{"slug": "netnewswire", "name": "NetNewsWire", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Free, open-source RSS feed reader for macOS and iOS by Brent Simmons.", "recommenders": 14, "commenters": 19, "warners": 0, "score": 13.632, "rising": -4.58, "first": "2025-12-07", "latest": "2026-08-01", "why": "Liked as a free, open-source RSS reader for Mac and iOS that commenters rely on daily, sometimes paired with self-hosted FreshRSS for sync.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 14, "neutral": 6, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 6, 1, 0, 0, 3, 1, 2, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Reliable daily use", "Free and open source"], "caveat": "Feed discovery", "short_quote": "I use for the last many years NetNewsWire and have never had any problems reading the news I want to read.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/ranchero-software/netnewswire", "official_url": "https://netnewswire.com/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["NetNewsWire"], "verdict": [{"text": "Liked as a free, open-source RSS reader for Mac and iOS", "cites": [{"id": 786232480, "item_id": 49139530, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49139530", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use NetNewsWire. It\u2019s free, open-source, and explicitly says not to send money.", "excerpt": "I use NetNewsWire. It\u2019s free, open-source, and explicitly says not to send money. > First thing: don\u2019t send money. This app is written for love, not money. :) https://github.com/Ranchero-Software/NetNewsWire/blob/main/Technotes/HowToSupportNetNewsWire.markdown", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 750302321, "item_id": 46893895, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46893895", "by": "raw_anon_1111", "date": "2026-02-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I just star articles in my RSS newsreader - NetNewsWire free and open source for the Mac and iOS", "excerpt": "Instapaper is the granddaddy of Read it Later apps. It was first written and published by Marco Arment - the co founder of Tumblr - in 2008. He sold it off because he started seeing dwindling sells. These days, I just star articles in my RSS newsreader - NetNewsWire free and open source for the Mac and iOS - or just favorite the submission if I come across it on HN first", "context": "", "use_case": "saving articles to read later", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Does a good \"read it later\" app exist?"}, {"id": 751687216, "item_id": 46980451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46980451", "by": "havaloc", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier.", "excerpt": "I was on Google Reader, then Feedly for a long time, until the Feedly iOS client just slowly degraded and got buggy. I'm not opposed to paying for a good RSS set. I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier. NNW being free is just the icing on the cake, it's really great, and FreshRSS was also really easy to install. What I like about FreshRSS is that it's ", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader front end", "switched_from": "Feedly", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}]}, {"text": " that commenters rely on daily, sometimes paired with self-hosted FreshRSS for sync.", "cites": [{"id": 777064960, "item_id": 48566560, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48566560", "by": "deafpolygon", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This app is my daily driver! Love it", "excerpt": "This app is my daily driver! Love it, and hope the dev continues the good work.", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}, {"id": 777068464, "item_id": 48566779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48566779", "by": "blindpixel", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Best RSS reader I have used on iOS.", "excerpt": "I use it daily to catch up news and reading. Best RSS reader I have used on iOS. Grateful for your hard work on this, Brent and team.", "context": "iOS user", "use_case": "news and reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}, {"id": 786215056, "item_id": 49138441, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138441", "by": "konsalexee", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use for the last many years NetNewsWire and have never had any problems reading the news I want to read.", "excerpt": "Just why bother relying on Google products for RSS? I use for the last many years NetNewsWire and have never had any problems reading the news I want to read. For ref: https://github.com/Ranchero-Software/NetNewsWire", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 748400944, "item_id": 46775059, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46775059", "by": "ajdude", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use netnewswire as my client", "excerpt": "I use netnewswire as my client and I'm self hosting freshrss, so my subscriptions can be synced between my phone and computer. All of my YouTube and nebula channels I follow via RSS and I think that's kind of giving me the most bang for my buck. I can just get focused on the videos that I want to subscribe to without having to even go to YouTube and get pulled into the algorithm, as well as a few sub Reddits, hacker ", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who do you follow via RSS feed?"