# NetNewsWire Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/netnewswire/ 71 people recommended NetNewsWire in Hacker News comments, 6 had mixed feelings and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 12 months, in 25 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Free native Mac and iOS RSS reader praised for speed, keyboard shortcuts and iCloud sync; the common caveat is missing features from older versions. Summary written by Claude from 51 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 50 of those comments still count. ## Why people recommend it - Syncs with iCloud or FreshRSS (6 comments in the sample): "I use netnewswire as my client and I'm self hosting freshrss, so my subscriptions can be synced between my phone and computer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46775059)) "I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46980451)) "NNW + Miniflux is my favorite combination and I’ve been using it for many years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46979879)) - Reliable daily reader for years (5 comments in the sample): "I use for the last many years NetNewsWire and have never had any problems reading the news I want to read." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138441)) "I use it daily to catch up news and reading. Best RSS reader I have used on iOS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48566779)) "This app is my daily driver! Love it, and hope the dev continues the good work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48566560)) - Native Mac and iOS design (5 comments in the sample): "NetNewsWire is part of my daily routine. The best feed reader out there with support for iCloud Sync and macOS native." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48589337)) "One of the standout features of the app is just being native, not trying to re-invent the wheel with custom GUI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46987036)) "Having an app that just follows the current standard native platform conventions is better for users" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47014621)) - Fast, clean, uncluttered interface (4 comments in the sample): "Hands down the best RSS reader I've used. It's fast, tiny, built extremely well, and has no flab." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46979531)) "a river stone tumbled smooth and with enough weight that it feels good in your hand" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46979889)) "Recent updates have substantially improved its performance (on both iOS and macOS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48750492)) ## What people warn about - Dislikes Liquid Glass redesign (3 comments in the sample): "I think the iOS version is better! I don't like Liquid Glass on Mac though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46989998)) "how is wasting time making the design worse to follow the OS instead of spending that time implementing missing features" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46985931)) "liquid glass degradation isn't mandatory and "much easier" is still harder than doing the better nothing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46987440)) - Drops support for older versions (2 comments in the sample): "I'm just sad that, since I'll personally never upgrade to Liquid (Gl)ass, they stopped updating NetNewsWire for macOS versions before Tahoe." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47259110)) "blocking all ios versions below the latest (so you can't get bug fixes and slow features with the better design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46985623)) - Missing features from older versions (1 comment in the sample): "it’s also missing a lot of features that the old NetNewsWire had" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46982713)) ## Other RSS readers people recommend - [FreshRSS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/freshrss/): 25 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize - [Miniflux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/miniflux/): 25 recommend, 2 mixed, 0 criticize - [Inoreader](https://hackerapproved.com/p/inoreader/): 17 recommend, 1 mixed, 1 criticize - [Newsboat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/newsboat/): 11 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "NetNewsWire", https://hackerapproved.com/p/netnewswire/ (71 recommend, 6 mixed, 6 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.