Comparison

Reeder Classic vs lire

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

Head to head
About

Reeder Classic

This app combines an RSS reader and a read-later client, offering iCloud syncing for your news feeds and saved articles. It features a focus-enhancing reading mode, customizable widgets, and the ability to mark items as read while scrolling. Enjoy a clutter-free reading experience with its reader view.

Highlights
  • RSS feed reader
  • Read later client
  • iCloud syncing
  • Bionic Reading mode
  • Customizable widgets
  • Mark as read on scroll
  • Reader view
Currently charting
Read full description

Keep control of your news reading with Reeder Classic, RSS reader and read later client in one app, now with support for iCloud syncing. FEEDS Sync all your feeds and articles with iCloud. Reeder Classic comes with a built-in RSS/Feeds service which will keep everything in sync on all your devices. Of course, this is optional. You can still just use one of the many third-party services supported by Reeder or just RSS (without sync). READ LATER This is Reeder's built-in read later service which stores all your data securely in iCloud. A sharing extension allows you to add links from outside of Reeder. BIONIC READING A higher dimension of reading. With Bionic Reading you read texts with more focus, awareness, and sustainability. Read more about Bionic Reading at bionic-reading.com. WIDGETS View most recent articles, configurable to only show items from feeds, folders, searches (for services that support searches) or tags (for read later services). MARK AS READ ON SCROLL With version 5, Reeder finally supports marking items as read while scrolling. Off by default, this can be enabled on a per-account basis. READER VIEW Enter Reader View (for feed items and read later links that support this) for a clutter-free reading experience directly in Reeder's article viewer. You can enable "Automatic Reader View" on a per-feed basis to always load items of a feed with Reader View. SUPPORTED THIRD-PARTY SERVICES Feedbin, Feedly, FeedHQ, NewsBlur, The Old Reader, Inoreader, BazQux Reader, FreshRSS, Instapaper and Pocket.

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

Reeder Classic4 screens
lire4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Reeder Classic at none against lire's 5. Reeder Classic also leads on price ($4.99 vs $9.99) and ratings volume (821 vs 151). lire's advantage is rating (4.4 vs 4.1). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads and device support 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

Reeder Classic costs $4.99 and lire $9.99 up front. lire sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Reeder Classic asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

lire holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Reeder Classic has 821 ratings behind it against 151, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of Reeder Classic's written reviews are positive against 68% of lire's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Reeder Classic ships an update every 3 weeks, lire fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Reeder Classic versus lire: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterReeder Classiclire
Price$4.99 — better$9.99
Rating4.1 (821 ratings)4.4 (151 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.7% of reviews68.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings821 — better151
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#1 — better#3
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB160 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperSilvio RizziKunal Sood

Customer experience

Reeder Classic

All ratings821 ratings
Positive75.9%
Neutral5.7%
Negative18.4%
Written reviews517 reviews
Positive60.7%
Neutral11.6%
Negative27.7%

lire

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

User reviews

Reeder Classic

From 821 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth and fast
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 🔒 Secure with iCloud sync
  • 💡 Useful read later feature
  • 👍 Minimalist and clean design

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Sync issues with iCloud
  • 🐛 Background refresh not working
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or bugs
  • 🐛 Compatibility issues with older devices
  • 🐛 Slow sync for large feed counts

lire

From 151 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast full-text parsing
  • 👍 Highly customizable
  • 🔒 No data collection
  • 💡 Bionic reading support
  • 👍 Excellent accessibility

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes
  • 🐛 Sync issues
  • 🐛 Memory management problems
  • 🐛 Buggy after updates
  • 🐛 Inconsistent article rendering

Bugs and requests

Reeder Classic

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Articles not loading properly
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between articles
  • Unreliable background sync
  • Issues with Twitter integration

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to filter feeds by keywords
  • Option to change app icon
  • Support for more languages
  • Tighter integration with Matter app
  • Offline reading mode
Show 1 more
  • Text-to-speech support

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

None

Reeder Classic

No in-app purchases

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 Reeder Classic free?
Reeder Classic costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is lire free?
lire costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Reeder Classic or lire?
lire is rated higher. Reeder Classic averages 4.1 out of 5 from 821 ratings, while lire averages 4.4 from 151 ratings.
Do Reeder Classic or lire have ads?
Neither Reeder Classic nor lire shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Reeder Classic or lire?
Reeder Classic ships an update every 3 weeks, and lire fortnightly. Most recently, Reeder Classic was updated on September 23, 2026 and lire on September 23, 2026.
Which is more popular, Reeder Classic or lire?
Reeder Classic currently peaks at #1 in the App Store charts, and lire at #3. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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