}, {"id": 751687216, "item_id": 46980451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46980451", "by": "havaloc", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier.", "excerpt": "I was on Google Reader, then Feedly for a long time, until the Feedly iOS client just slowly degraded and got buggy. I'm not opposed to paying for a good RSS set. I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier. NNW being free is just the icing on the cake, it's really great, and FreshRSS was also really easy to install. What I like about FreshRSS is that it's ", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader front end", "switched_from": "Feedly", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is that some feeds fail to add during discovery,", "cites": [{"id": 751784768, "item_id": 46986548, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46986548", "by": "sixeyes", "date": "2026-02-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i love it, no idea it was 23 years old!", "excerpt": "i love it, no idea it was 23 years old! however, i found it doesn't abide by some \"no new content, back off for a bit\" part of the protocol. i've had two feeds refuse to be added because it sends multiple requests during discovery, i think. kind of a bummer!", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 754701728, "item_id": 47168858, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47168858", "by": "jdeibele", "date": "2026-02-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "NetNewsWire can't find that feed.", "excerpt": "NetNewsWire can't find that feed. \"Can\u2019t add a feed because no feed was found.\" I used the RSS validator at w3.org https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikeayles.com%2Frss.xml This feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations. line 1, column 10821: Missing atom:link with rel=\"self\" [help] ... category", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Physics and Economics of Moving 44 Tonnes at 56mph"}]}, {"text": " with others noting articles disappear unless favorited and older 6.x releases are losing support.", "cites": [{"id": 777102432, "item_id": 48568902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568902", "by": "cavoirom", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Thank you Mr. Brent Simmons and the contributors for a great program.", "excerpt": "I use NetNewsWire for reading blog instead of \"news\". Sometime I wish it retains the articles, the current behavior will remove the article when it disappears from the source unless I add it to favorites. Thank you Mr. Brent Simmons and the contributors for a great program.", "context": "", "use_case": "reading blogs via RSS", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}, {"id": 751716832, "item_id": 46982302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46982302", "by": "chmaynard", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "NetNewsWire has already announced that they will no longer support the earlier 6.x release that I use.", "excerpt": "I'm staying away from macOS Tahoe for now. NetNewsWire has already announced that they will no longer support the earlier 6.x release that I use. I assume that means no bug fixes or back-porting of new features. Sad.", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Reliable daily use", "summary": "Commenters use it as their daily reader, some for many years, without problems.", "quotes": [{"id": 777064960, "item_id": 48566560, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48566560", "by": "deafpolygon", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This app is my daily driver! Love it", "excerpt": "This app is my daily driver! Love it, and hope the dev continues the good work.", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}, {"id": 786215056, "item_id": 49138441, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138441", "by": "konsalexee", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use for the last many years NetNewsWire and have never had any problems reading the news I want to read.", "excerpt": "Just why bother relying on Google products for RSS? I use for the last many years NetNewsWire and have never had any problems reading the news I want to read. For ref: https://github.com/Ranchero-Software/NetNewsWire", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 777068464, "item_id": 48566779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48566779", "by": "blindpixel", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Best RSS reader I have used on iOS.", "excerpt": "I use it daily to catch up news and reading. Best RSS reader I have used on iOS. Grateful for your hard work on this, Brent and team.", "context": "iOS user", "use_case": "news and reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}]}, {"label": "Free and open source", "summary": "It is free and open source, and the project asks users not to send money.", "quotes": [{"id": 786232480, "item_id": 49139530, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49139530", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use NetNewsWire. It\u2019s free, open-source, and explicitly says not to send money.", "excerpt": "I use NetNewsWire. It\u2019s free, open-source, and explicitly says not to send money. > First thing: don\u2019t send money. This app is written for love, not money. :) https://github.com/Ranchero-Software/NetNewsWire/blob/main/Technotes/HowToSupportNetNewsWire.markdown", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 751687216, "item_id": 46980451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46980451", "by": "havaloc", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier.", "excerpt": "I was on Google Reader, then Feedly for a long time, until the Feedly iOS client just slowly degraded and got buggy. I'm not opposed to paying for a good RSS set. I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier. NNW being free is just the icing on the cake, it's really great, and FreshRSS was also really easy to install. What I like about FreshRSS is that it's ", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader front end", "switched_from": "Feedly", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 750302321, "item_id": 46893895, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46893895", "by": "raw_anon_1111", "date": "2026-02-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I just star articles in my RSS newsreader - NetNewsWire free and open source for the Mac and iOS", "excerpt": "Instapaper is the granddaddy of Read it Later apps. It was first written and published by Marco Arment - the co founder of Tumblr - in 2008. He sold it off because he started seeing dwindling sells. These days, I just star articles in my RSS newsreader - NetNewsWire free and open source for the Mac and iOS - or just favorite the submission if I come across it on HN first", "context": "", "use_case": "saving articles to read later", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Does a good \"read it later\" app exist?"