Comparison

Unread vs SMPRSS

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 Birchfeed, 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, Quick Reads, 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.) --- “Just a gorgeous app.” – John Gruber, Daring Fireball “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 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

SMPRSS

Features
Read full description

SMPRSS is a fast, focused, and customizable RSS and Atom reader designed to keep all your favorite sources in one clean interface. Add websites, RSS feeds, and Atom feeds directly to the app. SMPRSS automatically checks your active sources and displays new stories as they become available. PERSONALIZE YOUR READER Choose from a wide range of interface colors and make SMPRSS match your style. The dark, distraction-free design keeps the focus on the stories that matter to you. GLOBAL FILTERS Hide unwanted stories across all your sources by adding words or phrases to Global Filters. Filters match the complete phrase you enter, giving you precise control over your feed. READER MODE Open supported articles in a clean Reader view with a single tap. Reader Mode removes unnecessary page elements and makes long articles more comfortable to read. UNREAD MANAGEMENT Quickly switch between all stories and unread stories. Mark individual articles as read or clear your unread list when you are finished. BUILT FOR IPHONE AND IPAD SMPRSS adapts to both iPhone and iPad, with multi-column layouts that make better use of larger screens. LOCK SCREEN WIDGET Add the SMPRSS widget to your Lock Screen for quick access to the app. KEY FEATURES • Add your own RSS and Atom sources • Automatic feed discovery • Customizable interface colors • Global word and phrase filters • All and Unread views • Built-in Reader Mode • "Live Monitor" feed for iPad • Mark all stories as read • Source search and management • Optimized iPhone and iPad layouts • Lock Screen widget • No account required • No advertisements • No subscriptions or in-app purchases SMPRSS gives you direct control over what you follow, what you hide, and how your reader looks.

Screenshots

Unread4 screens
SMPRSS4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SMPRSS at none against Unread's 4. SMPRSS also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 8 days). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. SMPRSS asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Unread ships an update every 8 days, SMPRSS daily. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Unread versus SMPRSS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUnreadSMPRSS
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (442 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews72.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings442 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size40 MB2 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperGolden Hill SoftwareCan TUNCER

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

SMPRSS

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
None

SMPRSS

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Unread free?
Unread is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SMPRSS free?
SMPRSS is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Unread or SMPRSS have ads?
Neither Unread nor SMPRSS shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Unread or SMPRSS?
Unread ships an update every 8 days, and SMPRSS daily. Most recently, Unread was updated on October 13, 2026 and SMPRSS on October 12, 2026.

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