Hacker ApprovedDepartments

NetNewsWire

Hacker Approved

The most recommended of 15 RSS readers

Free native Mac and iOS RSS reader praised for speed, keyboard shortcuts and iCloud sync; the common caveat is missing features from older versions.

Free native Mac and iOS RSS reader praised for speed, keyboard shortcuts and iCloud sync; the common caveat is missing features from older versions.

86 people gave an opinion

recommend it
79
criticize it
7
approval share
92%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 10 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: recommended
  4. February 2026: recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: not recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: recommended
  9. July 2026: recommended
  10. August 2026: recommended
  11. September 2026: not recommended
  12. October 2026: recommended
  13. November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)

Owned for 4 years

Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.

Each square is one year.

Why it carries the badge

  • 79 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
  • 11 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
  • Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.

The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works

What people say about it

The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.

Why people recommend it

Each mark is one comment

  • Syncs with iCloud or FreshRSS

    “I use netnewswire as my client and I'm self hosting freshrss, so my subscriptions can be synced between my phone and computer.”

    Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: Who do you follow via RSS feed?”

    “I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier.”

    Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

    “NNW + Miniflux is my favorite combination and I’ve been using it for many years.”

    Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”
  • Reliable daily reader for years

    “I use for the last many years NetNewsWire and have never had any problems reading the news I want to read.”

    Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)”

    “I use it daily to catch up news and reading. Best RSS reader I have used on iOS.”

    Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “NetNewsWire Status”

    “This app is my daily driver! Love it, and hope the dev continues the good work.”

    Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “NetNewsWire Status”
  • Native Mac and iOS design

    “NetNewsWire is part of my daily routine. The best feed reader out there with support for iCloud Sync and macOS native.”

    Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “NetNewsWire Status”

    “One of the standout features of the app is just being native, not trying to re-invent the wheel with custom GUI”

    Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

    “Having an app that just follows the current standard native platform conventions is better for users”

    Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”
  • Fast, clean, uncluttered interface

    “Hands down the best RSS reader I've used. It's fast, tiny, built extremely well, and has no flab.”

    Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

    “a river stone tumbled smooth and with enough weight that it feels good in your hand”

    Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

    “Recent updates have substantially improved its performance (on both iOS and macOS)”

    Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: HackerNows – Native iOS HN Client”

What people warn about

Each mark is one comment

  • Dislikes Liquid Glass redesign

    “I think the iOS version is better! I don't like Liquid Glass on Mac though.”

    Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

    “how is wasting time making the design worse to follow the OS instead of spending that time implementing missing features”

    Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

    “liquid glass degradation isn't mandatory and "much easier" is still harder than doing the better nothing”

    Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”
  • Missing features from older versions

    “it’s also missing a lot of features that the old NetNewsWire had”

    Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

    “I love it too, but I would still like some concept of folders”

    Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”
  • Drops support for older versions

    “I'm just sad that, since I'll personally never upgrade to Liquid (Gl)ass, they stopped updating NetNewsWire for macOS versions before Tahoe.”

    Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “The View from RSS”

    “blocking all ios versions below the latest (so you can't get bug fixes and slow features with the better design)”

    Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

    “NetNewsWire has already announced that they will no longer support the earlier 6.x release that I use.”

    Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

Other RSS readers people recommend

The four most recommended other RSS readers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.

NetNewsWire compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
NetNewsWireThis page79792%104 yrs5 ownersApproved
Miniflux270100%81 mo5 ownersApproved
FreshRSS260100%8—Approved
Inoreader20195%9—Approved
Newsboat12192%7—Approved
See all 15 RSS readers, ranked

What people said

40 of the 101 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“Everything is doable by keyboard, and the keyboard commands are extremely logical and intuitive.”

RecommendsComment from 28 Aug 2026 in “GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven”

“he includes a Safari plugin to get an RSS button back into the interface for easy subscribing”

RecommendsComment from 1 Aug 2026 in “How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)”

“I use for the last many years NetNewsWire and have never had any problems reading the news I want to read.”

RecommendsComment from 1 Aug 2026 in “How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)”

“Recent updates have substantially improved its performance (on both iOS and macOS)”

RecommendsComment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: HackerNows – Native iOS HN Client”

“we have many excellent RSS Reader. Just as recently someone talked about NetNewsWire.”

RecommendsComment from 19 Jun 2026 in “There Are No Instances in ATProto”

“NetNewsWire is part of my daily routine. The best feed reader out there with support for iCloud Sync and macOS native.”