}]}, {"label": "Apple platforms", "summary": "Recommended for Apple device users and called the best RSS reader on iOS.", "quotes": [{"id": 780007872, "item_id": 48750492, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48750492", "by": "brycewray", "date": "2026-07-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Highly recommend NetNewsWire", "excerpt": "Highly recommend NetNewsWire, especially if one is already using it on any other Apple device. Recent updates have substantially improved its performance (on both iOS and macOS), so it's worth a second look if you haven't tried it recently.", "context": "Apple device user", "use_case": "RSS reader on iOS/macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client"}, {"id": 777068464, "item_id": 48566779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48566779", "by": "blindpixel", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Best RSS reader I have used on iOS.", "excerpt": "I use it daily to catch up news and reading. Best RSS reader I have used on iOS. Grateful for your hard work on this, Brent and team.", "context": "iOS user", "use_case": "news and reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}, {"id": 751710832, "item_id": 46981927, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46981927", "by": "k2enemy", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love NNW, especially the new iteration since Brent got it back.", "excerpt": "I love NNW, especially the new iteration since Brent got it back. Mac-assed software at its best. The other day I was searching for how to turn a youtube channel into an RSS feed and tried all sorts of convoluted instructions for finding channel IDs, etc. At some point I thought this is the kind of user-centric thing that NNW has probably already thought of, and sure enough, if you just paste in a youtube channel URL", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading, YouTube channel feeds", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}]}, {"label": "FreshRSS sync", "summary": "Works as a front end with self-hosted FreshRSS to sync subscriptions across devices.", "quotes": [{"id": 751687216, "item_id": 46980451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46980451", "by": "havaloc", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier.", "excerpt": "I was on Google Reader, then Feedly for a long time, until the Feedly iOS client just slowly degraded and got buggy. I'm not opposed to paying for a good RSS set. I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier. NNW being free is just the icing on the cake, it's really great, and FreshRSS was also really easy to install. What I like about FreshRSS is that it's ", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader front end", "switched_from": "Feedly", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 748400944, "item_id": 46775059, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46775059", "by": "ajdude", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use netnewswire as my client", "excerpt": "I use netnewswire as my client and I'm self hosting freshrss, so my subscriptions can be synced between my phone and computer. All of my YouTube and nebula channels I follow via RSS and I think that's kind of giving me the most bang for my buck. I can just get focused on the videos that I want to subscribe to without having to even go to YouTube and get pulled into the algorithm, as well as a few sub Reddits, hacker ", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who do you follow via RSS feed?"}]}, {"label": "Thoughtful details", "summary": "Pasting a YouTube channel URL creates a feed, in line with its quality-first philosophy.", "quotes": [{"id": 751710832, "item_id": 46981927, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46981927", "by": "k2enemy", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love NNW, especially the new iteration since Brent got it back.", "excerpt": "I love NNW, especially the new iteration since Brent got it back. Mac-assed software at its best. The other day I was searching for how to turn a youtube channel into an RSS feed and tried all sorts of convoluted instructions for finding channel IDs, etc. At some point I thought this is the kind of user-centric thing that NNW has probably already thought of, and sure enough, if you just paste in a youtube channel URL", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading, YouTube channel feeds", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 751732496, "item_id": 46983281, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46983281", "by": "buchanae", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love the philosophy page", "excerpt": "I love the philosophy page: https://netnewswire.com/philosophy.html \"\"\" We believe that apps should never crash. They should be free of bugs. They should be fast \u2014 they should feel lighter-than-air. We believe that quality is more important than just piling on features; we believe that quality is the most important feature. And we believe that high quality is transformative \u2014 it makes for an app you never hesitate to", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}]}, {"label": "Improved performance", "summary": "Recent updates substantially improved performance on iOS and macOS.", "quotes": [{"id": 780007872, "item_id": 48750492, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48750492", "by": "brycewray", "date": "2026-07-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Highly recommend NetNewsWire", "excerpt": "Highly recommend NetNewsWire, especially if one is already using it on any other Apple device. Recent updates have substantially improved its performance (on both iOS and macOS), so it's worth a second look if you haven't tried it recently.", "context": "Apple