HeyNews connects to Kit (formerly ConvertKit) so it can learn from your past broadcasts and see which topics readers respond to.
When you connect Kit, HeyNews will:
HeyNews does not send emails or change your subscribers. A Publication Owner or Admin can select a connected Kit account as the Publication's Sending Connection after Kit confirms the required access. HeyNews can then create an unsent draft in Kit from a saved Draft, as described below. Removing the connection also asks Kit to uninstall HeyNews, as described below.
HeyNews requires a paid Kit plan or a Kit trial. A free Kit account stops at Kit's plan screen before you can approve access.
If you find HeyNews in the Kit App Store, click Install. Kit will ask you to approve access, then send you back to confirm the install.
If you're not signed in to HeyNews yet, you'll land on the sign-up page first. After signing in or creating an account, HeyNews picks up where you left off and continues the Kit setup.
If you already connected Kit to HeyNews, installing from the App Store still works. HeyNews refreshes your existing connection instead of adding a second one, and Kit marks the install as complete. If your AI Writer was never built, HeyNews starts building it after the reconnect.
If you start an install and step away without finishing it, go back to the Kit App Store and click Install again. That's the surest way for Kit to show it as complete.
Your Kit account will appear under Publishing platform for the Publication you selected. Kit accounts do not have a separate publication selector in HeyNews.
Older Kit Connections may show an assignment action. Assign the account to the current Publication before selecting it as the Sending Connection. If HeyNews cannot confirm draft access from the older approval, reconnect Kit. Your existing past issues and performance data remain available while you do this.
Open a saved Draft in Draft Review and select Create draft in Kit. The button appears only when your connected Kit account is the Publication's selected, ready Sending Connection. Save any unsaved changes first. Editors can use it too; only an Owner or Admin can choose which account it goes to.
HeyNews creates one broadcast draft in your Kit account with your subject line, preview text, and newsletter body, including its images and links. The draft uses your Kit account's default email template, sender, and audience. HeyNews never schedules, publishes, or sends it: the draft has no send time and is not published to the web. Choose who gets it and when in Kit, then send it from there.
Before Draft Review says the draft is ready, HeyNews reads it back from Kit and checks the subject, preview text, body text, links, and number of images. Kit may restyle the email or rewrite its HTML; that's expected. If a link changed, a new link appeared, text or an image is missing, or the draft already has a send time, Draft Review asks you to check it in Kit before you send it. Use Open Kit draft to go straight to it.
If Kit refused the draft or asked HeyNews to slow down, nothing was created and you can select Try again. If Kit stopped answering partway through, HeyNews can't tell whether the draft was created, so it doesn't try again on its own. Check your drafts in Kit, then answer in Draft Review:
Try again always uses the Kit connection the draft started with. If that connection was removed, or Kit revoked HeyNews's access, the button goes away and Draft Review says a Publication Owner or Admin needs to reconnect Kit. Once Kit is connected again and selected as your Sending Connection, Draft Review offers Create draft in Kit through the new connection. If you switched to beehiiv instead, it offers Create draft in beehiiv.
A Kit draft is a copy of your Draft at that moment. Later edits in HeyNews don't change it. To copy your latest edits, save the Draft and select Create updated draft in Kit. HeyNews never rewrites a Kit draft, because that would also reset the template and audience you chose in Kit. It leaves the earlier draft as it is and creates a new unsent draft with your edits, and Draft Review links to both. If the earlier draft was changed, scheduled, or sent in Kit, Draft Review says so. If you deleted it in Kit, HeyNews creates the new draft and doesn't bring the old one back. Delete any drafts you no longer need in Kit.
Deleting a Draft or an automation in HeyNews, or disconnecting Kit, never deletes drafts that are already in Kit.
Kit drafts are being turned on in stages. If you don't see Create draft in Kit yet, copy your finished Issue into Kit instead.
After you connect Kit, HeyNews checks for updates in the background:
You don't need to do anything manually. HeyNews keeps checking in the background.
If HeyNews can't verify a Provider Draft Copy, open the draft in Kit and review it. Then return to the saved HeyNews Draft and choose I reviewed it, create a new Kit draft. Publication Editors, Admins, and Owners can use this action.
HeyNews creates a new unsent draft beside the one you reviewed. It leaves the reviewed draft unchanged and shows links to both. Delete the earlier one in Kit if you no longer need it. HeyNews never deletes it for you.
Save any HeyNews edits first. If the Draft can't be copied as it is, fix the problem and choose Try again. The reviewed draft still stays unchanged. If the Kit connection needs reconnecting, this action appears again after a Publication Owner or Admin reconnects it in Connections.
If you want to remove the Kit connection:
Stories HeyNews already found stay in your account, but HeyNews stops checking Kit for new broadcasts. Kit also marks HeyNews as uninstalled. If Kit does not confirm the uninstall, HeyNews still removes the connection and asks you to remove the app from your Kit settings.
If you remove HeyNews in Kit, Kit cuts off access right away. HeyNews removes the connection the next time it contacts Kit and shows the reason in Connections & imports. Until that check runs, the Kit card may still appear. Your saved stories stay in your Publication. Select Connect Kit if you want to restore the connection.
To connect a different Kit account, disconnect the current one first, then click Connect now again. You'll go through the same approval flow and can choose a different Kit account. A Kit account can belong to only one HeyNews Publication.
Reconnecting the Kit account this Publication already uses doesn't take another connection slot, so it works even when your plan's connections are full.
If Kit is connected but your AI Writer never started building, reconnect Kit. HeyNews can start Voice Training from the history already linked to that connection. Writers that are already building or ready stay unchanged.
"HeyNews is available on Kit Paid plans" Kit shows this when your Kit account is on its free plan. HeyNews works with paid Kit plans, and a Kit trial counts. Upgrade or start a trial in Kit, then connect again.
"HeyNews is available on Kit Paid plans" Kit shows this when your Kit account is on its free plan. HeyNews works with paid Kit plans, and a Kit trial counts. Upgrade or start a trial in Kit, then connect again.
"Kit connection failed" after approval This usually means the approval link timed out. Go back to Connections & imports and try connecting again. The link is valid for 10 minutes.
No new sources appearing after connecting HeyNews checks Kit every 4 hours. Your sources should appear after the next check. Check back in a few hours.
Subscriber count shows 0 This can happen if your Kit account is new or if Kit took a moment to respond during setup. The count should update after the next check.
If something's not working, email us at support@heynews.co and we'll sort it out.