Microsoft News for Android adds Arabic, Hebrew, and four new app editions

Microsoft News Android (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

Microsoft News on Android is now available in Arabic and Hebrew.
The app has four new editions, covering the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel.
The app shows you news from your region, so creating regionalized variants is more important than it is for some other apps.

Microsoft News for Android gained support for two new languages and four new countries in a recent update. The update brings support for Hebrew and Arabic and comes with editions for the United Arab Emirates (Arabic), Saudi Arabia (Arabic), Egypt (Arabic), and Israel (Hebrew). The update brings the app to 20.023.01 and doesn't seem to come with any other changes. Below is Microsoft's complete changelog for the update:

Thanks to your feedback, we've added support for Arabic and Hebrew languages and have enabled four new app editions – United Arab Emirates (Arabic), Saudi Arabia (Arabic), Egypt (Arabic), and Israel (Hebrew). You can change your edition from the Settings page in the app.

Microsoft News shows you news from your region, so creating a regionalized edition of the app is more important than many general apps. Microsoft curates news for the app with a joint effort of human editors and artificial intelligence to show people relevant news.

Microsoft overhauled the design of the Microsoft News app back in the Summer of 2018. It features a clean layout and a dark mode that's friendly on your device's battery. You can personalize the app to show you a specific news experience. The app features content from over 3,000 global brands and currently has editions in over 20 countries. Thanks to this update, that list of countries now includes The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel.

Microsoft News

This news app features content from over 3,000 sources from around the world. You can customize what content you see to deliver a personalized news experience.

Sean Endicott is a news writer and apps editor for Windows Central with 11+ years of experience. A Nottingham Trent journalism graduate, Sean has covered the industry’s arc from the Lumia era to the launch of Windows 11 and generative AI. Having started at Thrifter, he uses his expertise in price tracking to help readers find genuine hardware value.

Beyond tech news, Sean is a UK sports media pioneer. In 2017, he became one of the first to stream via smartphone and is an expert in AP Capture systems. A tech-forward coach, he was named 2024 BAFA Youth Coach of the Year. He is focused on using technology—from AI to Clipchamp—to gain a practical edge.