website can’t. I see no reason for me to install it.

    • Jake Goldman - 8 years ago

      Because why should anyone at 9to5 get paid for their work, right?

      • Alex (@Lexdexia) - 8 years ago

        I’d rather not see any ads at all and support 9to5mac by paying a monthly subscription.

  20. bpmajesty - 8 years ago

    @9to5Mac, is this why your Apple News channel no longer works…? 😕

    • Ugh I hope not!! Mine’s been broken for weeks. It’s constantly at least one day out of date, and none of my other channels are doing this, so I wonder if this is why…not good if so.

  21. whodakat - 8 years ago

    So what are your plans for Apple News? I think most people get their news from multiple sources (hopefully) so individual apps isn’t realistic for most. I would have welcomed a 9to5 app by the way…in 2010.

    • I totally agree. Please don’t abandon News. I’m the same way as the poster above, and don’t usually download individual news apps anymore. I just don’t see the need to have individual apps for the many news sources I read, when aggregators (or Safari) do the job just fine without the clutter of dozens of individual apps on my device. I really hope this doesn’t mean that you’re abandoning your Apple News page, although I’m not hopeful since your page has been broken for weeks (see my post above…)

  22. virtualstorm - 8 years ago

    Congrats

  23. o0smoothies0o - 8 years ago

    So far there were 3 articles since I downloaded the app I believe. I didn’t get a notification for any of them..

  24. sivans21 - 8 years ago

    The articles doesn’t show the name of the author. Is it overlooked? Would be really good to know the name of the author before opening the entire article and also once opened at the beginning of the article.

  25. flurin - 8 years ago

    Looks pretty good for version 1.0. I like the automatic dark mode a lot! :)
    Unfortunatly the reload via “pull to refresh” is a bit slow. My Internet via cable should be enough fast (50 mbps down and 5 mbps up).

    Best regards from switzerland

  26. I’m just curious, no disrespect, but why is this needed? For news blogs, doesn’t a properly built mobile site do the same thing? The Verge has proven this fact.

    I may be off base, but I get the feeling this is an attempt to monetize ads, simply because of ad blockers on Safari. With an App, users can’t block ads. I think I’ll just continue using the mobile site, it’s less space used up on my phone, no extra icon (other than a simple bookmark) and I can block those MASSIVE annoying ads.

    Sorry guys.

    • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

      By blocking the ads, which people can also do on iOS, the site owner, and the journalists writing the articles, don’t get paid. This is a fundamental thing. By blocking the ads you are depriving their deserved income.

      I don’t know how you cannot see this and why the world thinks stuff should be free. Nothing in life is.

  27. The app looks great and one I may use frequently. However, I hate the ads! I would gladly pay 99 cents or so for an ad free version. I really don’t understand the need to ruin a clean interface with ads since you can obtain revenue other ways. For example, I don’t mind scrolling & seeing your 9to5 Toys sales. Hell, I have purchased some crap off your site. But if you insist on having annoying ads on the bottom of your screen, I will just use Flipboard or Safari with an ad blocker.

  28. Dilir Daiyan Aranna - 8 years ago

    Awesome guys! The app is beautiful

  29. tarekhabib - 8 years ago

    Hi I downloaded your app and it kept crashing after 3 seconds of launch… any help?

  30. hmmm, I do not want to be the bad guy, but what does this app offers me as plus that Apple News or Flipboard already offers for reading news?

  31. prius3 - 8 years ago

    Not available on the German App Store….

  32. danursu2014 - 8 years ago

    1. Change the font so it matches the web site font. Much easier on the eyes
    2. The bottom bar needs to go away so we can have more space for reading and less User interface.

    Otherwise it is really cool we have an app and I will be waiting for push notifications with relevant news :)

  33. Victor - 8 years ago

    Finally! A good move, copping the app right now.

  34. Victor - 8 years ago

    This app is ugly to be honest. Mainly due to it feeling too cluttered all the time for some reason. Maybe better design “flow”? And a native comment section, support safari viewer at least. And the widget doesn’t refresh automatically, you have to open the app for it to refresh. What’s the point of the widget then? Background refresh’s enabled by the way. Just needs some more work but it’s better than using the website always.

  35. Susovan Seal - 8 years ago

    Extremely happy and excited ! Its one of the request that i did few years ago, and its finally here ! Thank you so much guys !

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.