
Ask HN: Do you still use an RSS reader? - thinkingkong
If so, which one do you use?
If not, how are you actually monitoring updates from all your favorite news sources?
======
Kronopath
Yes, Inoreader[0]. It's the one that was closest in functionality to Google
Reader when it shut down. It's simple and cuts out the bullcrap. Though I've
found I've been relying on RSS less these days, just because there are fewer
sources I've cared to read from.

[0] [https://www.inoreader.com/](https://www.inoreader.com/)

~~~
mrbonner
I second inoreader. But I think their mobile site is a bit weak comparing to
the olg GReader. It doesn't mark items read when I scroll down.

------
sp332
Yup, I used to use Google Reader, but switched to
[https://newsblur.com/](https://newsblur.com/) The app is fast and polished,
and the dev is very responsive.
[https://twitter.com/NewsBlur](https://twitter.com/NewsBlur) (Hi conesus!)

~~~
prohor
I also use [https://newsblur.com/](https://newsblur.com/) . Other good options
was [http://theoldreader.com/](http://theoldreader.com/) but after a time I
switched to newsblur.

------
hyperpape
Feedly. I find it has some obnoxious bugs, but I'm too lazy to investigate
alternatives.

I get news from Twitter first, though. Feedly is something I check later in
the day, or not even once a day.

~~~
wizawuza
Ditto.. feedly, it's not perfect, but it's good enough. Very similar keyboard
shortcuts as google reader.

------
jfb
I use Reeder [1], backed by Feed Wrangler [2]. I have a few hundred feeds,
many of which rarely update. I find it an invaluable way to keep up with
interesting and important news; I use RSS the way many people use Twitter,
apparently.

[1] [http://reederapp.com](http://reederapp.com)

[2]
[https://feedwrangler.net/welcome.html](https://feedwrangler.net/welcome.html)

~~~
kylec
I use Reeder too, backed by Fever. With what happened to Google Reader, the
fact that Fever is self-hosted and can never go away is a big advantage for
me.

~~~
alsetmusic
I have a license for Fever, but it lost its sparkle for me due to slower sync.
I could fall back to it if needed, but I use FeedBin right now.

The period between when Reeder lost Google Reader and when it gained new sync
options temporarily killed RSS for me, as every other app I tested just made
me wish for Reeder. It's one of my favorite apps of all time.

~~~
jfb
I am hoping that the work that was put in to make Reeder backend agnostic
would be sufficient to survive another RSS aggregation service extinction
event.

Of the applications I pay for on my Mac, Reeder is my favorite, with 1Password
close second.

------
projectdelphai
Yeah, Tiny Tiny RSS self-hosted on Heroku.

Here's the link to how I did it:
[https://projectdelphai.github.io/blog/2013/03/15/replacing-g...](https://projectdelphai.github.io/blog/2013/03/15/replacing-
google-reader-with-tt-rss-on-heroku/)

------
pionar
For about a year (I think, whenever Google Reader shut down), I just stopped
using them. I relied on sites like Hacker News to get updates (along with
Twitter).

I found recently, though, that it was not giving me all the things I thought
were relevant to me (especially in the .NET world, where I work).

So, recently, I started using The Old Reader[0]. It's nice and clean, and
unobtrusive. It's not slick, but that doesn't matter to me in this area. If
there was a nice CLI reader (like Mutt) for RSS, I'd probably use that. I'm
thinking that'd be a nice weekend project.

[0][https://theoldreader.com/](https://theoldreader.com/)

~~~
profsnuggles
I'm not sure if you are joking around or not... but
[http://www.newsbeuter.org/](http://www.newsbeuter.org/)

[http://www.zedshaw.com/essays/i_want_the_mutt_of_feed_reader...](http://www.zedshaw.com/essays/i_want_the_mutt_of_feed_readers.html)

------
pllbnk
Feedly. Didn't look long for an alternative after Google Reader shut down and
just took the most popular at the time. Aside from a stupid bug which almost
always displays incorrect unread item count, I am satisfied with it.

------
imkevinxu
I still swear by NetNewsWire
[http://netnewswireapp.com/](http://netnewswireapp.com/)

My protip is I only subscribe to personal blogs with infrequent update
schedules. So no TechCrunch and no Engadget, etc

------
pbreit
Yes, digg reader (web version even on iPhone and iPad). Pretty happy with it.
My google usage was cut in half.

