Comparison

Headlines vs Amethyst

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

Head to head
About

Headlines

Follow your favorite websites and read content in a distraction-free, ad-free reader. Organize articles into collections, discover new content, and save items to read later. Offers summaries, notes, and highlighting for an enhanced reading experience.

Highlights
  • Follow sites and writers
  • Ad-free reader
  • News roundup notifications
  • Detox mode for topics/sites
  • Save articles to read later
  • Organize content into collections
  • Reading tools: summaries, notes, highlighting
Features
Read full description

Headlines is an app that allows you to follow your favourite websites and read content in an ad-free reader that is designed to let you focus. It’s the best way to keep up with the content you love to read online, like news sites, blogs, newsletters, and more. Headlines gives you a chronological feed of the latest content from the sites you follow instead of an algorithm telling you what to read. FEATURES: - Follow sites and writers (just like you follow people on social media) - Beautiful ad-free reader designed to help you focus without distracting ads - News Flash: Receive a morning, afternoon and evening roundup of what’s going on in your world. - Detox Mode: Need to take a break from specific topics or sites? Detox mode makes it easy. - Set your reading time routine in the app and get reminded when it’s time to read - Add anything to your saved list to read later, including pages from around the web from the Safari extension - Organize your content into collections, including sites, articles, and links from around the web. Great for organizing content around a given topic! - Powerful reading tools: enhance your reading experience with summaries, notes, highlighting and more. - Discover: find new content by exploring tags, featured sites, and suggestions based on your interests - Available on the web and iOS! Experience the full-featured web app on your desktop or from anywhere. Headlines is free to use with reasonable limitations that are lifted with a subscription to Headlines Pro. Made in Toronto by a human! Terms of Service: https://headlines.fm/terms\ Privacy Policy: https://headlines.fm/terms

About

Amethyst

A streamlined RSS reader designed for Apple devices, offering customizable feed organization, real-time notifications, and article bookmarking. It supports RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds, syncing seamlessly across your Apple ecosystem.

Highlights
  • RSS, Atom, JSON feed support
  • Feed grouping and sorting
  • Real-time push notifications
  • Article bookmarking
  • iCloud sync across Apple devices
  • OPML import/export
Features
Read full description

Amethyst is the ultimate RSS reader for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro. Built by a writer, for writers. It support RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds. It offers in depth customization, group sorting, real time push notifications, recaps, and much more. It feels right at home on your Apple device, being optimized for larger screen layouts - and truly makes RSS feel painless. Your feeds sync across iCloud, providing a unified experience across all of your Apple devices. Stay organized - Group feeds into folders and reorder them however you like - Mark your key sources as favorites - Bookmark articles to read later - Unread indicators quickly show you whats new - "Here's what you missed" summary when you're away for a little while - Keep up with your reading stats on your profile Real-time push notifications - Get notified the moment your favorite publications post new articles - Dial in your notifications per feed, so you only see what's most important - Never miss key stories, even when the app is in the background - Set certain feeds as Time Sensitive, so they always show up despite your Focus mode - Free users get up to 4 notification sources, Plus users gain unlimited Deep integration - View articles on your Apple Watch through complication or notifications, beam it to your iPhone to read later - Home and Lock Screen widgets to keep up with the news without checking the app - Mac keyboard shortcuts for easy navigation without lifting a finger - Share sheet extension to bookmark articles or add new sources, straight from Safari Discover new sources - Browse curated feeds organized by topic for added variety - Preview any source before adding it to your library - Import and export your feed collection with OPML, making it easy to switch in or out Amethyst Plus - Customize your folder icons, theme color, and app icon - Follow writers, so you can keep up with your favorite sources - Unlimited real time push notifications, instead of just 4 Thanks for using Amethyst! Feel free to share any feedback with me at feedback@amethyst.news. Subscription Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Headlines4 screens
Amethyst4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Amethyst at free against Headlines's freemium. Amethyst also leads on device support (5 vs 2) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Headlines's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs monthly). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Headlines sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Amethyst sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Headlines against 5.0 for Amethyst. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Headlines ships an update every 10 days, Amethyst monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 14, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Headlines versus Amethyst: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHeadlinesAmethyst
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews—0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB63 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperBradley PurchaseMBRKHRDT LLC

Customer experience

Headlines

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Amethyst

Written reviews6 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Headlines

Subscriptions2
  • Headlines Pro (Monthly)$3.991 Month
  • Headlines Pro (Yearly)$44.991 Year
3 purchases

Amethyst

Subscriptions2
  • Amethyst Plus - Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Amethyst Plus - Annual14 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Amethyst Plus - Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is Headlines free?
Headlines is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Amethyst free?
Amethyst is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Headlines or Amethyst?
Headlines and Amethyst are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Headlines or Amethyst have ads?
Neither Headlines nor Amethyst shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Headlines or Amethyst?
Headlines ships an update every 10 days, and Amethyst monthly. Most recently, Headlines was updated on November 14, 2026 and Amethyst on November 13, 2026.

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