Comparison

An Otter RSS Reader vs StarCat

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

Head to head
About

An Otter RSS Reader

A minimalistic RSS reader that synchronizes your subscribed feeds across Apple devices via iCloud. It allows for automatic feed discovery, organization into folders, and reading articles in a standard web view. Integrates with Shortcuts and offers home screen widgets for unread counts.

Highlights
  • iCloud feed synchronization
  • Auto-discover RSS feeds
  • Group feeds into folders
  • Read articles in web view
  • Shortcuts integration
  • Home screen widgets
  • Import/Export with OPML
Features
Read full description

An Otter RSS Reader is a simple RSS reader for following news, blogs, and personal sites without another account. Subscribe to feeds, organize them into folders, and let iCloud keep everything in sync across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Otter keeps the experience intentionally calm: quick refreshes, native navigation, readable article views, and just enough personality to make checking your feeds feel pleasant. New in 2.0, the iPad edition grew up. The Front Page opens to today's stories while native adaptive columns keep feeds and the story list side by side when there’s room, then collapse cleanly on smaller screens. Articles set in a real serif with a comfortable reading measure, on iPad and iPhone alike. Features: - Subscribe to RSS, Atom, JSON Feed, and XML feeds - Sync subscriptions and reading state with iCloud - The Front Page: a daily opening spread across iPhone and iPad - Smart Folders that fill themselves — long reads, quick reads, podcasts, videos - A serif reading view with adjustable typography - Reading Insights: streaks, reading calendar, and when-you-read patterns - Organize feeds into folders - Import and export subscriptions with OPML - Keyboard shortcuts and menu commands on iPad - Refresh feeds in the background or manually - Shortcuts actions, Home Screen widgets, and alternate app icons Otter Pro, the optional subscription, adds ad-free reading, custom Smart Folders, TL;DR article summaries, and the full Reading Insights dashboard. Otter is not trying to be a social network, inbox, or power-user dashboard. It is a practical little RSS reader for people who still like the open web. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://anotterrss.com/privacy

About

StarCat

Stay updated on global rocket launches with real-time information and detailed mission specifics. Receive launch reminders and access a dedicated news section for spaceflight updates. Features Dynamic Island integration for live tracking.

Highlights
  • Live Activity tracking on Dynamic Island
  • Detailed mission information
  • Launch reminders and notifications
  • Spaceflight news section
  • Starship development updates
  • Reusable rocket landing info
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Track your favorite rockets with StarCat - your ultimate companion for staying in the loop on rocket launches worldwide. Whether you're a seasoned space enthusiast or just curious about the wonders of space exploration, StarCat brings you real-time information and comprehensive details about upcoming rocket launches. 1. Live Activity - Track every launch leveraging your Dynamic Island, best way to receive latest updates on tracked launch, regardless if it's a scrub or delay. 2. Mission Details - Dive deep into the specifics of each mission. Learn about the payload, launch vehicle, mission objectives, orbit information, location of the launch pad and landing information of reusable rockets, such as Falcon 9. 3. Launch Reminders - Never miss a launch again! Get notified before every launch with push notifications (customizable notifications coming in the future). 4. News Section - Get access to latest and featured articles about world of spaceflight with option to save articles you liked. 5. Starship Section - Latest news about Starship and Starbase with specially selected articles about development of our favorite spacecraft. Discover list of all prototypes developed at Starbase and list of all launches up to date - both orbital and sub-orbital - with respective information about their outcomes.

Screenshots

An Otter RSS Reader4 screens
StarCat4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: An Otter RSS Reader at Free against StarCat's $1.99. An Otter RSS Reader also leads on rating (4.1 vs 1.0) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 5 weeks). StarCat's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and chart position (#110 vs unranked). On 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

An Otter RSS Reader is free to download; StarCat costs $1.99 up front. An Otter RSS Reader sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. StarCat asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

An Otter RSS Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: An Otter RSS Reader has 73 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

An Otter RSS Reader ships an update every 3 days, StarCat every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
An Otter RSS Reader versus StarCat: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAn Otter RSS ReaderStarCat
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.1 (73 ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings73 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#110 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB52 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperJosh HoltzHubert Jozwiak

Customer experience

An Otter RSS Reader

All ratings73 ratings
Positive75.3%
Neutral8.2%
Negative16.4%
Written reviews110 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative30.0%

StarCat

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

An Otter RSS Reader

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • It does not work
  • Articles flicker in and out of existence and about 30 of them don't show at all
  • The list views are messed up with many black spaces where a feed item should appear but is completely black
  • Reader mode seems to not work
  • Articles show up in duplicated often, articles had been marked as read will show up again as unread
Show 5 more
  • Feeds disappear after closing the app
  • Feeds don't refresh
  • Crashes when importing OPML files
  • Crashing when importing opml files
  • Crashes when trying to import an OPML file

Requested features

13 requests
  • Encripted iCloud backups would be welcome
  • Mark articles read on scrolling past them
  • Option to hide read articles by default instead of manually hiding all the time
  • When clicking on a top level folder it expands the folder clicking the arrow should expand the folder
  • Needs swipe gestures example swipe right mark read/unread swipe left add to favorite
Show 8 more
  • Need to add an option to sort by oldest and newest first
  • If in reader mode hitting the safari button should open in the in app browser instead of leaving the app
  • Under notifications there should be an option to show badge count with unread articles
  • Should be an option to see favicons to the left of the headline to quickly see at a glance which site posted the story as well as an option to enable images if there is one in the story
  • MiniFlux Sync would be nice
  • Offline reading?
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard

StarCat

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

An Otter RSS Reader

Subscriptions2
  • Otter Pro Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Otter Pro Annual7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time4
  • Small Tip2 variants$0.99
  • Medium Tip2 variants$2.99
  • Large Tip2 variants$5.99
Show 1 more
  • Mega Tip2 variants$12.99
None

StarCat

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is An Otter RSS Reader free?
An Otter RSS Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is StarCat free?
StarCat costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, An Otter RSS Reader or StarCat?
An Otter RSS Reader is rated higher. An Otter RSS Reader averages 4.1 out of 5 from 73 ratings, while StarCat averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.
Do An Otter RSS Reader or StarCat have ads?
Neither An Otter RSS Reader nor StarCat shows ads.
Which is updated more often, An Otter RSS Reader or StarCat?
An Otter RSS Reader ships an update every 3 days, and StarCat every 5 weeks. Most recently, An Otter RSS Reader was updated on October 12, 2026 and StarCat on October 2, 2026.

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