Comparison

lire vs PetalFeed

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

Head to head
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.

About

PetalFeed

Features
Read full description

An RSS reader built for VoiceOver from day one. Follow blogs, Reddit, Mastodon, Bluesky and YouTube in one place, then listen to it all like a personal news broadcast. No ads, no tracking, no subscription. Every screen is fully labeled for VoiceOver, every swipe has a named custom action, related details are grouped so you hear them in one stop, and all text scales with Dynamic Type. Follow everything you read: - RSS and Atom feeds from any blog or news site - Subreddits, just by name - Your Mastodon and Bluesky timelines - YouTube channels, with videos that play right inside the app - A Discover tab of hand-picked feeds, subreddits and channels by topic Listen hands-free. Have any article, or a whole queue of them, read aloud in any voice installed on your device. Control playback from the Lock Screen, Control Center or the mini player that follows you through the app. The Hive turns your headlines into a short podcast-style show, written by Apple Intelligence and read aloud by distinct voices. Hawk Eye gives you a digest of the topics in your unread articles. Summaries give you the gist of any article in a few sentences. All of it runs privately on your device. Stay organized your way: - Petals are your feeds, Flowers are your folders - Smart Flowers fill themselves using rules you set - Bees filter out keywords, spoilers and topics you would rather skip - Similar articles are grouped, so one story is one stop - Rapid Review lets you triage a busy feed one card at a time - Full-text extraction gives you the whole article without the clutter Bring your library with you. Sync feeds, folders and read state two ways with Feedbin, Inoreader, FreshRSS or Miniflux, or import and export OPML anytime. Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets show your unread counts and latest headlines. Siri and Shortcuts can open an article, read your unread articles aloud, play The Hive, build a Hawk Eye digest or mark everything read. PetalFeed works on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Free 14-day trial, then one-time purchase. Free forever, even after the trial: - Reading RSS and Atom feeds - OPML import and export - Up to 10 Petals - Text-to-speech read aloud - Every accessibility feature PetalFeed Lifetime is a single purchase with no renewals. It unlocks: - Unlimited Petals - Sync with Feedbin, Inoreader, FreshRSS and Miniflux - The Hive, Hawk Eye and summaries - Bees and Smart Flowers - Widgets, Siri and Shortcuts - Refresh as often as every 5 minutes Already bought PetalFeed? You keep everything automatically. Enjoying it? An optional tip jar lets you say thanks. Private by design. Your feeds, articles and reading history stay on your device. All AI runs on the device: no servers, no PetalFeed account, no tracking, no ads. Sync happens only with a service you choose to connect, and your sign-in details stay in the device Keychain. AI features require an Apple Intelligence–capable device.

Screenshots

lire4 screens
PetalFeed4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PetalFeed at Free against lire's $9.99. PetalFeed also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 5). lire's advantage is chart position (#11 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.1). On 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

PetalFeed is free to download; lire costs $9.99 up front. lire sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. PetalFeed asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

lire ships an update fortnightly, PetalFeed every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
lire versus PetalFeed: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterlirePetalFeed
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.4 (151 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews68.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings151 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#11 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.6 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size160 MB10 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperKunal SoodDoxie Media LLC

Bugs and 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

PetalFeed

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
None

PetalFeed

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is lire free?
lire costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is PetalFeed free?
PetalFeed is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do lire or PetalFeed have ads?
Neither lire nor PetalFeed shows ads.
Which is updated more often, lire or PetalFeed?
lire ships an update fortnightly, and PetalFeed every 2 weeks. Most recently, lire was updated on September 28, 2026 and PetalFeed on September 29, 2026.

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