Apple News is now available on Mac with macOS Mojave, but only in select countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.
While it’s a nifty way to get hold of the latest news and current affairs, it can be a source of annoyance and interruption for some Mac users.
Calls to Delete Apple News App in Mojave
A number of Mac users has been clamoring for a way to delete Apple News app in Mojave, which is something that currently cannot be done. There are several situations where one may aim to opt out of it. One is when a workplace uses Mac computers and the staff cannot be distracted by the 24-hour news cycle. Removing the app or disabling it is a way to prevent Apple News from being a detriment to the daily workflow.
Another reason is annoyance, plain and simple. The loud and constant alerts from Apple News every time they log in don’t sit well with some Mac users.
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Finding a way to remove News app in Mojave, however, can be likened to looking for a needle in a haystack. When you drag the app to the trash bin, you are likely to get a message that says: “News can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by macOS.”
So the burning question is: can you uninstall News app in Mojave? How can you stop receiving unsolicited news notifications on your Mac? Read on for some advice from our pool of experts.
Ways to Remove News App in Mojave
If you are bent on experiencing Apple News app on macOS Mojave, you can do this even if you are outside the US, the UK, and Australia. Here are steps to follow:
- Click Apple menu found at the top left corner.
- Click on System Preferences > Language & Region.
- Click on the drop down menu located next to Region. Afterwards, select United States from the country list.
- Your computer will reboot. Once it does, open Launchpad. From here, Apple News will go live on the screen.
- If you can’t find the app in Launchpad, then head to the Applications folder in Finder. Drag the News app from that folder and drop it on Launchpad.
Note that the News app will disappear if you decide to change your country. In addition, here’s our quick guide to properly install apps on your Mac.
How about if you want to do the exact opposite? Users’ inability to delete the Apple News app is considered a current weakness in Mojave. While you can fully remove the app from iOS, you cannot do the same on this Mac operating system.
Since there doesn’t seem to be a way to delete the app, you can tweak your Mac’s preferences to get some peace and quiet. To do this, proceed to System Preferences > Notifications, where you can adjust alert styles along with how notifications will appear for your apps. Click on Apple News and choose the None style. Make sure to also uncheck all five of the other settings.
In order to “delete” the app (read: make it invisible to you), see if it appears in your dock. Right-click on it and go to Options > Remove from Dock. This applies the “out of sight, out of mind” principle to the issue.
You might also be interested to know that System Integrity Protection (SIP) is protecting Apple News app from getting deleted. SIP is a security technology present in El Capitan and later OS, designed to help prevent malicious software from modifying your protected files and folders. What it does is restrict the root user account, limiting the actions it can perform on protected sections of the OS.
What you can do is to temporarily disable SIP and then re-enable it eventually. Here are the instructions you should follow:
- Hold down the Command + R keys as you switch on or restart your Mac. This is a move to boot Recovery Mode.
- Once the main Utilities window appears, proceed to the menu bar found at the top of the screen. Next, click Utilities. From the drop down menu, choose Terminal.
- Execute the command csrutil disable.
- Reboot your Mac.
- Remove Apple News and any other first-party apps that you don’t want around.
- Reboot into Recovery Mode by hitting Command + R at startup.
- Proceed to Terminal.
- Afterwards, execute csrutil enable.
- Restart your computer.
To “remove” News app in Mojave, you can also consider creating your user accounts under so-called parental control. This is intended for children, but should do the same in limiting what is usable among apps for your staff or on your own Mac. You can use the mechanism of managed accounts to restrict what you or users under you can do or access.
If you are concerned about the seemingly unstoppable stream of news notifications, it might be worth reviewing why. Why do you want to remove the News app entirely? Can it be just a case of passing annoyance? If you want to keep your Mac clean and organized, you can get help from a reliable third-party Mac optimizer tool to get the job done.
Summary
A Mac user online quipped that wanting to delete Apple News in Mojave feels like it’s 1999 again and he is trying to remove Internet Explorer from Windows 98. To some degree, that is true. But Apple News is something you can’t remove on your own in Mojave, and it’s Apple that calls the shots here.
To hide the app and its notifications and achieve a more peaceful Mac experience, you can try one of the solutions we provided above. You can also contact Apple directly for official assistance. Remember that a little patience goes a long way!
Disabling SIP does not work unfortunately, so just go to the app in apps folder, control click to get “show package contents”, then trash all contents. That way it cannot function, and Apple has no control over what ‘News’ I wish to view?
Thanks Brian, was able to trash all contents and hide logo.
Brian’s tip seemed like a good idea. But it did not work here, now (macOS 10.14.6 on 06/30/2023). Same message as above: ” “Contents” [including files and subfolders therein] can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by macOS.”