Social network rolls out instant articles to iOS users, announces Android beta plus new publishers

It’s been five months since Facebook introduced its fast-loading instant article into the News Feed and now the company has announced that it will be rolling out the format to iPhone users.

Facebook’s Chris Cox made this known at The Wall Street Journal’s WSJD Conference in Laguna Beach, California, saying that thousands of articles will now be published as instant articles.

Facebook says it will also test the format in a public beta for Android users that launches today. Instant articles will be widely available for Android later in the year, says Cox, Facebook’s chief product officer.

In addition to that, Facebook is adding new publishers to the instant article platform, including Vox Media, Slate, The Huffington Post, and The Daily Mail. They will join the original nine partners the company already has.

READ: Irish court orders investigation of data transfers to U.S.

The following publishers have also agreed to support the format: Billboard, Billy Penn, The Blaze, Bleacher Report, Breitbart, Brit + Co, Business Insider, Bustle, CBS News, CBS Sports, CNET, Complex, Country Living, Cracked, Daily Dot, E! News, Elite Daily, Entertainment Weekly, Gannett, Good Housekeeping, Fox Sports, Harper's Bazaar, Hollywood Life, Hollywood Reporter, IJ Review, Little Things, Mashable, Mental Floss, mindbodygreen, MLB, MoviePilot, NBA, NY Post, The Onion, Opposing Views, People, Pop Sugar, Rare, Refinery 29, Rolling Stone, Seventeen, TIME, Uproxx, US Magazine, USA Today, Variety, The Verge, and The Weather Channel.

Instant articles are identified within the feed by a lightning bolt next to them. You will see them if you follow any of the publishers mentioned above or if they are shared by a friend.

Watch a video of Facebook's Instant Articles below: