Artifact Lives On in the New Yahoo News App

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I may move to the new Yahoo News app on my phones and iPad. Yes, the Yahoo News app.

Why?

Because Yahoo purchased my favorite mobile news app, Artifact, back in April, a move I was not initially excited about. But instead of just using Artifact’s AI-powered discovery engine in its existing app, as the firm implied at the time, it has essentially re-released Artifact as a new version of Yahoo News, replacing the previous Yahoo News. And that is a good thing. A very good thing.

“The news landscape is crowded and often filled with competing headlines and an influx of information that can feel overwhelming,” Yahoo News senior vice president Kat Downs Mulder says. “This has led to the avoidance of news all together – which is not what anyone wants. We believe Yahoo News can help people stay informed, make sense of the world around them by getting them more of the stories that matter to them, and even enjoy catching up on the news again. To this end, we are relentlessly focused on offering a news experience that is simple, relevant and useful for each user. This new app is just the beginning.”

Yahoo says that it has “reimagined” its News app using “next-level personalization from Artifact.” But anyone who used Artifact will immediately recognize it as Artifact, with the same user interface, the same features, and the same personalization capabilities. The only major difference I can spot is that the only account sign-in option is with Yahoo; otherwise, you can simply opt to not sign in.

So it looks like I’ll be retraining this thing to ignore the topics and publications I can’t stand. But that’s fine: Artifact is back from the dead. I can’t believe it.

You can download Artifact–er, Yahoo News–from the Apple App Store (iPhone, iPad) and Google Play Store (Android).