Heartfeed RSS Reader vs Elytra
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Heartfeed RSS Reader
This app offers an efficient, no-nonsense way to read news from RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds without requiring account setup or server reliance. It features a compact grid view, background feed refreshing, and seamless syncing across iOS devices via iCloud.
- Compact grid view for feeds
- Internal browser with content blocker support
- Automatic iCloud sync for feeds and read status
- Quick pick list for selecting news items
- Background feed refresh and caching
- Bookmark management with iCloud sync
- Night mode theme
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Do you want to read your news using RSS/Atom/JSON feeds in the most efficient, no-nonsense way, and with no requirement to setup an app-specific user account or relying on a server? If you do, Heartfeed might be the app for you. Features: - A compact grid view for your feeds, making it easy to check all of them at once - When reading news in the internal browser, full support of your configured content blockers, saved passwords, etc. - Automatic synching of subscribed feeds and read status between iOS devices (requires an iCloud account) - Quick pick list: Easily select which news items from different feeds you want to read - Background refresh of feeds: Some feeds refresh often and you then risk missing news in case the app is not used frequently. Background refresh, together with caching of the last 50 news items in each feed, prevents this from happening - Bookmarks, including reading them from either inside Heartfeed or from any iOS or macOS browser (requires an iCloud account) - Night mode theme - Subscribing to feeds from the current Heartfeed top list, from files, or directly from the web - Full support for split views and multi-tasking on iPads - No tracking of usage or personal data; optionally, you can anonymously share which feeds you subscribe to for improving the builtin top list of recommended feeds The app is 100% free and without ads. If you want to tip me somethings as thanks for the app, you can do so within the settings. I hope you'll enjoy using Heartfeed!
Elytra
A privacy-focused RSS reader for iOS and macOS that offers native article rendering, advanced search, and cross-device synchronization. It strips tracking scripts and provides customizable appearance options for a clean reading experience.
- Privacy-focused design
- Native article and image rendering
- Cross-device synchronization
- Search within articles
- Customizable appearance
- Mute filters
- Widgets
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Elytra is a private RSS reader for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Follow the news sites and blogs you choose, read them in a clean native reader with every tracker stripped out, and keep everything in sync across your devices. Elytra is a paid app: every new account starts with a 14-day free trial, after which you can subscribe or buy a one-time lifetime licence. WHY ELYTRA PRIVATE BY DESIGN: Your account is created automatically. There is no email, no password and no personal information. A random account ID and anonymous crash reports are the only data Elytra uses, and only to sync your feeds and keep the app stable. NO TRACKING: Elytra removes tracking scripts and tracking pixels from every article, so what you read stays between you and your device. NATIVE READER: Articles are rendered with native iOS text and image views, not a web view. That means Dynamic Type, VoiceOver, text selection across paragraphs, syntax-highlighted code blocks and fast scrolling on long articles. SYNC: Your feeds, folders, read state and bookmarks sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac through Elytra's own service. The Mac app is a separate download on the Mac App Store. PUSH NOTIFICATIONS: Get real-time alerts from blogs that support the WebSub protocol, and near real-time local notifications from the ones that do not. FULL-TEXT ARTICLES: When a feed only ships a summary, Elytra can fetch the full article for you. SEARCH: Search for a feed, then an article, then a phrase inside the article. Elytra was the first RSS reader to search within articles. MUTE FILTERS: Hide topics, spoilers and keywords you do not want in your timeline. OPML: Import your subscriptions from another reader, and export them at any time. OFFLINE BOOKMARKS: Bookmarked articles are stored on your device, so you can read them without a connection. FEED FORMATS: RSS, Atom and JSON Feed are all supported. IMAGE LOADING: Choose when images load to save mobile data, or load them on demand. APPEARANCE: Light and dark themes, a choice of serif and sans-serif fonts, and support for custom fonts installed on your device. LINKED HEADERS: When an author links section headers, Elytra lets you share a link straight to that section. WIDGETS: Four widgets bring your favourite feeds and latest updates to your Home Screen and Lock Screen. ——— Elytra uses its own sync service and cannot connect to Feedly, Inoreader, iCloud or other RSS syncing services. ——— Terms: https://elytra.app/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://elytra.app/privacy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Heartfeed RSS Reader at 89% against Elytra's 44%. Heartfeed RSS Reader also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.7) and monetization model (free vs subscription). Elytra's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Heartfeed RSS Reader sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Elytra sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Heartfeed RSS Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Heartfeed RSS Reader has 90 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 89% of Heartfeed RSS Reader's written reviews are positive against 44% of Elytra's.
Heartfeed RSS Reader ships an update every 2 months, Elytra fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Heartfeed RSS Reader | Elytra |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (90 ratings) — better | 3.7 (9 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 89.0% of reviews — better | 44.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 90 — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Ozymandias | Nikhil Nigade |
Customer experience
Heartfeed RSS Reader
Elytra
Bugs and requests
Heartfeed RSS Reader
Reported bugs
6 issues- App crashes on launch
- Crashes after adding feeds
- Multiple crashes during normal usage
- App fails to start after recent updates
- iCloud syncing issues (requires troubleshooting)
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- Bright reader screen conflicts with dark mode setting
Requested features
13 requests- Search functionality with highlighting across feeds
- Individual mark-as-read buttons per feed
- Thumbnail images in grid view
- Apple Watch app support
- Offline reading capability
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- Multi-language support including RTL scripts
- Integration with Feedly and other accounts
- Preserve feed groups on OPML import
- Dark mode for reader screen
- Feed discovery page with popular feeds index
- Ability to save/bookmark articles
- Variable font sizes in grid view
- Apple News+ integration
Elytra
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Heartfeed RSS Reader
- Tipping the developer$0.99
- Unlimited feeds$2.99
- Tipping the developer$2.99
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- Even more tip to the developer$9.99
- Maximum tip to the developer$24.99
Elytra
- Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Pro - Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$10.491 Year
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- Pro - Yearly7 Days trial$20.001 Year
- Free TrialFree
- 1 Month Subscription$0.99
- 3 Months Subscription$2.99
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- 1 Year Subscription$12.99
- Lifetime Subscription$54.99