~~~
presty
+1 for digg (even though it has some bugs here and there, but nothing major)

it has web, ios and android clients!

------
ecaron
I've bounced between Newsblur & Feedly, but keep sticking with Feedly because
of their Android app.

My biggest psychological point that I've learned of myself is I find myself
skeptical & leery of long-term using Feedly because they won't take my money.
My gut is telling me "I want a RSS Reader with a business model so I know its
worth my time investment", although my brain knows that a subscription models
ensures viability with the same guarantees as ad models.

~~~
knurdle
Not sure what you mean by won't take your money. Feedly offers a pro
subscription.

------
bonaldi
I use Bazqux, which is absolutely superb:

* Rock-solid, I haven't seen an outage

* Impressively fast (Reeder updates from it much faster than it ever did with Google Reader: I can get all my feeds in one Tube stop's worth of wifi)

* Has good features like filtering (goodbye "latest podcast" spam) and highlighting (only see certain posts from high-volume feeds

* Great keyboard UI on the web.

Can't recommend it enough. I understand it also has an interesting tech stack
behind it too.

~~~
delecti
I tried Bazqux (before settling on Digg), but right near the end of my free
trial they removed the one feature I give a damn about.

I've never cared for reading entries in the reader, I just want it to show me
a list of links that I can easily mark as read and click through to the
original article.

~~~
vshabanov
What feature was removed? I'm a developer of BazQux Reader and can't remember
that I removed any major feature.

~~~
delecti
Essentially when looking at the list of feed items there was no longer a
direct link to the articles without expanding the entries.

~~~
vshabanov
In list view it's possible to click on the article time. There is also old
list view mode (before I've changed it to Google Reader-like one). It's in
settings => List view => Normal. It has clickable article subject.

------
rakoo
A different answer: I don't use an RSS reader _per se_ , but I use the rss-to-
nntp gateway that gwene.org [0] is. It's hosted by the same guy behind the
well-known gmane.org.

I then use the Thunderbird built-in NNTP reader to get all my feeds.

I think this is a good way to do it, because it means we could gather all RSS-
retrieving capabilities for common sites and share the items much more
efficiently than having everyone poll on all servers. When you think of it, a
Network News Transfer Protocol seems to be a good solution for propagating
sites updates.

It also means that I don't get to share my "seen/flagged" status across
devices, which is good: I have taken this occasion to follow less and less
sites, and live more outside of the feeds than inside them.

Note: the web reader of gwene.org (read.gwene.org) seems to be outdated; if
you point your news reader at news.gwene.org you will get all the latest
entries.

[0] [http://gwene.org/](http://gwene.org/)

~~~
stevekemp
That sounds like an interesting approach.

I do something similar, I have a server sat around polling RSS feeds and when
new entries are posted they're piped into a chatroom which I look at during
the course of the day.

------
joshfraser
I tried a bunch of them and Inoreader came the closest to filling the gaping
hole in my heart left by Google Reader.

------
akkartik
My own invention, because I wanted to live in my browser tabs and not learn a
new UI: [http://github.com/akkartik/spew](http://github.com/akkartik/spew).
Unfortunately I haven't found the fortitude to deal with mozilla's review
process.

------
edavis
Yes. RSS is still primarily how I get my news.

As for how, I built my own reader:
[https://github.com/edavis/river](https://github.com/edavis/river)

It generates a roughly reverse chronological "river of news"
([http://rsshub.org/feeds/](http://rsshub.org/feeds/)) via a config file I
host on Dropbox
([https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19853263/Feeds/feeds.txt](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19853263/Feeds/feeds.txt)).

If I may brag, I'm pretty damn happy with how it turned out.

------
hendersoon
Yes, Bazqux.

