lire vs Tidings
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Full-text RSS feed conversion
- Offline reading of cached feeds
- Standalone feed reader
- iCloud sync
- Sync with multiple RSS services
Read full descriptionHide 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.
Tidings
Read full descriptionHide full description
Tidings is an RSS reader built for people who want to read, not manage software. Add a feed by pasting any site's URL — it finds the feed for you. Your articles land in one inbox, oldest first, and you triage them: read now, keep for later, star what matters, or sweep the rest away. Nothing is recommended to you, nothing is ranked by an algorithm, and nothing arrives that you didn't ask for. READS BEAUTIFULLY Articles are stripped to their text and images — no popups, no cookie banners, no newsletter modals. Adjustable type, light and dark, and it remembers exactly where you stopped reading, even after you change the font. WORKS OFFLINE Articles are downloaded and cached, so a subway ride or a flight is just reading time. Images come along too. SYNCS PRIVATELY Your feeds and reading state sync across your iPhone and iPad through your own iCloud account. There is no server in the middle, because there is no server at all. BRINGS YOUR FEEDS WITH YOU Import an OPML file from any other reader, and export yours whenever you like. Your subscriptions are yours to take. FEATURES • Automatic feed discovery — paste a site URL, not a feed URL • RSS, Atom, JSON Feed, and YouTube channels • Distraction-free reader with full-text extraction • Offline reading with cached text and images • Inbox, Read Later, and Starred — triage with swipe gestures • Mark Above as Read for fast sweeping • Remembers your place in every list and article • iCloud sync across your devices • OPML import and export • Full VoiceOver and Dynamic Type support • iPhone and iPad FREE FOR UP TO 10 FEEDS Everything above is included — the reader, offline articles, iCloud sync, YouTube feeds, OPML import and export. Nothing is crippled, nothing expires, and there's no trial countdown. If you outgrow 10 feeds, Tidings Premium removes the limit for a single one-time payment. That's the only thing it changes. NO ADS. NO TRACKING. NO ACCOUNT. NO ANALYTICS. NO SUBSCRIPTION. Tidings has no way to know what you read — it has no server to tell.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Tidings at Free against lire's $9.99. lire's advantage is chart position (#8 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On ads, in-app purchases 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
Tidings is free to download; lire costs $9.99 up front. lire sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Tidings sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | lire | Tidings |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (155 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 68.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 155 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #8 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 164 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kunal Sood | Hongyu Zhang |
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 moreShow fewer
- 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 moreShow fewer
- Automatic article categorization
- Sharing options
- PDF export
- Multilingual support
Tidings
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
lire
- Generous Tip$0.99
- Massive Tip$1.99
- Amazing Tip$4.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Humongous Tip$9.99
- Stupendous Tip$19.99
Tidings
- Tidings Premium$9.99









