# News Explorer — Newsreader with iCloud sync > Multi-source news aggregator with iCloud sync and advanced reading features. (iPhone/iPad app by Ron Elemans.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/news-explorer/id1032668306 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Ron Elemans](https://appshunter.io/developer/802165890) - Category: News, Social Networking - Price: $4.99 - Rating: 4.70/5 from 640 App Store ratings · 281 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 17+ - Requires: iOS 18.0 · 49 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2016-09-02 - Data updated: 2026-08-29 - Monetization: paid - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/news-explorer/id1032668306/reviews.md ## What is News Explorer? News Explorer is a full-featured yet easy-to-use RSS, JSON, Atom, Reddit, YouTube, Podcast, Bluesky and Mastodon news reader with iCloud synchronization between Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Full iCloud Sync • News Explorer syncs your feeds, filters, folders, articles including statuses, notes and tags, across all your Apple devices. • Synchronization is based on iCloud, so there is no need to login or to sign up into any other service, it just works out of the box. Smart Filters • Filter your news according your own conditions and preferences, easily accessible from the feeds list. • Filters customizations are synced across all your devices. Automatic Reader View • Use automatic Reader view to download and read the full text version of truncated articles from supported sources. • News Explorer makes use of multiple parsers to offer the best Reader view results. Article Comments • Read article comments from other readers directly in the app. • Works with RSS feeds that has comment feeds per article, YouTube feeds, Reddit feeds and Hacker News feeds. • Also works with most feeds from websites that use Open Web comments. Article Notes • Create rich text notes, directly in the context of the article. • Notes are synced via iCloud together with the related article. Feed Settings • All aspects of a feed like title, source link or icon, can be adjusted in the Feed settings dialog. • Disable the feed temporarily or permanently. • Override app settings for syncing, downloading comments and reading articles. Feed Prefilters • Prevent the app from downloading articles you don’t want to see or read. • Prefilters are synced via iCloud, and can be easily configured on feed level in the Feed settings dialog. Article Inspector • Inspect metadata, tags, media, notes and comments of articles in the Inspector panel. • View and add custom tags in the Metadata panel. • Browse and download media, including podcasts, in the Media panel. Article Tags • Article categories of RSS articles are displayed in the Inspector panel as tags. • Can be extended with your own tags. • Custom tags are easily recognizable, and are synced via iCloud. • Tags can be used as conditions in filters. Local Account • Add feeds to News Explorer that only exists on your device by activating the Local account option. • The local account option can be used in addition to or instead of syncing with iCloud. Reading Features • Mark items as favorite for later reading. • Navigate with one click to the original content. • Full keyboard navigation. • Full text search in the List and Timeline view. • Mark as read while scrolling option. • Image viewer to browse through all images of articles or feeds. • Built-in sharing to Instapaper, Raindrop and Readwise. • Share news items via Email, Messages and other services. Configuration Features • Countless settings to tweak layout, fonts, behaviors and more. • Import and export feeds via OPML. • Add new feeds via the Search new feeds or Add feed dialogs. • Organize your feeds by assigning them to folders. • Multiple themes, tint colors and app icons. System Features • Create automations with News Explorer actions in the Shortcuts app. • Option to index articles with Spotlight. • Local notifications for feeds selected in the Feeds Manager. • Widgets with adjustable sources and fonts. Multi Platform You only need to buy two apps to cover all Apple platforms: • News Explorer for Mac is available on the Mac App Store. • News Explorer for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV is a universal purchase app, available on the App Store of the mentioned devices. On visionOS you can use the iPadOS edition of News Explorer. Support • News Explorer has an extensive help page on https://betamagic.nl/support/newsexplorer/help.html. • If you still have questions or need support, email us at support@betamagic.nl. If you like News Explorer then feel free to leave a review or a rating in the App Store, it helps us a lot! ## Key features - iCloud sync across Apple devices - Smart filters for news customization - Automatic Reader View for full articles - Read and add article comments - Create rich text notes for articles - Customizable feed settings and prefilters - Article inspector for metadata and tags ## Chart rankings - #4 in Top Paid · News (US App Store) ## What do users think of News Explorer? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Great app - 👍 Fantastic RSS reader - 🔒 Respects privacy - 🚀 Smooth and fast - 👍 Customizable - 🚀 Seamless iCloud sync - 👍 Excellent design and UI - 👍 Intuitive and easy to use - 👍 Comprehensive features - 👍 Reliable and stable **Cons** - 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes - 🔍 Needs better search and filtering options - 🔍 Limited theme and color options - 🔍 Inconsistent behavior when marking articles as read - 🔍 Needs better support for Mastodon and other platforms **Commonly reported bugs** - Issues with iCloud sync reliability - Freezing and crashes on certain devices - Inconsistent behavior when marking articles as read - Rendering problems with some websites in Reader mode **Most requested features** - Ability to add custom RSS feeds - Improved support for newsletters - Option to translate articles - Bionic reading mode - Annotation and highlighting tools - Tagging and advanced organization features - Text-to-speech playback - Improved Apple Watch app experience ## Recent user reviews (10 of 281) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/news-explorer/id1032668306/reviews.md ### 3/5 — Stale *2026-07-25, version 2.2.11* Needs AI summarization with apple models and preferably openAI based custom LLM. Otherwise this is behind the times and likely to be abandoned. SmartRSS did a great job with AI features. I prefer NE interface but it lacks the smartness. I’d even pay a one time upgrade to an optional AI feature set. ### 5/5 — Une application parfaite *2026-07-08, version 2.2.10* Je cherchais une application de remplacement de Newsify et surtout mettre fin à un abonnement mensuel ou annuel. Et je suis tombé sur NetNewsWire et News Explorer, elles se ressemblent presque comme 2 gouttes d’eau sauf que l’autre est gratuite mais manque de fonctionnalités et surtout n’affiche pas de miniature des articles pour être attiré à lire un article chose que News Explorer permet et on peut même customiser les miniatures le nombres de lignes affichés avant d’ouvrir etc…il ne lui manque plus qu’un moteur de traduction intégré ou un raccourci vers Gemini pour le faire par exemple et l’application sera parfaite ### 4/5 — Ein sehr solider RSS Reader *2026-07-08, version 2.2.10* Ich würde mir noch wünschen, dass man die Eckenabrundungen von Thumbnails einstellen und die untere Leiste mit dem Burger, Kreis und Stern, in der Artikelansicht ausblenden kann ### 3/5 — Heftige Verzögerung seit letztem Update + Problem auf iPad mini. *2026-06-24, version 2.2.9* 1. Beim tippen auf einen meiner Nachrichten-Feeds dauert es einen kurzen Moment bis die Liste der vorliegenden Artikel letztendlich geöffnet wird. Das stört im Alltag ungemein, vor allem weil mein iPhone 15 Pro Max ansonsten sehr reaktionsschnell ist. 2. Auf meinem iPad mini 7 (A17 Pro) macht News Explorer im Hochformat noch immer Schwierigkeiten, da man nicht bis zur Hauptansicht mit den Ordnern zurückkehren kann (in dem man z. B. von links nach rechts wischt oder oben links auf zurück tippt), sondern nur bis zur Artikelliste des aktuellen Feeds. Ich kann also keine andere Quelle für die Artikel wählen, sondern muss dafür das iPad zuerst einmal in das Querformat bringen. Gerade als Reader eignet sich das iPad Mini hervorragend, aber leider nicht mit News Explorer. ### 5/5 — Love Apple TV Support *2026-06-08, version 2.2.8* Excellent RSS reader that supports the entire Apple ecosystem. The Apple TV app is a standout feature and something no other RSS app offers, which I use for YouTube feeds. I’d love to see Top Shelf support added in a future update. ### 4/5 — Great app, but one problem *2026-05-27, version 2.2.8* It’s the perfect app, but one thing I wish it did: if I try to add a specific YouTube channel to this newsreader, it cannot find the YouTube channel sometimes. I type in the exact channel name, and it brings me to some other YouTube channel or says the channel doesn’t exist. I wish it would let me add whatever YouTube channel I want ### 5/5 — It’s a great app *2026-05-21, version 2.2.8* The best bang-for-the-buck rss reader IMO. Not so modern in looks but for sure UI/UX paradigms are great. Feature set is complete and it provides much more functionality and flexibility than most of the competition. It even renders comments that people left for the article. If only iCloud sync could be faster, but that’s a price you pay I guess for not paying another subscription for a RSS sync service. The only thing I personally miss is footnotes inline rendering. Good example of this can be seen in NetNewsWire app. ### 5/5 — Very nice *2026-05-03, version 2.2.8* Lots of useful features, especially the full text retrieval. Would love to see a dedicated “read later” feed in a future update. ### 2/5 — Needs read later share *2026-04-18, version 2.2.7* A missing feature in this app is ability to share an article to it as a read later feature. It also needs some basic AI functionality such as summarizing an article which can use the built-in device AI or possibly my own, LLM. ### 5/5 — La plus complète et innovante *2026-04-11, version 2.2.7* Cette version 2 est plus que parfaite pour moi : Tags, notes, dossiers intelligents, filtres, galeries photos, réglages avancés des flux, intégration avec Raccourcis, gestion temporelle des flux, galeries d’images… En intégrant désormais la possibilité d’effacement des articles anciens selon des périodes définies, j’avoue que presque toutes les demandes que j’ai faites depuis plusieurs années ont été réalisées ! Bravo aux développeurs pour leur écoute. Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas cette application, elle ringardise toutes les autres applications de RSS et il faut savoir que certaines fonctionnalités avancées passent par des « appuis longs » sur des boutons ou sur les intitulés des flux. A noter que c’est aussi une des rares applications RSS qui fonctionne sur Apple TV (avec malheureusement de grosses limites inhérentes à TVOs). ## Frequently asked questions about News Explorer ### What does News Explorer do? News Explorer is a comprehensive news reader that aggregates content from RSS feeds, JSON, Atom, Reddit, YouTube, Podcasts, Bluesky, and Mastodon. It allows users to read, organize, and manage their news sources efficiently across all their Apple devices. ### What are the key features of News Explorer? Key features include seamless iCloud synchronization across Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV, smart filters for personalized news, an automatic reader view for full article text, the ability to read and add comments, and the creation of rich text notes directly within articles. ### How much does News Explorer cost? Based on the provided information, News Explorer is a paid application. There are no mentions of in-app purchases or advertisements, indicating a one-time purchase model. ### What devices is News Explorer compatible with? News Explorer is designed for the Apple ecosystem and is compatible with Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. It leverages iCloud for synchronization across these devices. ### What are common use cases for News Explorer? Common use cases include staying updated with news from favorite websites and blogs via RSS, following discussions on Reddit, subscribing to podcasts and YouTube channels, and keeping up with social media feeds from Bluesky and Mastodon, all within a single, organized application. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 2.2.11 — 2026-07-14 • Fixed parsing Bluesky feeds containing posts with the recently introduced image carousel feature. ### 2.2.10 — 2026-07-05 • Removed double tap support in the feeds list to restore the original responsiveness when opening feeds. The Feed settings dialog can be accessed via the left-to-right swipe gesture or long-press context menu on a selected feed in the feeds list. • Fine-tuned the split viewer implementation when using the app on iPad. Experiment with Viewing settings “Allow panels to be side by side” and “Hide feeds list after selecting article” to find the best reading experience on your iPad that matches your personal preferences. • Improved handling of Reddit feeds when using the Search New Feeds dialog. • Implemented code to prevent “_thereIsNoSadnessLikeTheDeathOfOptimism” crashes when downloading badly encoded WordPress feeds. • Feed-level setting “Auto correct invalid feed data” now also work with Atom feeds. ### 2.2.9 — 2026-06-22 • Improved Reddit feeds support. • New setting to always download Reddit feeds as RSS. • Fixed a bug in the feeds list when using a trackpad with default settings. • Fixed a bug that prevented updating a Mastodon account ID in feed settings. ### 2.2.8 — 2026-04-30 • Restored sharing to Raindrop. • Notifications are now grouped by feed folder. • Improved implementation of “Auto correct invalid feed data” option. • Fixed display of articles without a title and summary in article list. ### 2.2.7 — 2026-03-09 • Fixes a crash with option "Open feeds list" for behavior "After marking all as read". ## Apps similar to News Explorer | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Daily News Digest: Pidgeon](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/daily-news-digest-pidgeon/id6736756531) | 4.6 (27) | Free | News | | [Big News - Smart Reader](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/big-news-smart-reader/id1582306019) | 4.3 (54) | Free | News | | [Twine: Smart RSS & News Reader](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/twine-smart-rss-and-news-reader/id6465694958) | 3.9 (13) | Free | News | | [NewsNinja: Smart RSS Reader](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/newsninja-smart-rss-reader/id6504148117) | 4.6 (41) | Free | News | | [Bulletin: AI News Reader](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bulletin-ai-news-reader/id6476572500) | 4.2 (185) | Free | News | | [Newsbite](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/newsbite/id1478566472) | 4.5 (4) | Free | News | --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-29.*