[https://bazqux.com](https://bazqux.com)

I've tried all the results of the diaspora of Google Reader and Bazqux is by
far the best solution for pure RSS reading. It has a lightning fast super-
clean web UI, updates very quickly, has a completely clean interface, and
costs $9/year. Well worth it.

They offer a free trial if you want to try it out. I think it lasts 14 days.

Also it works with all the various RSS reader mobile apps; Press, Greader,
Reeder, and Mr. Reader.

It does have a terrible name, though.

(Note: I don't get anything for this admittedly glowing endorsement. I'm just
a satisfied customer.)

------
icebraining
Yes. Tiny Tiny RSS (self-hosted): [http://tt-rss.org](http://tt-rss.org)

It's lightweight, has a GReader-like UI, a decent Android app, an API,
keyboard shortcuts, etc.

------
lcedp
Yes, Tiny Tiny RSS hosted (among other things) on VPS for $15/yr

------
SloopJon
I'll be watching these answers with interest. I used Vienna for a long time,
then switched to Google Reader by way of Gruml. Hard to believe it's been over
a year, but I pretty much stopped using RSS the day Reader died. (My Firefox
session still has a HN tab with the "Google Reader is dead" story.) I've
mainly been reading Ars Technica and Hacker News ever since, occasionally
slumming it on Daring Fireball when I get bored.

------
rcjordan
I ended up writing my own using SimplePie. Here's a multifeed demo:
[http://simplepie.org/wiki/tutorial/how_to_replicate_popurls](http://simplepie.org/wiki/tutorial/how_to_replicate_popurls)

With the demise of many of the Craigslist national search apps, I ended up
taking SimplePie into that realm and produced a 418-CLfeed search engine for
personal use as a collector/hobbyist ...OK, hoarder. Works!

------
vzjrz
I've actually really gotten into keeping track of my youtube subscriptions and
the only real reliable way I found was to use rss. Because of privacy concerns
I've never really used an online rss reader but I have tried a few of the
offline clients. I definitely recommend people check out
[http://quiterss.org/](http://quiterss.org/) if they're looking for a new
offline rss reader.

------
ElleS
I use [http://flowreader.com/](http://flowreader.com/) as my main RSS reader
(because I'm part of the team). There's also the option to connect your
Facebook news feed and Twitter timeline.

Other great options: [http://theoldreader.com/](http://theoldreader.com/) and
[http://feedly.com/](http://feedly.com/)

------
agwa
Yes, I've been using Liferea
[[http://lzone.de/liferea/](http://lzone.de/liferea/)] since 2004. Seeing the
rise and fall of Google Reader while meanwhile Liferea steadily progressed
from 0.4 to 1.11 I think says a lot about the value of both desktop software
and open source. I can still read interesting articles that I "flagged" 10
years ago!

------
br0ke
I'm using TinyTinyRSS (ttrss) right now. After google reader was shut down, I
was using both ttrss and theoldreader, but found that theoldreader was missing
a significant number of entries. Then theoldreader set a cap of 100 feeds for
free accounts and removed 30 of my feeds (taking me from 102 to 72...) so now
I'm just using ttrss. Open source, has a decent user interface plus free ios
apps.

------
Someone1234
Never got into RSS, so no.

Reddit and Hacker News. Aggregates everything together and crops out much of
the nonsense (although both have a bias, so some points of view are inherently
filtered).

Only big downside is no offline availability. However in my limited trials
with RSS the promise of offline was rarely delivered up to a workable standard
(e.g. pages would be so mangled it was painful to read them, key images
missing, etc).

