Comparison

xFeed RSS Reader vs Heartfeed RSS Reader

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

Head to head
About

xFeed RSS Reader

Stay informed with a personalized news feed. Organize and customize your updates to quickly access the information you care about, from politics to technology. Access your news anywhere, anytime.

Highlights
  • Personalized news feed
  • Categorize and organize content
  • Quickly find latest updates
  • Customizable reading experience
  • Stay informed on the go
Features
Read full description

Prepare yourself for the exciting, fast-paced world of reading news! Say goodbye to the uninformed dark ages of yesterday and say hello to xFeed! Whether you are at at home or waiting for a dentist appointment, xFeed is always with you to help you stay up to date with everything that you care about. Categorize, organize, customize and quickly find the latest updates, political happenings, technological gadgetry or whatever else it is that you find so interesting. The time has come. You are worth it. Get xFeed now and start enjoying life. For questions, comments, suggestions and support please visit: www.nothingeverywhere.com

About

Heartfeed RSS Reader

This app offers an efficient, no-nonsense way to read news from RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds without requiring account setup or server reliance. It features a compact grid view, background feed refreshing, and seamless syncing across iOS devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Compact grid view for feeds
  • Internal browser with content blocker support
  • Automatic iCloud sync for feeds and read status
  • Quick pick list for selecting news items
  • Background feed refresh and caching
  • Bookmark management with iCloud sync
  • Night mode theme
Features
Read full description

Do you want to read your news using RSS/Atom/JSON feeds in the most efficient, no-nonsense way, and with no requirement to setup an app-specific user account or relying on a server? If you do, Heartfeed might be the app for you. Features: - A compact grid view for your feeds, making it easy to check all of them at once - When reading news in the internal browser, full support of your configured content blockers, saved passwords, etc. - Automatic synching of subscribed feeds and read status between iOS devices (requires an iCloud account) - Quick pick list: Easily select which news items from different feeds you want to read - Background refresh of feeds: Some feeds refresh often and you then risk missing news in case the app is not used frequently. Background refresh, together with caching of the last 50 news items in each feed, prevents this from happening - Bookmarks, including reading them from either inside Heartfeed or from any iOS or macOS browser (requires an iCloud account) - Night mode theme - Subscribing to feeds from the current Heartfeed top list, from files, or directly from the web - Full support for split views and multi-tasking on iPads - No tracking of usage or personal data; optionally, you can anonymously share which feeds you subscribe to for improving the builtin top list of recommended feeds The app is 100% free and without ads. If you want to tip me somethings as thanks for the app, you can do so within the settings. I hope you'll enjoy using Heartfeed!

Screenshots

xFeed RSS Reader3 screens
Heartfeed RSS Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Heartfeed RSS Reader at 4.8 against xFeed RSS Reader's 3.5. Heartfeed RSS Reader also leads on review sentiment (89% vs 62%) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). xFeed RSS Reader's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5). On price, ads, monetization model 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

Both are free to download. Heartfeed RSS Reader sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. xFeed RSS Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Heartfeed RSS Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Heartfeed RSS Reader has 90 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of xFeed RSS Reader's written reviews are positive against 89% of Heartfeed RSS Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

xFeed RSS Reader ships an update every 6 months, Heartfeed RSS Reader every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 22, 2026 and September 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
xFeed RSS Reader versus Heartfeed RSS Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterxFeed RSS ReaderHeartfeed RSS Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.5 (13 ratings)4.8 (90 ratings) — better
Positive reviews62.2% of reviews89.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1390 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB14 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperNothing EverywhereOzymandias

Customer experience

xFeed RSS Reader

All ratings13 ratings
Positive53.8%
Neutral15.4%
Negative30.8%
Written reviews209 reviews
Positive62.2%
Neutral15.3%
Negative22.5%

Heartfeed RSS Reader

All ratings90 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral2.2%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews91 reviews
Positive89.0%
Neutral5.5%
Negative5.5%

User reviews

xFeed RSS Reader

From 13 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and clean interface
  • 🚀 Fast and lightweight performance
  • 💰 Free with no ads (in most versions)
  • 🎯 No login or account required
  • 📱 Works well on iPhone and iPad

