Twitter test makes Reader mode the default on iOS

For its latest experiment, Twitter has enabled the Apple-built 'Reader' feature by default inside its iOS app. As the Guardian reports, this meanssome, but not all users are seeing simplified web pages when they click on links contained within tweets. The option, which appeared in the mobile version of Safari back in 2011, removes the formatting found on almost any site, giving you a cleaner, arguably more readable layout. The drawback is that you lose the page's visual identity and sometimes, Safari will make a mess of it, giving you a broken or space-riddled article.

For now, it's just a test. Twitter does these all the time and only some result in a global roll-out. Still, it's useful to know what the company is working on. Chief executive Jack Dorsey has described the platform as "the people's news network" in a recent internal memo. If it's doubling down on journalism, it makes sense for the company to experiment with how the news is presented to people. Twitter doesn't have a competitor to Facebook's Instant Articles, or Google's AMP initiative both of which promise faster load times and a more consistent user experience. Reader, for now, could be a substitute while Twitter works on something in-house.