------
tremendo
Yes. Newsblur (after GReader).

~~~
vl
Newsblur FTW

------
fugue88
Yes, rss2email
([http://www.allthingsrss.com/rss2email/](http://www.allthingsrss.com/rss2email/)).

------
luxpir
Newsbeuter - 'Mutt for RSS' \- fast, most-lightweight, self-hosted on
Raspberry Pi. This is after trying TT-RSS and Miniflux (post-Reader). Both
decent, but neither as appealing. Miniflux is very attractive, I just prefer
the speed of Newsbeuter. Plus using the window/pane arrangement of Tmux with
it is always fun. The less is more suckless movement very much appeals.

------
lmedinas
Well for me it's complicated. I use mainly Twitter, G+ or Facebook for news. I
find them to suit my needs almost perfectly. Twitter while at work pause to
quick check news, G+/Facebook later at home. The downsides is that i got
distracted or sometimes i see posts from friends which i don't have a
mood/will to see. Besides this Feedly, but Digg is also cool.

------
istoselidas
I've created my own
[https://github.com/johndel/freeze](https://github.com/johndel/freeze) but
this one isn't the last version (too lazy to push it as far as I am the only
one using it. I have a private repo also). I feel more comfortable to host my
own solution and add custom feature that I want.

------
reljac
Feedbin[0] for managing and viewing from laptop, Reeder for viewing on iOS[1].
There's 75+ feeds in my Feedbin account - a few need removed but I'm sure I
have a few to add as well.

[0] [http://feedbin.com/](http://feedbin.com/)

[1] [http://reederapp.com/ios/](http://reederapp.com/ios/)

------
rcarmo
I use [https://github.com/rcarmo/rss2imap](https://github.com/rcarmo/rss2imap)
with a dedicated GMail account. I read my news on any desktop or mobile with a
choice of clients (GMail on Android or web works great, although I usually end
up reading most of it on iOS or Apple Mail).

------
clusterss
Been using [https://www.clusterss.com](https://www.clusterss.com) since
November -- I created it. Designed for chewing through a large number of feed
entries (it groups by topic). It is only beta, but that means you can help
shape it into what you want in a reader.

------
Zalos
Currently I use Digg.com´s reader
([http://digg.com/reader](http://digg.com/reader)) as it´s the closest I´ve
found to Google Reader. I am a bit of an RSS addict and spend quite a bit of
time daily reading through my RSS feeds. I have over a 100 feeds in my reader.

------
8joe
I don't. I put all of the blogs and websites I follow in categorized favorites
folders, and click through them one by one.

I prefer this process to RSS feed readers because 1) it doesn't take much
longer 2) you get the full experience that the web designer intended (ie:
sidebar content, menus, comments, etc)

------
luxbock
I didn't use a RSS reader before Google Reader shutdown, and it was actually
cries over the event that made me feel like I was missing out on something.
Now I'm a happy user of Newsblur and can indeed concur that I was missing out.
One man's tragedy is another mans fortune I guess :)

------
Koldark
Yes, I just came to this post via Feedly.

------
JohnTHaller
I used to use Google Reader but switched to Feedly. When it came to light that
Feedly was hijacking social sharing buttons on their site and in their app, I
switched to Digg. I mostly use the site on my desktop. I use the Android app
as a supplement.

------
leostatic
I use a combination of Google's Newsstand and Feedly. My must-read
subscriptions go to Feedly. Basically blogs of people who I want to follow,
some sources related to my local area etc. Others like The Verge, Techcrunch
etc. go to Newsstand.

------
jkmcf
I'm really liking Feedly, and their iOS apps are really nice. I wish they had
a cheaper paid version. I don't really need their pro features, but a
$10-20/year subscription would be enticing instead of just coasting for free.

------
gighi
I use feedly and this self-hosted application to read all sections of Hacker
News:
[http://gianlucaborello.github.io/rssify/](http://gianlucaborello.github.io/rssify/)

------
thallian
Yes, the Owncloud News Reader:
[http://apps.owncloud.com/content/show.php/News?content=15843...](http://apps.owncloud.com/content/show.php/News?content=158434)

------
loumf
I use goread.io -- I pay for it, but it's free for you to host yourself on
AppEngine. It stays free if you stay under AppEngine free limits.

It's similar to Google Reader in UI and features.

------
talles
Yes, digg.com/reader

------
BruceIV
Feedly. You need curation on the Internet, so HN is for the interesting stuff
I haven't found yet, and Feedly is for sources with a high signal-to-noise
ratio.

------
smacktoward
Yep. Feedly.

------
yabatopia
Absolutely. I have a Feedly Pro lifetime subscription and I use it several
times a day. RSS is great, too bad major social networks refuse to use it.