device user", "use_case": "RSS reader on iOS/macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Feed discovery", "summary": "Some feeds could not be added, possibly due to multiple requests during discovery.", "quotes": [{"id": 751784768, "item_id": 46986548, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46986548", "by": "sixeyes", "date": "2026-02-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i love it, no idea it was 23 years old!", "excerpt": "i love it, no idea it was 23 years old! however, i found it doesn't abide by some \"no new content, back off for a bit\" part of the protocol. i've had two feeds refuse to be added because it sends multiple requests during discovery, i think. kind of a bummer!", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 754701728, "item_id": 47168858, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47168858", "by": "jdeibele", "date": "2026-02-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "NetNewsWire can't find that feed.", "excerpt": "NetNewsWire can't find that feed. \"Can\u2019t add a feed because no feed was found.\" I used the RSS validator at w3.org https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikeayles.com%2Frss.xml This feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations. line 1, column 10821: Missing atom:link with rel=\"self\" [help] ... category", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Physics and Economics of Moving 44 Tonnes at 56mph"}]}, {"label": "Article retention", "summary": "Articles are removed when they leave the source feed unless favorited.", "quotes": [{"id": 777102432, "item_id": 48568902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568902", "by": "cavoirom", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Thank you Mr. Brent Simmons and the contributors for a great program.", "excerpt": "I use NetNewsWire for reading blog instead of \"news\". Sometime I wish it retains the articles, the current behavior will remove the article when it disappears from the source unless I add it to favorites. Thank you Mr. Brent Simmons and the contributors for a great program.", "context": "", "use_case": "reading blogs via RSS", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}]}, {"label": "Older version support", "summary": "Support is ending for the 6.x release used by those staying off macOS Tahoe.", "quotes": [{"id": 751716832, "item_id": 46982302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46982302", "by": "chmaynard", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "NetNewsWire has already announced that they will no longer support the earlier 6.x release that I use.", "excerpt": "I'm staying away from macOS Tahoe for now. NetNewsWire has already announced that they will no longer support the earlier 6.x release that I use. I assume that means no bug fixes or back-porting of new features. Sad.", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}]}], "who": [{"by": "brycewray", "context": "Apple device user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48750492", "date": "2026-07-01"}, {"by": "blindpixel", "context": "iOS user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48566779", "date": "2026-06-16"}, {"by": "ubermonkey", "context": "lifelong nerd in my mid-50s", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46988999", "date": "2026-02-12"}], "tags": ["for Apple users", "pairs with FreshRSS", "YouTube via RSS", "for blog reading"], "use_cases": ["rss reading", "rss reader", "following favorite feeds", "rss reader on ios/macos", "reading blogs via rss", "news and reading"], "compared": [{"slug": "reeder", "name": "Reeder", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "freshrss", "name": "FreshRSS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 777098224, "item_id": 48568639, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568639", "by": "phantasmat", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My hope for retirement was to get a lot of work done on NetNewsWire.", "excerpt": "NetNewsWire Status It\u2019s been a year since I retired \u2014 my last working day was June 6, 2025 \u2014 and I like being able to say that I\u2019ve spent the year adding nothing, not one penny, to shareholder value. * * * My hope for retirement was to get a lot of work done on NetNewsWire. A year ago it was in sore need of modernization, tech debt pay-off, and bug fixes. People were asking for features, but the foundation needed a t", "context": "retired developer of NetNewsWire", "use_case": "RSS reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46978490", "title": "NetNewsWire Turns 23", "mentions": 7}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48565685", "title": "NetNewsWire Status", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49136821", "title": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48779182", "title": "Topics, Not Feeds", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48744778", "title": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47480507", "title": "PC Gamer Recommends RSS Readers in a 37MB Article That Just Keeps Downloading", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 3}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 786232480, "item_id": 49139530, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49139530", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use NetNewsWire. It\u2019s free, open-source, and explicitly says not to send money.", "excerpt": "I use NetNewsWire. It\u2019s free, open-source, and explicitly says not to send money. > First thing: don\u2019t send money. This app is written for love, not money. :) https://github.com/Ranchero-Software/NetNewsWire/blob/main/Technotes/HowToSupportNetNewsWire.markdown", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 786215056, "item_id": 49138441, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138441", "by": "konsalexee", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use for the last many years NetNewsWire and have never had any problems reading the news I want to read.", "excerpt": "Just why bother relying on Google products