Unread vs Queue
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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/
Queue
This app offers a streamlined podcast listening experience by automatically updating new episodes into a single, easy-to-manage list. It provides immediate access to episode titles, show notes, and playback, with advanced features like chapter support and interactive timestamps.
- Auto-updated episode queue
- Play and archive episodes
- Chapter and chapter artwork support
- Interactive timestamps in show notes
- Simple, clean interface
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Queue is the simplest podcast app out there. New episodes from your subscriptions automatically appear in one simple list, your Queue. From here you can either play them, or archive them. When you open an episode, you see the title and show notes right away, and you can also play the episode from here. We also have full support for chapters and chapter artwork, and we even detect timestamps in the episode show notes and turn them into interactive chapters. The entire app was custom designed to offer you the simplest possible podcast experience, and it's full of beautiful little touches and fun details. I've spent month designing and building Queue for you, and I have some really cool ideas for it. I can't wait to hear what you think! - Eike Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Unread at 4.6 against Queue's 4.3. Unread also leads on ratings volume (442 vs 86) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Unread sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Queue sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Unread holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Unread has 442 ratings behind it against 86, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Unread's written reviews are positive against 68% of Queue's.
Unread ships an update every 8 days, Queue every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Unread | Queue |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (442 ratings) — better | 4.3 (86 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 72.4% of reviews — better | 67.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 442 — better | 86 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Every 10 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 60 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Golden Hill Software | Eike Drescher |
Customer experience
Unread
Queue
User reviews
Unread
From 442 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Elegant and intuitive UI
- 🚀 Fast and responsive
- 🔒 Secure login integration
- 📚 Excellent article formatting and readability
- 💡 Automated full-text article retrieval
Room to improve
- 💰 Subscription model seen as too expensive
- 🔀 Inconsistent experience between iOS and iPad versions
- 🔍 Difficult to discover certain features
- 🔠 Lack of customization options (e.g., font, theme)
Queue
From 86 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Lovely user interface
- 🚀 Beautifully simple and elegant
- 🎨 Carefully designed with attention to detail
- 🤩 Delightful and refreshing experience
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
- 🔍 Inability to find/subscribe to some popular podcasts
- 🔍 Downloading/loading issues with certain podcasts
- 🔍 Lack of some basic features like playback controls on headphones
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
Queue
Reported bugs
3 issues- Stuck in introductory routine with 'Later' button not working
- Wired headphone controls not functioning properly
- Search and subscription issues for certain podcasts
Requested features
5 requests- Add sleep timer feature
- Implement back/forward controls on headphones and cars
- Allow new episodes to be added to the bottom of the queue
- Implement silence skipping and voice boost
- Provide a widget with playback controls
In-app purchases
Unread
- Unread Monthly Subscription$4.991 Month
- Unread Annual Subscription$29.991 Year
- Unread: Free first year$29.991 Year
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- Unread: Discounted first year$29.991 Year
Queue
- Pro Access$4.991 Month
- Pro Access$29.991 Year









