Comparison

AirSS vs Elytra

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

Head to head
About

AirSS

Stay informed with a fast and elegant RSS reader. Listen to articles with text-to-speech, organize feeds, and customize your reading experience. It offers powerful search and automatic maintenance for your news.

Highlights
  • Audio reading with text-to-speech
  • OPML import/export
  • Customizable reader themes and fonts
  • Powerful article search
  • Priority feed notifications
  • Background feed synchronization
  • Intuitive gesture controls
Features
Read full description

AirSS is the next-generation RSS reader designed for news enthusiasts and information curators. Elegant, fast, and powerful, AirSS lets you follow all your favorite websites from a single app. Premium interface Discover a modern interface with a dark “Liquid Glass” design inspired by iOS 26. Every element has been crafted to offer an immersive and pleasant reading experience. Audio reading Listen to your articles with built-in text-to-speech. Perfect for your commute, workout, or when your eyes need a break. Background playback supported. OPML import/export Easily migrate from Feedly, Inoreader, NewsBlur, or any other RSS reader. Export your feeds for backup or sharing. Intuitive gestures - Swipe right: Add to favorites - Swipe left: Mark read/unread - Long press: Quick preview and actions Customizable reader Tailor your reading experience: - 4 themes: Light, Dark, Sepia, OLED - 3 fonts: System, Serif, Monospace - Adjustable text size (12–24 pt) Powerful search Find any article in an instant. Search across titles, descriptions, and content. Priority feeds Mark your important feeds and receive notifications so you never miss anything. Automatic maintenance - Auto-delete old articles (configurable) - Inactive feed detection - Favorite articles preserved forever Background sync Your feeds refresh automatically even when the app is closed. Complete features - Add feeds via URL or search - Organize by categories/tags - Filters: Unread, Favorites, All - Unread article counter - Article sharing - Open in Safari - Native dark mode AirSS respects your privacy: no account required, no data collected, everything stays on your device. Download AirSS and take back control of your news consumption. Term : https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Elytra

A privacy-focused RSS reader for iOS and macOS that offers native article rendering, advanced search, and cross-device synchronization. It strips tracking scripts and provides customizable appearance options for a clean reading experience.

Highlights
  • Privacy-focused design
  • Native article and image rendering
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Search within articles
  • Customizable appearance
  • Mute filters
  • Widgets
Features
Read full description

Elytra is a private RSS reader for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Follow the news sites and blogs you choose, read them in a clean native reader with every tracker stripped out, and keep everything in sync across your devices. Elytra is a paid app: every new account starts with a 14-day free trial, after which you can subscribe or buy a one-time lifetime licence. WHY ELYTRA PRIVATE BY DESIGN: Your account is created automatically. There is no email, no password and no personal information. A random account ID and anonymous crash reports are the only data Elytra uses, and only to sync your feeds and keep the app stable. NO TRACKING: Elytra removes tracking scripts and tracking pixels from every article, so what you read stays between you and your device. NATIVE READER: Articles are rendered with native iOS text and image views, not a web view. That means Dynamic Type, VoiceOver, text selection across paragraphs, syntax-highlighted code blocks and fast scrolling on long articles. SYNC: Your feeds, folders, read state and bookmarks sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac through Elytra's own service. The Mac app is a separate download on the Mac App Store. PUSH NOTIFICATIONS: Get real-time alerts from blogs that support the WebSub protocol, and near real-time local notifications from the ones that do not. FULL-TEXT ARTICLES: When a feed only ships a summary, Elytra can fetch the full article for you. SEARCH: Search for a feed, then an article, then a phrase inside the article. Elytra was the first RSS reader to search within articles. MUTE FILTERS: Hide topics, spoilers and keywords you do not want in your timeline. OPML: Import your subscriptions from another reader, and export them at any time. OFFLINE BOOKMARKS: Bookmarked articles are stored on your device, so you can read them without a connection. FEED FORMATS: RSS, Atom and JSON Feed are all supported. IMAGE LOADING: Choose when images load to save mobile data, or load them on demand. APPEARANCE: Light and dark themes, a choice of serif and sans-serif fonts, and support for custom fonts installed on your device. LINKED HEADERS: When an author links section headers, Elytra lets you share a link straight to that section. WIDGETS: Four widgets bring your favourite feeds and latest updates to your Home Screen and Lock Screen. ——— Elytra uses its own sync service and cannot connect to Feedly, Inoreader, iCloud or other RSS syncing services. ——— Terms: https://elytra.app/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://elytra.app/privacy/

Screenshots

AirSS4 screens
Elytra4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: AirSS at 4.3 against Elytra's 3.7. AirSS also leads on monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). Elytra's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (44% vs 18%). On price, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. AirSS sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Elytra sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

AirSS holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 20 and 9 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 18% of AirSS's written reviews are positive against 44% of Elytra's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

AirSS ships an update every 3 months, Elytra fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
AirSS versus Elytra: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAirSSElytra
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (20 ratings) — better3.7 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews18.2% of reviews44.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings20 — better9
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size74 MB56 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperHeitz BrunoNikhil Nigade

Customer experience

AirSS

All ratings20 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral15.0%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive18.2%
Neutral27.3%
Negative54.5%

Elytra

All ratings9 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews45 reviews
Positive44.4%
Neutral2.2%
Negative53.3%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

AirSS

Subscriptions2
  • AirSS Pro (Monthly)$0.991 Month
  • AirSS Pro (Yearly)$8.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Version$12.99
9 purchases

Elytra

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Pro - Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$10.491 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro - Yearly7 Days trial$20.001 Year
One-time5
  • Free TrialFree
  • 1 Month Subscription$0.99
  • 3 Months Subscription$2.99
Show 2 more
  • 1 Year Subscription$12.99
  • Lifetime Subscription$54.99

Questions

Is AirSS free?
AirSS is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Elytra free?
Elytra is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, AirSS or Elytra?
AirSS is rated higher. AirSS averages 4.3 out of 5 from 20 ratings, while Elytra averages 3.7 from 9 ratings.
Do AirSS or Elytra have ads?
AirSS shows ads; Elytra does not.
Which is updated more often, AirSS or Elytra?
AirSS ships an update every 3 months, and Elytra fortnightly. Most recently, AirSS was updated on September 23, 2026 and Elytra on September 19, 2026.

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