Google Currents for iOS Shut Down; Replaced With Play Newsstand

Google has shut down its news reader app for iOS - Google Currents - and replaced it with Google Play Newsstand. All subscriptions will be migrated to the new app. Notably, the Android-version of Google Currents was shut down and replaced with Google Play Newsstand only earlier this year, with later being unveiled for the first time in November.

Google Play Newsstand for iOS has a magazine-like interface that Flipboard users will be familiar with. The app's new features include subscribing to topics as well as blogs, RSS feeds and publishers. Most notably, the app's interface is almost identical to the latest version on Android, and features UI elements from what Google calls 'Material Design', the new look first introduced at Google I/O 2014 alongside Android L.

The Play Newsstand app lets users find articles to read from the Read Now section that lists content from subscriptions. The Topics section is the new addition, letting users subscribe to articles based on any topic. The app's design falls in line with that on the Google Chrome app, and the much larger umbrella of Google's design on Android, Web and mobile apps.

Finding new articles has also become a little easier, with each article being tagged based on a topic. You can tap the tags, such as football, to read other articles from that topic. As you might have guessed, the tags aren't very useful because they're too vast. For instance, tapping the football tag would show articles on international football and club football from across the world, which isn't very helpful if your interests are specific. The app also lets you bookmark articles for reading later. The app's search feature is, rather unsurprisingly, robust and should help people narrow down on their interests.