for RSS? I use for the last many years NetNewsWire and have never had any problems reading the news I want to read. For ref: https://github.com/Ranchero-Software/NetNewsWire", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 780501425, "item_id": 48781339, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48781339", "by": "jdeibele", "date": "2026-07-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "That's what I plan on doing with NetNewsWire.", "excerpt": "Maybe you'd call it a feed of feeds. https://blogsreader.com/t/supreme_court is the number one topic this past week and it has different blogs talking about recent decisions. Maybe more appropriate to HN: https://blogsreader.com/t/ux_design https://blogsreader.com/t/large_language_models https://blogsreader.com/t/claude https://blogsreader.com/blog Disadvantages: 1. You can't follow feeds. I tried blending it in and ", "context": "", "use_case": "following favorite feeds", "switched_from": "", "story": "Topics, Not Feeds"}, {"id": 780007872, "item_id": 48750492, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48750492", "by": "brycewray", "date": "2026-07-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Highly recommend NetNewsWire", "excerpt": "Highly recommend NetNewsWire, especially if one is already using it on any other Apple device. Recent updates have substantially improved its performance (on both iOS and macOS), so it's worth a second look if you haven't tried it recently.", "context": "Apple device user", "use_case": "RSS reader on iOS/macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HackerNows \u2013 Native iOS HN Client"}, {"id": 777102432, "item_id": 48568902, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568902", "by": "cavoirom", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Thank you Mr. Brent Simmons and the contributors for a great program.", "excerpt": "I use NetNewsWire for reading blog instead of \"news\". Sometime I wish it retains the articles, the current behavior will remove the article when it disappears from the source unless I add it to favorites. Thank you Mr. Brent Simmons and the contributors for a great program.", "context": "", "use_case": "reading blogs via RSS", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}, {"id": 777068464, "item_id": 48566779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48566779", "by": "blindpixel", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Best RSS reader I have used on iOS.", "excerpt": "I use it daily to catch up news and reading. Best RSS reader I have used on iOS. Grateful for your hard work on this, Brent and team.", "context": "iOS user", "use_case": "news and reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}, {"id": 777064960, "item_id": 48566560, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48566560", "by": "deafpolygon", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This app is my daily driver! Love it", "excerpt": "This app is my daily driver! Love it, and hope the dev continues the good work.", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}, {"id": 759725105, "item_id": 47482819, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47482819", "by": "perardi", "date": "2026-03-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "While I would prefer to read my news in NetNewsWire", "excerpt": "> Edit : Sorry I'm asking specifically about paywalled stuff Ah, you mean, like the NYTimes RSS feed. The NYTimes (and other paywall sites) only render the headline and one-sentence article summary. Like this: > Not All Malls Are Struggling > A certain type of shopping mall has become a surprising bright spot for real estate investors. You do not\u2026please correct me if I\u2019m wrong\u2026and cannot get a full-text RSS feed from", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "PC Gamer Recommends RSS Readers in a 37MB Article That Just Keeps Downloading"}, {"id": 754701728, "item_id": 47168858, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47168858", "by": "jdeibele", "date": "2026-02-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "NetNewsWire can't find that feed.", "excerpt": "NetNewsWire can't find that feed. \"Can\u2019t add a feed because no feed was found.\" I used the RSS validator at w3.org https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikeayles.com%2Frss.xml This feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations. line 1, column 10821: Missing atom:link with rel=\"self\" [help] ... category", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Physics and Economics of Moving 44 Tonnes at 56mph"}, {"id": 751823984, "item_id": 46988999, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46988999", "by": "ubermonkey", "date": "2026-02-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But NetNewsWire is still awesome.", "excerpt": "As a lifelong nerd in my mid-50s, I've accumulated a number of pieces of software that I love -- like, I really have actual emotional fondness for -- that for whatever reasons I no longer use. NNW is 100% on that list. It was my first feedreader, but at some point I shifted away from it (I think there was a time when it wouldn't sync with other services?), and now for years I've been using Feedbin's web client on my ", "context": "lifelong nerd in my mid-50s", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 751784768, "item_id": 46986548, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46986548", "by": "sixeyes", "date": "2026-02-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i love it, no idea it was 23 years old!", "excerpt": "i love it, no idea it was 23 years old! however, i found it doesn't abide by some \"no new content, back off for a bit\" part of the protocol. i've had two feeds refuse to be added because it sends multiple requests during discovery, i think. kind of a bummer!", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 751732496, "item_id": 46983281, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46983281", "by": "buchanae", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love the philosophy page", "excerpt": "I