Why NetNewsWire Is Not a Web App

[frizlab]

https://inessential.com/2025/10/04/why-netnewswire-is-not-web-app.html

[frizlab]

If NetNewsWire becomes a web app it would make me immensely sad. There’s no way a web app would feel as good as a native app, particularly this one.

(To be clear, I would immediately change my RSS reader.)

[EmmEff → frizlab]

I dunno, Google Reader was actually pretty good. I am also a NetNewsWire user…

[pavel_lishin → EmmEff]

I use both Newsblur & NetNewsWire, and they both solve different problems that neither one could for me.

[not--felix]

My RSS reader is the main way i connect to the internet, most things in my reader are web links. I think a web RSS reader is a good, I can just open the links in the same app.

[kh_hk]

There are browser apis that could make it work as an app. Web app does not imply server side app

[cosmic_cheese → kh_hk]

Technically true, but when no server is involved (running on localstorage, etc) everything gets dramatically more flaky. The user experience would suffer.

[CharlesW → cosmic_cheese]

Out of curiosity, is this take informed by relatively recent personal experience? I experimented with storing a bunch of data locally using OPFS with DuckDB/Wasm, and it seemed to work fine in Safari and Chrome.

[cosmic_cheese → CharlesW]

It's more aggregated experience over time. These issues often don't surface in the short term but instead show up over time with bugs in implementations in particular browser versions and whatnot. In some cases data just gets wiped and in others it gets corrupted, and with no server component and any backups stored in the same medium as primary storage you're left without recourse.

[rufus_foreman]

"I was 12 years old when I got my first computer, an Apple II Plus, and I’ve never stopped loving the freedom of having my own computer and being able to run whatever the hell I want to."

Pretty much the same here. Kick against the pricks, as difficult as it is, it's the only way.