With the launch of the News app, does anyone have any details about the future of Newsstand? I've noticed it is turned back into a regular folder on iOS9 (e.g. no cover art)? Some sites are reporting that Newsstand will go away, however I can't find anything on Apple's sites to validate if this is true.
thanks
Newsstand has been replaced with News.
Newsstand is on it's way out.
I hope to god that it doesn't. I've just spent 6 months developing a Newsstand app for a company and they love it.
Watch the WWDC keynote.
They discuss News/Newsstand.
There will be a place for your Newsstand app.
Can you elaborate on what they said again. I watched it but missed that and I'm at work and can't watch it. Meanwhile my client is flipping her lid because we've just ran a huge launch campaign for our Newsstand app, we have a truck load of subscribers and the positive feedback has been overwhelming. Some kind of answer to give to her would be great.
If I suddenly have to scrap the whole thing and start again I'm not going to be happy.
Hopefully there's be an easy migration process or something, but whatever happens I need to maintain my current subscribers and format. My client rejected a flipboard style curation app due to the fact that market research showed that our customers actually want a like for like digitial copy of our paper publication (which has been running since 1969 and has a traditional and somewhat cult following). Our customers love our app.
I feel Apple have dropped the ball on this a little. Even a notification in the Newsstand tab of my App in iTunes Connect that points to some help/documentation would've been appreciated.
No doubt it'll be nice and easy for the big publications who've likely got VIP Apple Reps visiting their offices for coffee and a nice big chat/cheque.
They certainly discuss News, but I didn't see any mention of Newsstand and whether it's staying or going. I see blogs reporting it as being replaced, but with no cited sources, and Apple's press release regarding News doesn't mention it at all. Is this actually confirmed by Apple?
I watched the same video and they certainly do say that Newsstand is being replaced with News.
Rewatch it.
I can confirm that it is gone. Installing a newsstand app on iOS 9 makes it into an ordinary app. The icon is the regular icon, no more cover pages... 😢
Strange that there is no information about this in the new documentation.
The original Newsstand folder doesn't exists anymore, yes. But the functionality (NewsstandKit) is still there and most of it is not deprecated. Things like 'setNewsstandIconImage' don't make sense anymore, so they are deprecated.
Why doesn't 'setNewsstandIconImage' make sense anymore? It makes the same sense as before: having the latest issue instead of the icon. What am I misunderstanding?
There is no Newsstand folder with shelves anymore. Newsstand apps are converted to normal apps, so a normal icon and no more issue cover. Also the Newsstand folder is converted into a regular folder. Does that make sense?
Check out this screenshot: https://twitter.com/MrWillParkinson/status/608021080956141568
the special cover icons only work in the newsstand folder. Now, with the newsstand folder gone the regular square app icon of the app is shown and you can't change it from the code.
You don't need to change anything, as far as I can tell. I haven't read any docs, but Newstand apps on the beta are now just normal apps, from the UI point of view, but work as before, so I assume the framework still functions as before, save changing the cover.
I'm also very interested in the answer to this question, I'm in roughly the same position as @Metallix!
What I'm very keen to confirm is:
- Will the background execution mode 'newsstand downloads' still function in the same way for these app that declare themselves as Newstand apps. Without this functionality we will be unable to downaload the content in the way we have been,m which is a key feature of the app!
- Will there be any functional difference for applications that currently declare themselves to be Newsstand applications compared to standard applications in the plist?
I was confirmed that the Newsstand download APIs still work the same way and should continue to be used.
I agree that there is a serious lack of documentation around what's happening with Newsstand apps. I encourage all of you to file bug reports about this with your questions.