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Here's how to use Texture, the beautiful 'Netflix for magazines' app Apple just bought
Here's how to use Texture, the beautiful 'Netflix for magazines' app Apple just bought
Avery HartmansMar 13, 2018, 21:31 IST
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty
Apple is employing the help of a popular app to help it fight fake news.
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On Monday, Apple announced it was acquiring Texture, a smartphone app that gives users unlimited access to popular magazines for a monthly subscription fee.
Texture basically imports full issues of magazines and lets users read them in the original format. You can save individual articles and even download full issues of magazines, all within a beautifully designed app.
But it wasn't just Texture's look and feel that attracted Apple's interest. In an interview on Monday, Apple's head of software and services Eddy Cue said that Apple wants to use the app to bring quality journalism to its users.
"We wanted to bring trusted sources to users in a beautiful layout," Cue said, according to Axios reporter Sara Fischer. "We wanted to bring them trusted sources so we don't have to worry about a lot of the problems in the marketplace."
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Apple hasn't said how it will be incorporating Texture into its lineup of products - it already has an Apple News app, and Texture seems like a natural addition to that. But if Cue's comments are any indication, the acquisition is an effort prioritize traditional news sources - and keep fake news off its devices.
For now, however, Texture remains a standalone app in the App Store and Google Play Store. Here's how it works:
Texture is free to download for both iPhones and Android devices, but you'll need to pay a subscription fee to use the app and access its 200+ magazines.
When getting started with Texture, you'll see this screen, which has all the magazines the app currently offers.
By tapping on the covers of the magazines you like, they'll be added to your "Favorites."
Once you choose some favorites, you'll be able to access them in your library. When a new issue is out, Texture will let you know.
When you click on a cover, Texture will show you every issue currently available in the app. If you missed an issue from a few months ago, you'll be able to find it in Texture.
Tapping on a cover will bring up the full issue. Texture imports the entire issue of the magazine so you can flip through each page like you would the print version.
In order to read the full cover, you have to scroll up and down. Swiping left and right will turn the page.
What makes Texture such a beautiful app is the way magazines are presented. Each issue is formatted especially for the app, which makes it a lot easier to read.
Texture even includes the ads.
When you're reading a story in the app, you'll see three menu items at the top: index, save, and share. Clicking index will take you to a table of contents.
Within the index, you can jump to a specific page rather than flipping through the entire magazine.
Clicking "share" lets you send the page to a friend, save it to your notes app, post it to Twitter, and more.
Texture also lets you save stories so you can find them again later. Clicking save will let you add it to a collection — like "Read Later" — and you can even include notes to remind yourself what the story is about.
Texture has some pre-loaded collections, but you can also create your own depending on your interests. You'll find them all under the "Saved Stories" tab on your home screen.
Within each collection, your saved articles will be sorted alphabetically so you can find them again later.
One other cool feature: Texture lets you download full issues of magazines for offline reading.
And if you're looking for something new to read, Texture has a "Highlights" tab, which shows you new and trending stories from magazines you aren't already reading.
Texture is available for iPhones and Android devices. It's free to download, but an unlimited subscription costs $10 per month. If you want to try it out, Texture offers a one-week free trial.