RecommendsComment from 18 Jun 2026 in “NetNewsWire Status”

“Bringing Bubbles (and HN) into NetNewsWire is a game-changer for content discovery”

RecommendsComment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Hacker News but for Independent Blogs”

“Thank you Mr. Brent Simmons and the contributors for a great program.”

RecommendsComment from 17 Jun 2026 in “NetNewsWire Status”

“It's amazing and we should hope for more apps to be stewarded by a person like this.”

RecommendsComment from 17 Jun 2026 in “NetNewsWire Status”

“By combining everything in a simple interface with chronological order”

RecommendsComment from 17 Jun 2026 in “NetNewsWire Status”

“I use it daily to catch up news and reading. Best RSS reader I have used on iOS.”

RecommendsComment from 17 Jun 2026 in “NetNewsWire Status”

“This app is my daily driver! Love it, and hope the dev continues the good work.”

RecommendsComment from 17 Jun 2026 in “NetNewsWire Status”

“It’s my daily news driver and the app I am spending most time in.”

RecommendsComment from 17 Jun 2026 in “NetNewsWire Status”

“I'm very pleased with the FreshRSS webapp and NetNewsWire integration”

RecommendsComment from 23 Mar 2026 in “PC Gamer Recommends RSS Readers in a 37MB Article That Just Keeps Downloading”

“While I would prefer to read my news in NetNewsWire, hitting a de-shittified reader view in Safari is a decent fallback.”

MixedComment from 22 Mar 2026 in “PC Gamer Recommends RSS Readers in a 37MB Article That Just Keeps Downloading”

“I'm just sad that, since I'll personally never upgrade to Liquid (Gl)ass, they stopped updating NetNewsWire for macOS versions before Tahoe.”

MixedComment from 5 Mar 2026 in “The View from RSS”

“NetNewsWire is SO good - both the macOS and iPhone apps. Real labor of love.”

RecommendsComment from 4 Mar 2026 in “The View from RSS”

“Start by copying the key features. That is what you are building, but for HN.”

RecommendsComment from 22 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: A native macOS client for Hacker News, built with SwiftUI”

“Having an app that just follows the current standard native platform conventions is better for users”

RecommendsComment from 14 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“This is THE reader of RSS feeds if you're in the Apple ecosystem.”

RecommendsComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“I think the iOS version is better! I don't like Liquid Glass on Mac though.”

MixedComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“liquid glass degradation isn't mandatory and "much easier" is still harder than doing the better nothing”

CriticizesComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“One of the standout features of the app is just being native, not trying to re-invent the wheel with custom GUI”

RecommendsComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“how is wasting time making the design worse to follow the OS instead of spending that time implementing missing features”

CriticizesComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“considering it's only the 7th major version to come out in 23 years, I'd say that's a fairly safe place to demarcate backwards compatibility”

RecommendsComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“non social media, non algo part of the internet going from strength to strength”

RecommendsComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“blocking all ios versions below the latest (so you can't get bug fixes and slow features with the better design)”

CriticizesComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“We believe that apps should never crash. They should be free of bugs.”

RecommendsComment from 12 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“it’s also missing a lot of features that the old NetNewsWire had”

MixedComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“NetNewsWire has already announced that they will no longer support the earlier 6.x release that I use.”

CriticizesComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“I have been using NetNewsWire for over 4 years, and I love it.”

RecommendsComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“They all support Google Reader / Fever API so it all works great”

RecommendsComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“I love it too, but I would still like some concept of folders”

MixedComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“Amazing software, I just use it and sync to iCloud, works flawlessly.”

RecommendsComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“I finally switched to NetNewsWire as the front end and FreshRSS on the backend, and could not be happier.”

RecommendsComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“a river stone tumbled smooth and with enough weight that it feels good in your hand”

RecommendsComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“NNW + Miniflux is my favorite combination and I’ve been using it for many years.”

RecommendsComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“Hands down the best RSS reader I've used. It's fast, tiny, built extremely well, and has no flab.”

RecommendsComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“NNW is just the easiest solution for me since I'm in the Apple ecosystem.”

RecommendsComment from 11 Feb 2026 in “NetNewsWire Turns 23”

“I use netnewswire as my client and I'm self hosting freshrss, so my subscriptions can be synced between my phone and computer.”

RecommendsComment from 27 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: Who do you follow via RSS feed?”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.