~~~
jfb
I'm not sure I would want Twitter/FB/G+/et al updates via my RSS reader, and I
certainly wouldn't want to have to sort through all the stuff on the social
networks to get good longform content (or pictures of baby animals). Different
platforms have different strengths, and I'd hate to see the utility of one
diluted to chase another.

------
villek
Yes, couldn't read news and follow blogs without RSS.

My setup is FeedWrangler as sync backend and ReadKit on Mac, Mr. Reader on
iPad, and Reeder on iPhone.

------
bradfa
Yes. I use Reeder (the old one which is no longer available on the App Store)
on iOS with local RSS (it fetches ever time I launch it).

------
scolson
Yes, feedly since google reader died. I follow almost 100 different feeds with
varying degrees of attention (categorized accordingly)

------
jack-r-abbit
I've been happy with Digg Reader for a long time now. (well, since Google
Reader shut. That _feels_ like a long time.)

------
austinsharp
Yes, Feedly. Works great on web and Android, decently customizable. I don't
pay for Pro, the free version has been enough.

------
Zweihander
Thunderbird - multi-account Mail and RSS. Following around 40 feeds. Does the
job nicely and still upbeat on TB's future.

------
fotcorn
I'm using [http://protopage.com](http://protopage.com), which is an iGoogle
clone.

------
cel
Yes, rss2imap.

[https://github.com/rcarmo/rss2imap](https://github.com/rcarmo/rss2imap)

------
lion0
[http://krillapps.com/feedy/](http://krillapps.com/feedy/)

------
devindotcom
Yep. I use Digg Reader - it's clean and simple, despite a few minor features
missing from greader.

------
ajdecon
At the moment I use feedly, though I may consider newsblur at some point.

I could not live without my rss feeds. :)

------
netbek
Yes, Thunderbird. Offline access and having it together with my mail work for
me.

------
elf_m_sternberg
Yes. Liferea. I've been using it pretty much since the Death of Usenet.

------
sh1n0b1
Yep, Liferea after I got irritated with some inconveniences with Thunderbird

------
tobik
Yes, Thunderbird through its builtin RSS and newsgroup support (via Gmane).

------
tobr
Yes, ReadKit on OS X and Reeder on iOS, syncing with Feed Wrangler.

------
bjmarte
Yep. Found this through the HN feed in my feedbin.com account.

------
jeffehobbs
Yes, Reeder with Feedly as the backend. It's quite good.

~~~
manicdee
Reeder here too. I use Feed Wrangler for my backend.

------
AdamGibbins
Feedbin + ReadKit (OSX) + Press (Android) + Reeder (iOS)

------
nodivbyzero
Digg.com/reader

------
carno
Yes, Feedly. All the other ones I tried are just ugh.

------
jayeola
Absoloutely. Too many sites, not enough time. feedly

------
rwbhn
Feedly. Works great on multiple devices.

------
stoical
Seamonkey's integrated news reader.

------
steanne
i learned of hn through the shared posts on newblur, which means there's at
least two of us using it.

------
nkcmr
Feedly + Reeder (iOS) + Reeder (OS X)

Gets the job done.

------
dangoor
I use Feedly + Mr. Reader on the iPad

------
acheron
tt-rss. Works great on my PC but I never found a good solution for reading it
on mobile.

------
sirkneeland
Yes, Feedly.

------
ssivark
Feedly

------
talleyrand
Yes. Feedly. Constantly...

------
phatak-dev
Feedly after GR shutdown.

------
liquid_x
Feedly + ReadKit on osx

------
schrodingersCat
Feedly + Reeder on OSX

------
hadoukenio
rss2email is pretty good, written by Aaron Swartz

------
MrDom
Yes, rss2email.

------
chrawprime
Feedbin + Press

------
smashu
Feedly, daily.

------
akshayagarwal
Yes, feedly.

------
shanecleveland
Feedwrangler

------
ryanjodonnell
Yes. Feedly.

------
0x006A
Yes, Liferea

------
malyk
Yes, Feedly

------
quaiks
Feedly!

------
Involute
Feedly.

------
_Nicola
yes i do, of course!

------
lblz12366
newblur

