Comparison

Unread vs Atode

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

Head to head
About

Unread

This app is a beautifully designed RSS reader that focuses on a clean reading experience with customizable typography and themes. It offers seamless syncing across devices and integrates with various read-later services, allowing for offline access to cached content.

Highlights
  • Gesture-based navigation
  • Customizable color themes
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Automatic webpage text display
  • Offline access with caching
  • Integration with read-later services
  • Widgets for unread counts
Features
Read full description

Rediscover the joy of reading your favorite writers and publications with Unread. Unread is an RSS reader with beautiful typography, comfortable gesture-based navigation, and a variety of color themes. Unread is available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Unread won the MacStories Selects 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. Capabilities include: SYNCING: Our free Unread Cloud service keeps your devices in sync. Unread also syncs with Feedbin, Feedly, Fever, FreshRSS, Gobbler, Inkwell, Inoreader, Miniflux, and NewsBlur. AUTOMATIC WEBPAGE TEXT: For feeds that contain only article summaries, Unread will display the full article text from the webpage. Easily switch between feed text and webpage text for any article, and change the default for individual feeds. WEBSITE ACCOUNTS: For news websites that require an account, sign in and get full webpage text. SUBSCRIBE IN UNREAD: This share sheet extension lets you subscribe to a website’s feeds while visiting that website from Safari or any other web browser. SAVE TO UNREAD: This share sheet extension creates an article in Unread with the contents of the webpage you are visiting from Safari or any other web browser. (Subscription required.) COLOR THEMES: Unread provides a variety of color themes. Choose one theme for light mode and another for dark mode. CACHING: Unread caches webpage text and images for instant loading and offline access. (Subscription required.) READ-LATER SERVICES: Unread can save articles to Anybox, Flyleaf, GoodLinks, Instapaper, Matter, Pinboard, Plinky, Raindrop.io, Readwise, Safari Reading List, and wallabag. On a device with a hardware keyboard, assign a custom keyboard shortcut to each. (Subscription required.) SHORTCUTS: Perform shortcuts on articles and links inside articles. On a device with a hardware keyboard, assign a custom keyboard shortcut to each. (Subscription required.) --- “Most importantly, I should stress again how refreshing it feels to have such a great native experience with Unread. The app is really fast, even when it’s loaded up with hundreds of feeds.” — Niléane Dorffer, MacStories “It’s an RSS reader made with taste. It has great typography, themes, search, and compatibility with the usual suspects. I love having this app on my Mac.” — David Sparks, MacSparky “Unread is focused on eliminating chrome — it is a pure reading app. It’s like reader mode all the time, and the assortment of color themes is nicely curated.” – John Gruber, Daring Fireball --- Unread has full VoiceOver coverage. Every screen and every feature is available to users with vision impairments: • From any screen you can perform a magic tap, a two-finger double tap, to open a menu of options available for that screen. • When on an article list, there are actions available for each article in the list. After selecting an article, invoke the accessibility rotor and then select “Actions”. There is an action to mark the article read or unread, an action to share the article, and many others. • Use the VoiceOver escape gesture, a two-finger “Z”, to back out of the current screen. --- UNREAD SUBSCRIPTION Unread is a free app. Additional functionality is available with a $29.99 (USD)/year auto-renewing subscription: • Article actions for sending articles directly to supported bookmarking and read later services, and for sharing via email or iMessage. • Ability to execute shortcuts on articles and links. • Caching of webpage text and images. • Widget customization options. • Save to Unread share sheet extension. • Custom app icons. • Premium support. A subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your account settings on the App Store after purchase. Unread’s Terms of Use are available at: https://www.goldenhillsoftware.com/unread/terms-of-use/

About

Atode

Save articles from any app for distraction-free reading later. Organize your saved content with custom styles, notes, and highlights. Syncs across devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Bookmark articles from any app
  • Offline reading with optimized format
  • Customizable reader with themes and fonts
  • Highlighting and note-taking
  • Organize with folders and tags
  • Export articles in various formats
  • iCloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

