Basic Reader
RSS & Atom. No Subscription.
Free · In‑App Purchases
Basic Reader is a fast, focused RSS reader for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. No account. No nonsense.
Most RSS apps have turned into subscription businesses — charging $8-10/month for features that should come standard. Basic Reader is free to download and free to use for reading your feeds. When you're ready for more, a single one-time purchase unlocks the full feature set — and it's yours for good. No subscription. Ever.
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Feeds & Folders
Subscribe to any RSS or Atom feed. Group them into collapsible folders with drag-and-drop reordering. Unread counts appear at a glance on every feed, folder, and your app icon badge.
Background Refresh
Your feeds update automatically on a configurable schedule. Pull to refresh any time.
OPML Import & Export
Bring your subscriptions in from any other reader. Take them out just as easily. Your data is never held hostage.
Swipe Gestures
Swipe to mark articles read or unread without opening them. Accidentally marked everything read? Shake to undo.
Star Favorites
Star any article to save it for later, accessible across all your feeds.
Privacy Controls
Control image loading and Javascript to block tracking pixels and reduce data usage. No analytics SDKs. No backend. We never see what you read.
iPhone, iPad & Mac
Built natively in SwiftUI. A clean adaptive layout on iPhone, a full three-column view on iPad and Mac.
Full Accessibility
VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, and Reduce Motion support — built in from day one.
--- UNLOCK THE FULL VERSION ---
One time purchase. No subscription, no recurring fee, no tiers to upgrade later. Unlocks:
Smart Search
Search across all your articles instantly. Results are re-ranked using an on-device AI model for semantic relevance — so you find what you mean, not just what you typed. Nothing leaves your device.
iCloud Sync
Feeds, folders, filter rules, read status, starred articles, and preferences sync automatically across all your devices via iCloud. No account needed beyond your Apple ID.
Content Filter Rules
Hide the noise with wildcard, regex, or semantic filters that match by topic — not just exact words.
Timeline
A single combined view of every article from every feed, in one place.
Article View Styles
Customize how articles are displayed for a more comfortable reading experience.
--- NO SUBSCRIPTION. EVER. ---
The unlock is a one-time purchase. Whatever it includes today stays yours — nothing you've already unlocked will ever be paywalled again or moved behind a new tier.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
What's new since 1.1
Feed Health (Full only)
Feeds that stop updating now show a warning icon. Long-press/right-click a feed to see "Feed Health" — how many fetches have failed in a row, the error, and when it last worked.
Feed Preview
Before you subscribe, Add Feed now shows the feed's title, description, article count, and a few sample headlines — so you can check it's the right feed before committing.
Share from Safari (Full only)
You can now add a feed straight from Safari (or other apps) via the Share Sheet. Works even if you share a normal webpage, not just a raw feed link — it'll try to find the feed automatically.
Faster scrolling with images
If you use the Compact or Card article list styles, scrolling through feeds with lots of images should feel noticeably smoother, especially with a large number of feeds.
Fixed: some feeds never showing images
A few feeds (xkcd was one) never loaded a thumbnail in the article list even with images enabled. Should be fixed now — please check if any feed you know was affected looks right.
Fixed: a feed silently stuck for weeks
If any feed's "Updated" timestamp looked stuck far in the past, that should now resolve itself on the next refresh.
General speed improvements
Various fixes to reduce lag, especially for anyone with a large number of feeds (~90+).
The developer, Leander Quiring, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- User Content
- Usage Data
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Leander Quiring
- Size
- 13.1 MB
- Category
- News
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 26.2 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 26.2 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 26.2 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 26.2 or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 26.2 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
16+
- 16+
- Contains
Unrestricted Web Access
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Core Unlock $3.99
- Copyright
- © 2026 Quirinal Studios

