Publishing to Apple News with Squarespace

Expand readership by cross-publishing your blog to Apple news.

Last updated March 29, 2024

Apple News is an app for iPad and iPhone that collects and displays articles from blogs, news sites, magazines, and other websites. Built for mobile devices, the app enables users to follow their favorite online publications and discover new posts and articles tailored to their interests.

Squarespace's integration with Apple News means that if you have an existing Apple News account, you can cross-publish your blog as a branded channel within Apple News and be seen alongside major news publications and national magazines.

This guide will explain how to add your blog page as an Apple News channel. For general help setting up a blog, visit Blogging with Squarespace.

Note

To add your blog page as an Apple News channel, you need to have an existing Apple News account. It's not possible to create a new Apple News account for this feature.

Before you begin

Apple News is only available for iOS 9 and later. It's currently available in the US, Australia, and the UK.

Step 1 - Set up an iCloud account

To integrate Apple News with your Squarespace site, you need an iCloud account. If you don’t have one, you can set one up for free at www.icloud.com.

Step 2 - Log into your Apple News account and connect the API key

  1. In your browser, go to Apple News Publisher and log in at www.icloud.com/#newspublisher. Keep in mind, you need to have an existing Apple News account to use this feature.
  2. Click Connect CMS.

Note

To use the Squarespace integration, choose the Apple News API option.

  1. Click API Key.
  2. You'll see three codes. The Secret Code will only be shown this one time. It's a good idea to copy the Secret Code and save it somewhere safe on your computer. 

Tip

If you need a new Secret Code in the future, you can request a replacement. Resetting your Secret Code will also reset your Channel ID and Key ID, and you'll need to update all three for any connected blogs.

Get_API.png 

  1. In a separate tab or browser, log into your Squarespace site. Open the Pages panel.
  2. Hover over your blog page and click the .
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  1. In the Feeds tab, click Connect Account in the Apple News section.
  2. Copy and paste the three codes from your iCloud API key window into the Apple News Channel Setup window.
  3. Click Save. The 20 most recently-published posts will be sent to your Apple News channel. You can add older posts later (see Step 6).
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Step 3 - Preview your posts (optional)

To see how your posts will look in Apple News:

  1. Open Apple News Publisher.
  2. Click Articles, then Drafts.
  3. Click Preview your articles.
  4. Copy the link that appears in the Preview Articles in News dialog. Paste the link somewhere you can access from your iPad or iPhone; for example, you can email it to yourself.
  5. Open that link via a browser on your iPad or iPhone. Apple News will open. The preview appears in the Drafts section.

Note

 Apple News uses the Drafts tab to store your blog posts until your content is approved (see Step 5). Only published posts send to Apple News; drafted posts won't appear.

Step 4 - Submit content for approval

Apple needs to approve your first few posts before your blog is fully synced.

  1. In Apple News Publisher, click Articles.
  2. Click Drafts
  3. Click Submit for Approval. You’ll receive an automated follow-up email from Apple News confirming your application.

Apple will notify you by email when your content is approved.

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Step 5 - Publish articles

After Apple approves your content:

  1. In Apple News Publisher, click Articles.
  2. In the Drafts tab, click Publish All.
  3. After your blog posts are published, they will appear in the Published Articles tab.

From now on, any posts you add to your Squarespace Blog will automatically publish on Apple News. There's no limit to the number of posts that can appear in Apple News.

To publish older posts that didn't auto-populate in your feed:

  1. Log into your Squarespace site.
  2. Open the blog post's settings.
  3. Click Save.

Troubleshooting

Sometimes there's a delay between when an article is published and when it appears in your channel. If your post is in the Main tab in Apple News Publisher, it will appear in your channel shortly.

  • If your blog posts don't appear in the Main tab within a few hours, contact Apple News for support.
  • Content that you draft and publish in Apple News Publisher won't appear on your Squarespace site. We recommend you draft and publish all posts from your Squarespace blog.
  • If you update a post in Squarespace, the post will also update in Apple News. However, there is sometimes a delay between when an article is updated and when those updates appear in your channel.

Step 6 - Add your channel to your Apple News app

To see what your blog looks like to Apple News readers, add it to your News App.

  1. On an iPhone or iPad, open the News app.
  2. Click the Search icon and type in your blog name.
  3. Tap your blog name.
  4. Tap the + icon in the top right corner to add your channel to your Apple News favorites.

Tip

To get a sharable link for your Apple News channel, open Apple News Publisher and click Channel Info, then click Share a link. For more information, visit Apple's documentation.

How your content displays in Apple News

We recommend exploring how your posts look on Apple News to get a feel for what visitors will see. Because your blog is being seen through a third-party interface, how it displays within the app has certain limitations, including:

  • Not all text formatting will display, including: fonts, colors, and nested lists. 
  • Columns stack vertically.
  • The post featured image becomes a tile on the channel homepage, and a banner above the post.
  • The post title, author, and publication date appear over the post banner image.
  • Text that displays over images features parallax scrolling.
  • Sections aren't yet supported for Squarespace blogs on Apple News.
  • Certain blocks won't display. See the list below for more information.

A Discover on the web link displays at the bottom of each post. When visitors tap this link, your full site opens in a browser window, including all your style settings and content blocks.

Tip

There's no limit to the number of posts that can appear in Apple News.

Supported content blocks

Squarespace posts delivered to Apple News include the following content:

  • Text blocks
  • Image blocks
  • Video blocks - YouTube and Vimeo videos via video URL only. Video embed codes aren't supported.
  • Audio blocks
  • Line blocks
  • Quote blocks
  • Gallery blocks - If the gallery block has two or three images, they stack vertically. If there are four or more images, they display as a carousel.
  • Markdown blocks
  • Embed blocks - Some embed codes are supported, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

All other content blocks display placeholder text and a link that opens the post in a browser window, where visitors can see all the content.

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To update your channel's display name, open Apple News Publisher and click Channel Info. In the Channel tab, update your Channel Name. Your logo (see Step 2) replaces the channel name in Favorites and above your channel homepage.

To update your channel's featured image, click the Cover tab. Click Static and Replace to upload an image. If you choose Dynamic, Apple News will choose an image from the featured images in your posts.

Adding new channels and contributors

You can connect more than one blog to the same Apple News channel. To do this, add the three codes you received in Step 3 in the Feeds tab for each blog page's settings. After it's connected, any posts from these blogs will appear in the channel.

To create more than one channel using the same iCloud account, log into Apple News Publisher and click your channel name in the top-left corner. Then click Create New Channel, and repeat the steps above.

Disconnecting

You can disconnect any blog from its Apple News Channel. After the blog is disconnected, all its posts will disappear from the channel within the Apple News app. 

  1. Log into your Squarespace site. Open the Pages panel.
  2. Hover over your blog page and click the .
  3. In the Feeds tab, click Disconnect in the Apple News section.

Note

It can take several hours for the blog to fully disconnect from the channel.

More resources

The following resources from Apple may be helpful:

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Publishing to Apple News with Squarespace