An Otter RSS Reader vs PetalFeed
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
PetalFeed
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Your whole reading world, growing in one calm place. Follow RSS feeds, Reddit, Bluesky, Mastodon, blogs, and news sites from one beautifully organized app. Petal Feed brings everything you care about together in a clean, private reading experience designed specifically for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Built from the beginning with accessibility in mind, Petal Feed works beautifully with VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, keyboard navigation on Mac, and Apple’s latest on device intelligence. There are no ads, no tracking, and no recurring subscription. You buy it once and it’s yours. Whether you follow a handful of favorite blogs or hundreds of sources from around the web, Petal Feed keeps everything organized, easy to find, and enjoyable to read. Petal Feed supports RSS and Atom feeds, Reddit communities, Bluesky, Mastodon, and many of your favorite news sites. If you already use Feedbin, FreshRSS, or Inoreader, you can sign in and continue reading exactly where you left off. Your subscriptions, folders, and reading progress stay synchronized across all of your Apple devices. You can also import or export OPML whenever you like, so your reading list is always yours. Reading should be about the content, not fighting cluttered web pages. Petal Feed automatically extracts clean, readable articles from supported websites so you can enjoy the story instead of advertisements, navigation bars, and distracting layouts. When a site requires it, a built in readability engine creates a comfortable reading experience that feels right at home on Apple devices. On supported hardware, Apple Intelligence can create concise summaries of individual articles or groups of related stories using entirely on device processing. Your articles are never uploaded to an external AI service, giving you the convenience of intelligent summaries while keeping your reading private. If you prefer listening, Petal Feed can turn articles into a personal news broadcast using the voices already installed on your device. Whether you’re commuting, exercising, or relaxing at home, you can listen with full Lock Screen and Control Center controls while the app continues playing in the background. One of Petal Feed’s most unique ideas is its garden inspired organization. Instead of overwhelming you with technical terms like folders and feeds, your sources become Petals that grow into Flowers around the topics you care about most. Smart Flowers organize themselves automatically based on rules you choose, while Bees quietly collect stories you would rather avoid, such as spoilers or other unwanted topics. The result is a reading experience that feels calm, natural, and easy to understand. Accessibility is not something that was added later. It is the foundation of Petal Feed. Every screen was designed with VoiceOver in mind and includes meaningful accessibility labels, logical navigation, custom actions, and article formatting that sounds natural when spoken aloud. Full Dynamic Type support and keyboard friendly navigation help make the app comfortable for everyone, whether you are blind, have low vision, or simply prefer larger text. Petal Feed is available as a universal app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with an interface that feels perfectly at home on every device. Your reading experience stays consistent wherever you are, whether you’re catching up during a coffee break, relaxing on the couch, or working at your desk. Privacy is part of every design decision. There are no advertisements, no tracking profiles, and no analytics following you around the web. Your credentials are stored securely in the device Keychain, and your reading history remains on your devices. Petal Feed is a calmer, more personal way to read the web. Plant your favorite sources, organize them into beautiful gardens, and enjoy a reading experience designed around you instead of an algorithm.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: An Otter RSS Reader at Free against PetalFeed's $4.99. An Otter RSS Reader also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs weekly) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.1). PetalFeed's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and chart position (#122 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
An Otter RSS Reader is free to download; PetalFeed costs $4.99 up front. An Otter RSS Reader sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. PetalFeed asks for nothing beyond the download.
An Otter RSS Reader ships an update every 3 days, PetalFeed weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | An Otter RSS Reader | PetalFeed |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 4.1 (73 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 73 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | — | #122 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 26.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 45 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Josh Holtz | Doxie Media LLC |
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
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- 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
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- 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
PetalFeed
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
An Otter RSS Reader
- Small Tip2 variants$0.99
- Medium Tip2 variants$2.99
- Large Tip2 variants$5.99
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- Mega Tip2 variants$12.99
PetalFeed
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is An Otter RSS Reader free?
Is PetalFeed free?
Do An Otter RSS Reader or PetalFeed have ads?
Which is updated more often, An Otter RSS Reader or PetalFeed?
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