Comparison

TidBITS News vs Unread

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

Head to head
About

TidBITS News

Access the latest news and product updates for Mac and iOS devices from a long-standing internet publication. Read full articles with graphics and embedded videos, and follow links to external resources. Content is downloaded for offline reading.

Highlights
  • Headline and summary display
  • Pull-to-refresh functionality
  • Full article reading with graphics and video
  • Adjustable font sizes
  • In-app web browsing
  • Offline content access
Read full description

Stay up to date with the latest news and products in the Mac and iOS worlds with TidBITS (tidbits.com), the oldest Internet-only publication on the planet! The award-winning publication was founded in 1990 by Adam Engst, regularly voted one of the most influential figures in the Macintosh industry. Displays headlines and summaries for the most recent TidBITS stories. At the top of the headline screen, pull to refresh the list. Tap to read the full text of any recent TidBITS article, complete with graphics and embedded movies. Choose among font sizes for reading articles. Follow links to referenced Web sites and other Internet resources in Safari. All headlines and articles are downloaded to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch so you can catch up on TidBITS while on the subway or on an iPad/iPod touch that's out of range of a Wi-Fi network.

About

Unread

This app is a beautifully designed RSS reader that focuses on a clean reading experience with customizable typography and themes. It offers seamless syncing across devices and integrates with various read-later services, allowing for offline access to cached content.

Highlights
  • Gesture-based navigation
  • Customizable color themes
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Automatic webpage text display
  • Offline access with caching
  • Integration with read-later services
  • Widgets for unread counts
Features
Read full description

Rediscover the joy of reading your favorite writers and publications with Unread. Unread is an RSS reader with beautiful typography, comfortable gesture-based navigation, and a variety of color themes. Unread is available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Unread won the MacStories Selects 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. Capabilities include: SYNCING: Our free Unread Cloud service keeps your devices in sync. Unread also syncs with Feedbin, Feedly, Fever, FreshRSS, Gobbler, Inkwell, Inoreader, Miniflux, and NewsBlur. AUTOMATIC WEBPAGE TEXT: For feeds that contain only article summaries, Unread will display the full article text from the webpage. Easily switch between feed text and webpage text for any article, and change the default for individual feeds. WEBSITE ACCOUNTS: For news websites that require an account, sign in and get full webpage text. SUBSCRIBE IN UNREAD: This share sheet extension lets you subscribe to a website’s feeds while visiting that website from Safari or any other web browser. SAVE TO UNREAD: This share sheet extension creates an article in Unread with the contents of the webpage you are visiting from Safari or any other web browser. (Subscription required.) COLOR THEMES: Unread provides a variety of color themes. Choose one theme for light mode and another for dark mode. CACHING: Unread caches webpage text and images for instant loading and offline access. (Subscription required.) READ-LATER SERVICES: Unread can save articles to Anybox, Flyleaf, GoodLinks, Instapaper, Matter, Pinboard, Plinky, Raindrop.io, Readwise, Safari Reading List, and wallabag. On a device with a hardware keyboard, assign a custom keyboard shortcut to each. (Subscription required.) SHORTCUTS: Perform shortcuts on articles and links inside articles. On a device with a hardware keyboard, assign a custom keyboard shortcut to each. (Subscription required.) --- “Most importantly, I should stress again how refreshing it feels to have such a great native experience with Unread. The app is really fast, even when it’s loaded up with hundreds of feeds.” — Niléane Dorffer, MacStories “It’s an RSS reader made with taste. It has great typography, themes, search, and compatibility with the usual suspects. I love having this app on my Mac.” — David Sparks, MacSparky “Unread is focused on eliminating chrome — it is a pure reading app. It’s like reader mode all the time, and the assortment of color themes is nicely curated.” – John Gruber, Daring Fireball --- Unread has full VoiceOver coverage. Every screen and every feature is available to users with vision impairments: • From any screen you can perform a magic tap, a two-finger double tap, to open a menu of options available for that screen. • When on an article list, there are actions available for each article in the list. After selecting an article, invoke the accessibility rotor and then select “Actions”. There is an action to mark the article read or unread, an action to share the article, and many others. • Use the VoiceOver escape gesture, a two-finger “Z”, to back out of the current screen. --- UNREAD SUBSCRIPTION Unread is a free app. Additional functionality is available with a $29.99 (USD)/year auto-renewing subscription: • Article actions for sending articles directly to supported bookmarking and read later services, and for sharing via email or iMessage. • Ability to execute shortcuts on articles and links. • Caching of webpage text and images. • Widget customization options. • Save to Unread share sheet extension. • Custom app icons. • Premium support. A subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your account settings on the App Store after purchase. Unread’s Terms of Use are available at: https://www.goldenhillsoftware.com/unread/terms-of-use/

Screenshots

TidBITS News2 screens
Unread4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Unread at 4.6 against TidBITS News's 3.8. Unread also leads on update cadence (every 8 days vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (442 vs 6). TidBITS News's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Unread sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. TidBITS News asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Unread holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Unread has 442 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of TidBITS News's written reviews are positive against 72% of Unread's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TidBITS News ships an update every 4 months, Unread every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
TidBITS News versus Unread: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTidBITS NewsUnread
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (6 ratings)4.6 (442 ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.3% of reviews72.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6442 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 8 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB39 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperMatt NeuburgGolden Hill Software

Customer experience

TidBITS News

All ratings6 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive64.3%
Neutral2.4%
Negative33.3%

Unread

All ratings442 ratings
Positive89.8%
Neutral2.7%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews170 reviews
Positive72.4%
Neutral8.2%
Negative19.4%

Bugs and requests

TidBITS News

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Unread

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Occasional article duplication
  • Issues with 'Keep Unread' feature
  • Text formatting problems in dark mode

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add support for more RSS providers (e.g., Miniflux, FreshRSS)
  • Implement keyboard shortcuts and power-user features
  • Improve information density on iPad layout
  • Introduce a one-time purchase option

In-app purchases

None

TidBITS News

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Unread

Subscriptions4
  • Unread Monthly Subscription$4.991 Month
  • Unread Annual Subscription$29.991 Year
  • Unread: Free first year$29.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Unread: Discounted first year$29.991 Year

Questions

Is TidBITS News free?
TidBITS News is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Unread free?
Unread is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, TidBITS News or Unread?
Unread is rated higher. TidBITS News averages 3.8 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Unread averages 4.6 from 442 ratings.
Do TidBITS News or Unread have ads?
Neither TidBITS News nor Unread shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TidBITS News or Unread?
TidBITS News ships an update every 4 months, and Unread every 8 days. Most recently, TidBITS News was updated on September 18, 2026 and Unread on September 21, 2026.

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