Comparison

Stream vs lire

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

Head to head
About

Stream

Consolidate all your news feeds into a single, unified timeline. Offers a clean interface, easy import of existing lists, and support for open reading standards for a fresh user experience.

Highlights
  • Unified feed timeline
  • Simple user interface
  • Import existing lists
  • Supports open reading standards
Features
Read full description

With Stream all your feeds appear as a unified timeline. With its simple user interface, ability to import existing lists, and support for open reading standards, Stream is a great choice if you're looking for a different experience.

About

lire

This app provides full-text RSS feeds, converting partial feeds into complete articles. Read content offline after initial caching. It offers standalone use or syncs with iCloud and various popular RSS services.

Highlights
  • Full-text RSS feed conversion
  • Offline reading of cached feeds
  • Standalone feed reader
  • iCloud sync
  • Sync with multiple RSS services
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Love RSS feeds? So do we!! RSS feeds are a great way to follow updates on your favorite website. However, some sites set up their feeds to only show a portion of each entry, you know, to get you to click through to their actual website. We find that really annoying, and we're sure you do too. Which is why, unlike other RSS feed readers, that either push you into a browser (in-app or otherwise), or depend on third party text parsing services and require you to be online to fetch the full text of one article at a time (which makes it no different from having to click/tap through to a website), in lire, you get your favorite RSS feeds as they should've been. You don't need to click through to any website (though, you do still have the option to, if you really wanted). It takes your favorite partial feeds, does its magic, and converts them in to full feeds, so you don't have to click/tap on those annoying 'Read more' or 'Continue reading' links. Once they're cached, you don't even need to be connected to read your full-text feeds. Use as a standalone feed reader, sync with iCloud, or, sync with any of the several services: Feedly, Feedbin, FeedHQ, The Old Reader, Inoreader, BazQux Reader, Newsblur, Feed Wrangler, FreshRSS, Miniflux, Nextcloud News, Tiny Tiny RSS.

Screenshots

Stream4 screens
lire4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Stream at Free against lire's $9.99. Stream also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 68%). lire's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and chart position (#11 vs unranked). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Stream is free to download; lire costs $9.99 up front. Stream sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and lire sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Stream holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: lire has 151 ratings behind it against 21, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Stream's written reviews are positive against 68% of lire's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Stream ships an update every 3 months, lire fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on August 1, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Stream versus lire: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStreamlire
PriceFree — better$9.99
Rating4.6 (21 ratings) — better4.4 (151 ratings)
Positive reviews85.7% of reviews — better68.4% of reviews
Number of ratings21151 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#11 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB160 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperRob FahrniKunal Sood

Customer experience

Stream

All ratings21 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral9.5%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive85.7%
Neutral7.1%
Negative7.1%

lire

All ratings151 ratings
Positive80.1%
Neutral7.9%
Negative11.9%
Written reviews177 reviews
Positive68.4%
Neutral13.6%
Negative18.1%

Bugs and requests

Stream

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

lire

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Crashes on launch
  • Incorrect feed display
  • Articles not opening
  • Overlapping UI elements
  • Sync errors with FreshRSS and Wallabag
Show 2 more
  • Revert to old articles after sync
  • VoiceOver issues after update

Requested features

9 requests
  • Bulk unsubscribe option
  • Ability to add multiple feeds at once
  • Custom keyword filtering
  • Highlight/annotate articles
  • Embedded video support
Show 4 more
  • Automatic article categorization
  • Sharing options
  • PDF export
  • Multilingual support

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Stream

One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$1.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Enormous Tip$9.99
5 purchases

lire

One-time5
  • Generous Tip$0.99
  • Massive Tip$1.99
  • Amazing Tip$4.99
Show 2 more
  • Humongous Tip$9.99
  • Stupendous Tip$19.99

Questions

Is Stream free?
Stream is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is lire free?
lire costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Stream or lire?
Stream is rated higher. Stream averages 4.6 out of 5 from 21 ratings, while lire averages 4.4 from 151 ratings.
Do Stream or lire have ads?
Neither Stream nor lire shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Stream or lire?
Stream ships an update every 3 months, and lire fortnightly. Most recently, Stream was updated on August 1, 2026 and lire on September 23, 2026.

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