Comparison

Heartfeed RSS Reader vs RSS News Ticker

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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!

About

RSS News Ticker

Organize your news feeds with this reader. Subscribe to RSS and Atom sources, with articles cached locally for offline reading. Features include iCloud sync, a unified newsfeed, tagging for organization, bookmarking, and word muting.

Highlights
  • Subscribe to RSS & Atom feeds
  • Offline article caching
  • iCloud sync across devices
  • Unified newsfeed and timeline
  • Tagging for article organization
  • Bookmark articles for later
  • Mute specific words or topics
Features
Read full description

Start bringing order in your news-jungle. Ticker can help you with that. FEATURES Subscribe RSS & Atom sources Subscribe to RSS and Atom feeds in Ticker. All articles are cached locally so you can read them on the go. Use pull-to-refresh to sync all your sources at once. iCloud Sync Your data is only accessible to you, thats why Ticker uses your private iCloud to sync across your devices. Newsfeed & Timeline Access articles of all your sources in one newsfeed. Check your viewed articles in the dedicated timeline. Tags Use tags to bring order in the news-jungle. Tags identify relevant articles by keywords you can define. Articles which include a keyword are automatically assigned to that tag. You can look up relevant articles per tag or view all articles that have at least one tag assigned. Bookmarks Don't have time to read all articles when they pop up? No problem, you can bookmark articles and read them later on. A dedicated Bookmarks view keeps track of all your bookmarked articles to have it available anytime. Mute words Sometimes, topics pop up in your feed, that might not be interesting. In that case, you can mute words for a specific period of time (one day, a week, a month) or even forever.

Screenshots

Heartfeed RSS Reader4 screens
RSS News Ticker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Heartfeed RSS Reader at free against RSS News Ticker's free with in-app purchases. Heartfeed RSS Reader also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6) and ratings volume (90 vs 11). RSS News Ticker's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Heartfeed RSS Reader sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and RSS News Ticker sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Heartfeed RSS Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Heartfeed RSS Reader has 90 ratings behind it against 11, 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 88% of RSS News Ticker's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Heartfeed RSS Reader ships an update every 2 months, RSS News Ticker every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 12, 2026 and August 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Heartfeed RSS Reader versus RSS News Ticker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHeartfeed RSS ReaderRSS News Ticker
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (90 ratings) — better4.6 (11 ratings)
Positive reviews89.0% of reviews — better87.5% of reviews
Number of ratings90 — better11
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB10 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperOzymandiasDaniel Hoefer

Customer experience

Heartfeed RSS Reader

All ratings90 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral2.2%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews91 reviews
Positive89.0%
Neutral5.5%
Negative5.5%

RSS News Ticker

All ratings11 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral9.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews16 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%

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)
Show 1 more
  • 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
Show 8 more
  • 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

RSS News Ticker

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Heartfeed RSS Reader

One-time5
  • Tipping the developer$0.99
  • Unlimited feeds$2.99
  • Tipping the developer$2.99
Show 2 more
  • Even more tip to the developer$9.99
  • Maximum tip to the developer$24.99
3 purchases

RSS News Ticker

One-time3
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Mid Tip$2.99
  • Big Tip$5.99

Questions

Is Heartfeed RSS Reader free?
Heartfeed RSS Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is RSS News Ticker free?
RSS News Ticker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Heartfeed RSS Reader or RSS News Ticker?
Heartfeed RSS Reader is rated higher. Heartfeed RSS Reader averages 4.8 out of 5 from 90 ratings, while RSS News Ticker averages 4.6 from 11 ratings.
Do Heartfeed RSS Reader or RSS News Ticker have ads?
Neither Heartfeed RSS Reader nor RSS News Ticker shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Heartfeed RSS Reader or RSS News Ticker?
Heartfeed RSS Reader ships an update every 2 months, and RSS News Ticker every 3 weeks. Most recently, Heartfeed RSS Reader was updated on September 12, 2026 and RSS News Ticker on August 23, 2026.

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