love the philosophy page: https://netnewswire.com/philosophy.html \"\"\" We believe that apps should never crash. They should be free of bugs. They should be fast \u2014 they should feel lighter-than-air. We believe that quality is more important than just piling on features; we believe that quality is the most important feature. And we believe that high quality is transformative \u2014 it makes for an app you never hesitate to", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 751716832, "item_id": 46982302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46982302", "by": "chmaynard", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "NetNewsWire has already announced that they will no longer support the earlier 6.x release that I use.", "excerpt": "I'm staying away from macOS Tahoe for now. NetNewsWire has already announced that they will no longer support the earlier 6.x release that I use. I assume that means no bug fixes or back-porting of new features. Sad.", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 751710832, "item_id": 46981927, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46981927", "by": "k2enemy", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love NNW, especially the new iteration since Brent got it back.", "excerpt": "I love NNW, especially the new iteration since Brent got it back. Mac-assed software at its best. The other day I was searching for how to turn a youtube channel into an RSS feed and tried all sorts of convoluted instructions for finding channel IDs, etc. At some point I thought this is the kind of user-centric thing that NNW has probably already thought of, and sure enough, if you just paste in a youtube channel URL", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading, YouTube channel feeds", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 751698016, "item_id": 46981126, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46981126", "by": "pavel_lishin", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use NetNewsWire locally for some stuff", "excerpt": "I use NetNewsWire locally for some stuff, but if you're looking for a web-based RSS reader, I can also highly recommend newsblur.", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 751687216, "item_id": 46980451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46980451", "by": "havaloc", "date": "2026-02-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier.", "excerpt": "I was on Google Reader, then Feedly for a long time, until the Feedly iOS client just slowly degraded and got buggy. I'm not opposed to paying for a good RSS set. I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier. NNW being free is just the icing on the cake, it's really great, and FreshRSS was also really easy to install. What I like about FreshRSS is that it's ", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader front end", "switched_from": "Feedly", "story": "NetNewsWire Turns 23"}, {"id": 750302321, "item_id": 46893895, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46893895", "by": "raw_anon_1111", "date": "2026-02-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I just star articles in my RSS newsreader - NetNewsWire free and open source for the Mac and iOS", "excerpt": "Instapaper is the granddaddy of Read it Later apps. It was first written and published by Marco Arment - the co founder of Tumblr - in 2008. He sold it off because he started seeing dwindling sells. These days, I just star articles in my RSS newsreader - NetNewsWire free and open source for the Mac and iOS - or just favorite the submission if I come across it on HN first", "context": "", "use_case": "saving articles to read later", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Does a good \"read it later\" app exist?"}, {"id": 748400944, "item_id": 46775059, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46775059", "by": "ajdude", "date": "2026-01-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use netnewswire as my client", "excerpt": "I use netnewswire as my client and I'm self hosting freshrss, so my subscriptions can be synced between my phone and computer. All of my YouTube and nebula channels I follow via RSS and I think that's kind of giving me the most bang for my buck. I can just get focused on the videos that I want to subscribe to without having to even go to YouTube and get pulled into the algorithm, as well as a few sub Reddits, hacker ", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who do you follow via RSS feed?"}, {"id": 743814577, "item_id": 46488411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46488411", "by": "geerlingguy", "date": "2026-01-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Apple had the best support for it, and almost put NetNewsWire out to pasture", "excerpt": "The RSS button is https://rssdiscovery.app/ And for a short time, RSS was the bee's knees across the entire Internet. Apple had the best support for it, and almost put NetNewsWire out to pasture, until they just removed all baked in RSS functionality, entirely :( But I use Reeder across Mac, iPad, and iPhone to keep up with feeds.", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS feed reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "Jeffgeerling.com has been Migrated to Hugo"}, {"id": 738899056, "item_id": 46181191, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46181191", "by": "rpastuszak", "date": "2025-12-07", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "keeping a separate RSS feed in NetNewsWire called People", "excerpt": "I've been messing with and collecting stuff like this for many years. Some links: - On building kind, sustainable software: https://untested.sonnet.io/notes/kind-software/ - Example projects (toys instead of blogs): https://untested.sonnet.io/notes/projects-and-apps-i-built-for-my-own-well-being/ - Wishlist: https://untested.sonnet.io/notes/things-to-support-my-own-well-being-a-wishlist/ - List of places to find indi", "context": "", "use_case": "RSS reader for people feeds", "switched_from": "", "story": "Discovering the indieweb with calm tech"}]}