Apple ‘Forcing’ Users To Subscribe To Apple News+ After Scrapping Texture

Apple is now “forcing” Texture users to subscribe to its new magazine subscription service, Apple News+.

Following the launch of Apple News+ last month, the Cupertino tech giant has now shut down the Texture app that it acquired a year ago, MacRumors reported. Apple News+ is largely similar to Texture in that both are magazine subscription services that allow users to read a variety of titles for a monthly rate.

Instead of seeing the usual Texture interface, users will now be greeted with a popup that says “Goodbye, Texture. Hello, Apple News+.” The popup, first seen and revealed via a tweet from an editor for Fast Company, said;

“Texture has ended. But don’t worry, you can continue to read your favorite magazines, plus so much more, with Apple News+.”

The popup then goes on to say that Apple News+ will give subscribers access to “hundreds of magazines” as well as the LA Times and The Wall Street Journal. It also said that by using the “family sharing” feature, subscribers will be able to share these titles to up to six family members.

Not happy

Apple News+ wasn’t met with the level of public enthusiasm the Cupertino company might have hoped for since it was launched more than a month ago. Digiday reoprted that some publishers even got frustrated at Apple’s paid news service, even noting that the company gives “favors” to large publishers at the expense of small ones.

Publishers aren’t the only ones who are having a difficult time with Apple’s service, as users themselves mostly have nothing but negative things to say about it. The negative feedback given to the subscription service has reached a level that caused Apple SVP Eddy Cue to promise that “hundreds” of people are working to make it better.

“Hundreds of people at Apple, across editorial, engineering, marketing and design teams, are working to make Apple News+ the best experience for people who love reading their favorite titles and discovering new stories,” the SVP said.

Disappointed

Of course, one shouldn’t expect both Texture and Apple News+ to exist beside one another as they would become rivals under the same company. That said, the news about Texture being shutdown still came as an unwelcome announcement to many.

Apple previously announced that it is shutting Texture down, to the disappointment of many users. Unlike Apple News+, Texture used to work on Android devices. By shutting it down, Apple simply angered many Texture users who didn’t have iOS devices, TechCrunch noted.