How To Fix Apple News Widget Not Loading Stories

Is the Apple News widget not loading stories on the Home Screen? Does the iPhone or iPad display the placeholder instead of the actual news? This is a common issue that can be caused by a restrictive setting or by minor iOS glitches!

How To Fix Apple News Widget Not Loading

These are the most common troubleshooting steps when the News widget stops working:

1. Tap To Open The News App

If the News widget is not updating tap it to open the app. Does the Today View load? If stories are displayed, return to the Home Screen and check if the widget has been populated.

Tip: If Apple News is stuck on ‘Checking for New Stories…’ make sure that your iPhone’s Internet connection is in good standing. Also, refer to troubleshooting Step 5, available below!

Extra Fix: You can also try to force quit News from the App Swither and relaunch the app. Does it make any difference?

2. Reboot iPhone

The next step requires you to restart your device. A fresh boot could flush minor glitches and make the Apple News widget work again.

How to: Use the force restart combo described here (for edge-to-edge display iPhones) or this one, involving a Home Button for older models!

3. Offload News App

If News widget still fails to load, try to remove and re-install Apple News. The best way to do it is by using the offload option available in: Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage -> News -> Offload App.

Use the Reinstall option that shows up, after the app has been offloaded!

4. Disable ‘Restrict Stories’

An iOS setting might be the culprit for the News widget not loading issue.
Browse for Settings -> News and disable Restrict Stories in Today.

Fact: This filter displays only stories from the channel that you follow in the Today view. If you’re not following anyone, no titles will be shown.

5. Apple News Downtime

Last but not least, the problem could lie at Apple’s end. IF there’s a problem with the News servers the service might not work as expected and stories could fail to load.

Tip: Check the Apple System Status page and look for ‘News’. A green circle next to it, means that the service is working normally. Yellow, orange or red spheres signal an issue. Tap on ‘News’ to get more details about the problem!

In this case your only option is to be patient until the downtime finishes.

Have you managed to fix Apple News widget not working? Did any of the above tips help? Do you have a better solution? Share your feedback via the comments section. Also, don’t hesitate to mention if you noticed other widgets that are not updating as expected.

Related: Are widgets not loading at all on iPhone or iPad Home Screen, not even the placeholder? Here is what you can do to fix them!

Also, check out how to handle flickering widgets!