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
  • 🔄 Feed update problems and duplicates
  • 📖 Articles remain marked as unread after reading
  • 🔗 Inconsistent 'open in Safari' functionality
  • ⚠️ Mandatory category system

Heartfeed RSS Reader

From 90 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎯 Perfect Pulse replacement with grid/tile layout
  • 👍 Simple, intuitive, and streamlined interface
  • ⚡ Fast and efficient news consumption
  • 🔄 Reliable syncing across devices
  • 📱 Clean, uncluttered design without bloat

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes on opening and usage
  • 💰 Paywall for unlimited feeds ($2.99)
  • 🔍 No search functionality across feeds
  • 📸 Limited thumbnail/image display options
  • 🌍 No multi-language or RTL script support

Bugs and requests

xFeed RSS Reader

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • App crashes on launch after updates
  • Crashes when adding new feeds
  • Crashes during feed refresh/sync
  • Articles not marked as read properly
  • Duplicate articles appearing in feeds
Show 13 more
  • Feed icons not displaying correctly
  • Safari links not working on newer devices
  • Complex pages with images cause crashes
  • UI reverts to old style after viewing articles
  • Articles fail to load when selected
  • Auto-update feature not functioning
  • Feed autodiscovery feature unreliable
  • Editing feed titles resets without done button
  • Add feed dialog doesn't close after confirmation
  • Confirmation dialog has two 'yes' buttons instead of yes/no
  • iOS 6 compatibility issues
  • iOS 7 page scrolling auto-jumps to bottom
  • Memory management problems on older devices

Requested features

19 requests
  • iCloud sync across multiple devices
  • Push notifications for feed updates
  • Mark all as read functionality
  • Automatic background feed updates
  • OPML import/export support
Show 14 more
  • Google Reader integration
  • Adjustable text and row sizes
  • Safari extension support for ad blocking
  • Full article display without leaving app
  • Tweet and Facebook sharing options
  • Favicon display next to feed titles
  • Search functionality for discovering feeds
  • Dark mode option
  • Unread article badge on app icon
  • Optional confirmation dialogs
  • Ability to edit feed URLs after creation
  • Disable UI animations option
  • Better button positioning to avoid accidental taps
  • Audio and video feed support

Heartfeed RSS Reader

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • App crashes on launch
  • Crashes after adding feeds
  • Multiple crashes during normal usage
  • App fails to start after recent updates
  • iCloud syncing issues (requires troubleshooting)
Show 1 more
  • Bright reader screen conflicts with dark mode setting

Requested features

13 requests
  • Search functionality with highlighting across feeds
  • Individual mark-as-read buttons per feed
  • Thumbnail images in grid view
  • Apple Watch app support
  • Offline reading capability
Show 8 more
  • Multi-language support including RTL scripts
  • Integration with Feedly and other accounts
  • Preserve feed groups on OPML import
  • Dark mode for reader screen
  • Feed discovery page with popular feeds index
  • Ability to save/bookmark articles
  • Variable font sizes in grid view
  • Apple News+ integration

In-app purchases

None

xFeed RSS Reader

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Heartfeed RSS Reader

One-time5
  • Tipping the developer$0.99
  • Unlimited feeds$2.99
  • Tipping the developer$2.99
Show 2 more
  • Even more tip to the developer$9.99
  • Maximum tip to the developer$24.99

Questions

Is xFeed RSS Reader free?
xFeed RSS Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Heartfeed RSS Reader free?
Heartfeed RSS Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, xFeed RSS Reader or Heartfeed RSS Reader?
Heartfeed RSS Reader is rated higher. xFeed RSS Reader averages 3.5 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while Heartfeed RSS Reader averages 4.8 from 90 ratings.
Do xFeed RSS Reader or Heartfeed RSS Reader have ads?
Neither xFeed RSS Reader nor Heartfeed RSS Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, xFeed RSS Reader or Heartfeed RSS Reader?
xFeed RSS Reader ships an update every 6 months, and Heartfeed RSS Reader every 2 months. Most recently, xFeed RSS Reader was updated on August 22, 2026 and Heartfeed RSS Reader on September 12, 2026.

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