Google News lets you read the latest news on a single app so that you stay on top of global current affairs. Its Material You makeover improves the Google News Android app experience, making it easier to read short articles on the go. The news aggregator app isn’t perfect. It had an issue with news indexing that disrupted traffic to content publishers and reduced visibility in July 2023. Google announced on July 14 that it had resolved the issue.

Google News is available on the web, iPhone, and Android phones like the Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, and more. But no matter how you access the app, you might want to tweak the default Google News settings to suit your preferences. Here are the best Google News tips to amp up your reading experience on a small screen.

Customize notification settings in Google News

Google News might bombard you with dozens of alerts throughout the day. Before you get tired and turn off notifications for Google News (and eventually miss breaking news), you can customize notification settings to your preference.

1. Open
   Google News
   on your phone.
2. Tap the circular
   account picture
   in the upper-right corner.
3. Tap
   News settings
   .

4. Select
   Notifications
   under the Alerts menu.
5. Use the slider to lower the number of notifications.

You can also turn off other notification types, such as breaking news, headlines, daily briefing, daily top story, sports, and more. If you don’t want to go to the Google News settings all the time, you can make the same changes from the Google News info menu. Follow these steps:

1. Long tap the
   Google News
   app icon.
2. Tap the
   i
   button to open the app info menu.
3. Open
   Notifications
   .

4. Use Google News notification categories to personalize your experience.

Change your region of interest

Maybe you want to know what’s happening in UK politics or how the current economic situation is shaping up in Sri Lanka. Google News lets you check news from up to two language and region pairs. Here’s how to set it up.

1. Open
   News settings
   in Google News (refer to the steps above).
2. Go to the
   General
   menu and tap
   Languages & regions of interest
   .

3. Google News suggests language and region pairs to add to your account. Tap
   Add a language and region
   to check more options.
4. Select the radio button beside a language and region. You’ll see news from both regions in your Google News feed.

You also have the option to change the primary language and region for your Google News account.

Turn off video autoplay in the Google News feed

Google News autoplays video content on the news page, which can get distracting. You can turn it off or keep autoplay activated on Wi-Fi only.

1. Open
   News settings
   in Google News (check the steps in the first section).
2. Scroll down and tap
   Autoplay videos
   .
3. Select the radio button beside
   Wi-Fi only
   or
   Disabled
   .

Check full coverage of a story

If you want to catch full coverage by leading media houses on a specific news story, you can easily do so on Google News.

1. Start reading any story in Google News.
2. Tap the
   Full Coverage
   option.
3. Google News brings the same story from other media sources to read.

4. Alternatively, tap the
   Google News icon
   beside a news story to read the full coverage, so there’s no need to open the story first.

Follow topics and save stories

Your routine may revolve around busy mornings, and you might not have adequate time to catch all the important stories first thing in the day. You can save news articles or topics that you wish to read at a later time.

1. Open a news story in Google News.
2. Tap the
   Save
   icon at the bottom (it looks like a ribbon).

3. Go back to the home screen and open the
   Following
   tab.
4. Scroll down to check your saved stories in chronological order.

Hide stories from a specific publication

If you no longer want to see stories from a specific web page or publisher, hide their current and upcoming stories from your Google News feed.

1. Open
   Google News
   and find any stories you wish to hide.
2. Tap the
   three-dot menu
   beside each story.
3. Select
   Hide all stories from a publication
   from the following menu.

You can manage your source preferences by going to Google News settings and using the Sources & topics you see less of menu.

Activate data saver mode

When browsing your Google News feed on a limited data plan, you can deactivate autoplay videos (check the third trick) and activate data saver mode to apply some breaks to internet usage.

1. Go to
   Google News settings
   (refer to the first trick).
2. Scroll down to
   Data Saver mode
   .
3. Select the radio button beside
   Enabled
   .

Activate mini cards in Google News

If you aren’t a fan of Google News’ latest bigger and bolder stories look, you can revert to the familiar mini cards to browse more stories without too much scrolling.

1. Open
   Google News settings
   (check the first trick).
2. Turn on the
   Mini cards
   toggle and return to the home screen to check out the new look.

Check all stories from a publication

Google News allows you to check the full-day coverage from your preferred news website in the app.

1. Launch
   Google News
   on your phone.
2. Check the publication name and tap the
   three-dot menu
   beside a story.
3. Select
   Go to publication website
   .

4. Check the full coverage in different categories. Tap the
   star
   icon in the upper-right corner to add the publication as your favorite source. You can check it later from the
   Following
   tab.

5. Tap the
   share icon
   to share the news story on social media platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Add your favorite source on the home screen

If you use an Android device, you can add any source as a shortcut on the home screen. You don’t need to open Google News every time to check publication coverage.

1. Open
   Google News
   and go to the
   Following
   tab.
2. Find a source and tap the
   three-dot menu
   in the upper-right corner.

3. Select
   Add to Home screen
   .
4. The system creates a 1 x 1 widget to add to the home screen.

5. Tap the source shortcut on the home screen to read stories and articles in Google News.

Change the temperature unit

Google News has a neat weather integration tool that displays real-time weather details. But by default, it shows the temperature in Fahrenheit units. You can follow the steps below to change it to Celsius or Kelvin.

1. Go to
   Google News Settings
   (check the steps above).
2. Scroll to
   Temperature units
   .
3. Select the radio button beside
   Celsius
   or
   Kelvin
   .

You can place a Google News widget on your Android phone’s home screen and glance over your briefing without opening the app.

1. Long tap the home screen and select
   Widgets
   .
2. In the widget picker menu, scroll to
   Google News
   .

3. Long tap and place the 4 x 2 Google News widget on the home screen.
4. Check the temperature, news title, and full coverage, and use the left and right arrow keys to check trending stories.

Train Google News to show topics you like

If you come across an interesting topic on Google News, you can train its algorithm to serve similar content. On the flip side, if you think your news feed is inundated with news content you don’t like, you can let the app know that you’d like to see less of it.

Here’s how you can customize your Google News feed to show content you like:

1. Open
   Google News
   on your phone.
2. Tap
   For you
   at the bottom of the app.
3. Scroll past the
   Top stories
   carousel and browse the stories until you find a topic that interests you. Tap the
   overflow menu
   and choose
   More stories like this
   .

4. If you don’t like the topic, tap
   Fewer stories
   like this.

Check out the Newsstand section

Google has a history of deactivating many of its Google products. One such service is Google Play Newsstand, which is included in the Google News app. The Newsstand section lets you subscribe to popular newspapers and high-quality magazines. You can scroll through topics like news and politics, entertainment, health, and more.

Here’s how to view the Newsstand section:

1. Open
   Google News
   on your phone.
2. Tap
   Newsstand
   at the bottom of the app.
3. Scroll through the section until you discover something you like, or type in your search term.

4. Tap the star icon to follow.

Stay updated on current affairs with Google News

With the tips in this guide, you can tailor Google News to serve you the news stories you’re interested in, all in one place. After you become a pro at customizing your news feed, you might want to dive deeper into a particular topic that interests you. Google’s search engine is a powerful tool for research, but you can do even more with its advanced search operators.