Apple News Plus is ready to work offline

Even if subscribers are outside cellular or Wi-Fi range (or if there’s a massive outage), Apple News Plus on iOS 17.5 can still supply them content now that it’s added Offline Mode — this must’ve been farther down the list from Apple Maps, which added offline navigation last year in the iOS 17 update. Top Stories, Apple News Today audio briefings, magazines, narrated articles, and puzzles can automatically download to your iPhone or iPad, all optimized to maximize space on the devices.

As promised, the latest updates across macOS, iPadOS, and other platforms also add another word game for News Plus subscribers called Quartiles, competing with The New York Times’ growing library of games and even LinkedIn. The New Plus Puzzles section also adds a new Scoreboard with player data like stats and streaks for Quartiles, Crossword, and Mini Crossword.

There’s also a new Pride Radiance wallpaper for Apple lock screens, security updates, and support for the new cross-platform notification system that warns people on their iPhone or Android device if a Bluetooth tracker seems to be following them around.

This latest round of updates (iOS and iPadOS 17.5 / 16.7.8, macOS 14.5 / 13.6.7 / 12.7.5, tvOS 17.5, and watchOS 10.5) also patches a number of security flaws that could do things like let a malicious app find a user’s location when it wasn’t supposed to or access protected data, so update your Apple devices ASAP.