Web Subscriber vs Heartfeed RSS Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Web Subscriber
This app aggregates content from your favorite websites and blogs into a single, unified reading list. It offers smart streams to help you manage high-volume feeds, discover trending topics, browse visually, and view short posts.
- Unified reading list
- Organize subscriptions by tags
- Slow Feeds for low-volume content
- Hot Links for trending topics
- Image browsing mode
- Micro-Blogposts view
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You don't have to check your favorite websites one by one! Web Subscriber is a web-feed reader that lets you subscribe to many websites and blogs in one place. Web Subscriber shows you all articles of websites you subscribe to as a unified reading list. You can also organize your subscriptions by tagging them. If you start having lots of subscriptions, Web Subscriber helps you by providing smart and interesting streams of articles: - 'Slow Feeds' singles out your low-volume subscriptions, so they don't drown in the noise of high-frequency news sites. - 'Hot Links' shows you what gets linked to from multiple articles to help you find what's important. - 'Images' lets you leisurely browse your reading list like a photo album of article images. See if something piques your interest! - 'Micro-Blogposts' Tweet-like untitled posts with max. 280 characters. Web Subscriber supports any website or blog offering a web-feed in the RSS, Atom or JSONFeed format.
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.
- 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
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Heartfeed RSS Reader at 4.8 against Web Subscriber's 4.1. Heartfeed RSS Reader also leads on review sentiment (89% vs 59%) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Web Subscriber's advantage is iOS requirement (10.3 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Web Subscriber sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Heartfeed RSS Reader sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Heartfeed RSS Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Heartfeed RSS Reader has 90 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 59% of Web Subscriber's written reviews are positive against 89% of Heartfeed RSS Reader's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Web Subscriber | Heartfeed RSS Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (7 ratings) | 4.8 (90 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 59.0% of reviews | 89.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 | 90 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.3 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 28 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Zozi Apps | Ozymandias |
Customer experience
Web Subscriber
Heartfeed RSS Reader
Bugs and requests
Web Subscriber
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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)
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- 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
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- 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
Web Subscriber
- Web Subscriber - Full Version$4.99
Heartfeed RSS Reader
- Tipping the developer$0.99
- Unlimited feeds$2.99
- Tipping the developer$2.99
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- Even more tip to the developer$9.99
- Maximum tip to the developer$24.99
Questions
Is Web Subscriber free?
Is Heartfeed RSS Reader free?
Which has better reviews, Web Subscriber or Heartfeed RSS Reader?
Do Web Subscriber or Heartfeed RSS Reader have ads?
Which is updated more often, Web Subscriber or Heartfeed RSS Reader?
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