Atode lets you bookmark and save articles for reading later. Save news, blog or other text based content directly from Safari, Firefox, Chrome or any other app. Read anything you saved later in an optimized format with custom styles for better readability and distraction-free reading. BOOKMARK Save articles with just a click from Safari or any other app by using the bookmark extension. Atode doesn't only save links to those pages you want to return to. It also downloads their content and converts it to a minimal format. Read anything you saved later with just the essential text and images, without any headers, ads or clutter to get in the way. All content is stored on your device, so it even works offline. READER The reader's design is carefully crafted for articles with custom styles for better readability and distraction-free reading. Choose your favorite theme font (Lato, Georgia, Lexend, OpenDyslexic, ...), reader mode (day, sepia, grey, black, ...), select a preset or custom font size, content layout (page, scroll), adjust margins and many more options. Take notes or highlight favorite sections while reading. Search to quickly find anything or copy, define, translate and lookup selected text. LIBRARY Organise your articles in an easy to use library. Mark articles as favorites, add tags or put them in folders. Sort articles by date, unread, title or recently read. Browse your collection by folder, tag or website and filter the library by tags or reading time. Export your articles with all information and annotations in text, markdown or json format or upload highlights to Readwise and other services. You can also save the article content as a PDF, plain text or markdown for use in other apps. CLOUD All your articles and annotations are stored securely in Apple's iCloud, there is no external account required. Keep all your articles safe and at hand on whatever device. Every time you add an article, annotation, folder or tag, it's synced to all your other devices. Always have the latest version, when you start reading on your iPad and continue on your iPhone on the go. Please note that you need to be signed in on your device with the same Apple ID on all platforms. WIDGETS See your bookmarked articles or highlighted quotes. Atode includes widgets to quickly view and open your bookmarked articles or highlighted quotes. Add a widget from the gallery and choose a list from the configuration options. Continue reading where you left off right from your home or lock screen. PREMIUM The basic edition is free to use, includes all features and lets you try out the unrestricted reader. However, there is a limit to the number of bookmarks you can save per month. Upgrade to a premium subscription for more or unlimited bookmarks. - Atode Plus: Increased bookmark limit - Atode Pro: Unlimited number of bookmarks Atode is an independent app, your purchase supports the further development. When you buy an in-app purchase, you are doing so through Apple's App Store and agree to their terms and conditions. Payments will be charged to the credit card of your Apple account. SERVICE Atode is available for iPhone, iPad and Mac. In contrast to other read it later apps, Atode does not collect or sell any personal information. And it keeps your data private. Terms of Service: https://www.atode-reader.com/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://www.atode-reader.com/privacy/ Support: https://www.atode-reader.com/support/

Screenshots

Unread4 screens
Atode4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Unread at every 8 days against Atode's every 5 weeks. Unread also leads on ratings volume (442 vs 17) and review sentiment (72% vs 60%). On price, rating, 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. Unread sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Atode sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Unread against 4.6 for Atode. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Unread has 442 ratings behind it against 17, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 72% of Unread's written reviews are positive against 60% of Atode's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Unread ships an update every 8 days, Atode every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Unread versus Atode: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUnreadAtode
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (442 ratings)4.6 (17 ratings)
Positive reviews72.4% of reviews — better60.0% of reviews
Number of ratings442 — better17
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB57 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperGolden Hill SoftwareBeat Raess

Customer experience

Unread

All ratings442 ratings
Positive89.8%
Neutral2.7%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews170 reviews
Positive72.4%
Neutral8.2%
Negative19.4%

Atode

All ratings17 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.9%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%

Bugs and requests

Unread

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Occasional article duplication
  • Issues with 'Keep Unread' feature
  • Text formatting problems in dark mode

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add support for more RSS providers (e.g., Miniflux, FreshRSS)
  • Implement keyboard shortcuts and power-user features
  • Improve information density on iPad layout
  • Introduce a one-time purchase option

Atode

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Unread

Subscriptions4
  • Unread Monthly Subscription$4.991 Month
  • Unread Annual Subscription$29.991 Year
  • Unread: Free first year$29.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Unread: Discounted first year$29.991 Year
3 purchases

Atode

Subscriptions3
  • Atode Plus$0.991 Month
  • Atode Pro3 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Atode Pro3 Days trial$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Unread free?
Unread is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Atode free?
Atode is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Unread or Atode?
Unread and Atode are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 442 and 17 ratings respectively.
Do Unread or Atode have ads?
Neither Unread nor Atode shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Unread or Atode?
Unread ships an update every 8 days, and Atode every 5 weeks. Most recently, Unread was updated on September 21, 2026 and Atode on September 10, 2026.

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