Manage your storage when using Offline Mode in the News app

With an Apple News+ subscription, you can automatically download stories and other News content, then access this content later — even without a Wi-Fi or mobile connection. Find out how to optimise your storage when using Offline Mode.

The Apple News app is available in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Find out what’s available in your country or region.

Turn on Offline Mode

To use Offline Mode, you’ll need a News+ subscription and an iPhone or iPad with iOS 17.5 or later, or iPadOS 17.5 or later. You’ll also need to turn on Background App Refresh and Automatic Downloads before you can use Offline Mode.

  1. Open the Settings app, then tap News.

  2. Turn on Background App Refresh and Automatic Downloads.

Background App Refresh allows apps to update their content in the background when connected to Wi-Fi or mobile data.

Optimise your storage when using Offline Mode

To optimise the storage on your iPhone or iPad when using Offline Mode, you can download smaller versions of the images in stories. You can also choose the content you want to download automatically in Offline Mode.

  1. Open the Settings app, then tap News.

  2. Tap Download Options.

  3. Select the content you want to automatically download, then turn on Optimise Storage.

iPhone screen showing the Download Options in the News settings

News content will be downloaded to your iPhone or iPad when it’s connected to Wi-Fi and a power source. If you have a mobile connection but not Wi-Fi, only top stories in the Today feed will be downloaded automatically.

If you don’t have a Wi-Fi or mobile connection, No Internet Connection will appear at the top of the screen, and any content in the app that isn’t downloaded will be dimmed. To switch from the currently loaded version of each feed to the downloaded version, tap Show Stories Downloaded for Offline Mode.

When you have a Wi-Fi or mobile connection again, tap Check for New Stories at the top of the screen. All feeds will be refreshed and display the latest content.

Find out more about using Offline Mode on your iPhone or iPad.

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