Comparison

YourPods vs Flat RSS

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

Head to head
About

YourPods

This app offers a private and secure podcast listening experience with native playback across Apple devices. It features advanced audio controls, smart queueing, and robust data privacy, including self-hosting options.

Highlights
  • Trim Silence audio feature
  • Smart 'Up Next' queue automation
  • Per-podcast customization
  • Native Apple Watch support
  • Siri and CarPlay integration
  • gPodder and self-hosting sync
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

YourPods delivers a smooth and secure podcast experience across all your devices—even your vehicle. Native playback on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple CarPlay. No ads. No tracking. Ever. We believe your listening habits belong to you, which is why we give you total control over your data. Listen using a secure, local-only account to keep your library lightning-fast and 100% private right on your device. For self-hosters and privacy purists, YourPods offers seamless, native integration with gPodder-compatible servers (like Nextcloud gPodder Sync, NextPod, and RePod). Sync your entire library across devices on your own terms—without ever relying on Big Tech corporate clouds. Now in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch. PRIVACY YOU CAN SEE P3 — Privacy Preserving Playback strips tracking redirects from episode URLs before your device ever connects. SYNC YOUR WAY Choose how your data travels — or keep it local: - Vault Mode: Everything stays on your device. No account or server required. - Nextcloud / Self-Hosted: Bring your own gPodder-compatible server for full control. - gpodder.net: Free public sync with no server setup required. - YourPods Cloud: a free account syncs subscriptions and listening positions across your devices. YourPods Pro adds the web player, queue sync, stats, and notes sync — optional, never needed to use the app you bought. POWERFUL PLAYBACK - Per-podcast Listening Profiles: playback speed, skip intro, skip outro, auto-download, and AutoPilot queue management - Chapters read straight from the audio file, with chapter artwork — plus auto-extraction from show notes - Transcripts (SRT, VTT, JSON, Markdown, RTF, plain text), with search - Notes: annotate an episode while you listen, then export to Markdown, Obsidian, or Nextcloud - Trim silence, and a sleep timer with DriftOff Mode - Download episodes for offline listening - Smart episode notifications with per-podcast controls - Hide episodes to declutter without marking them played NATIVE APPLE ECOSYSTEM • One purchase: buy it once, use it on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. • Apple Watch Freedom: a full player on your wrist — download episodes for fast, offline, phone-free workouts. • Siri & Shortcuts: a complete actions catalog for hands-free listening and your own automations. • CarPlay: a beautifully integrated CarPlay UI. • Home Screen widget, Dynamic Island, and Lock Screen: feels like an app Apple designed themselves. TECHNICAL YourPods is open source. No advertising identifiers. No third-party analytics. The Privacy Manifest declares exactly what data is collected — and in Vault Mode, the answer is nothing. View the full data transparency screen in Settings. • Private Feeds: securely add password-protected premium RSS feeds (like Patreon). Stored locally with their credentials, never sync'd to any server. • Sync Backend: optimized for the gPodder Sync Nextcloud app (apps.nextcloud.com/apps/gpoddersync). Standard gPodder services may work, but are untested. • Protocol: implements the Open Podcast Sync protocol for subscriptions (SubscriptionDelta) and actions (EpisodeAction). • Architecture: written natively in Swift and SwiftUI. Playback runs on AVQueuePlayer with gapless auto-advance and automatic stream recovery. • Podcast 2.0: many features supported today, and we keep expanding. HUGE thank you to our TestFlight testers!! Get help or request features: https://asc.is/support/ Privacy Policy: https://yourpods.app/privacy

About

Flat RSS

Consolidate all your reading, watching, and listening into one calm, chronological feed. Save articles, videos, and podcasts from various sources, with offline access and cross-device sync. Enjoy a private, ad-free experience.

Highlights
  • Unified feed for RSS, podcasts, videos, social media
  • Save articles, videos, and links to Stash
  • Offline access for saved content
  • Cross-device iCloud sync
  • Ad-free and privacy-focused experience
  • Customizable feed filtering
Features
Read full description

Flat is one calm place for everything you read, watch, and listen to. Flat brings RSS, podcasts, videos, social feeds, and saved links together in one quiet place. No unread counts. No pressure. No algorithmic ranking. FOLLOW YOUR FAVORITE SOURCES • RSS, Atom, JSON feeds, podcasts, YouTube, Reddit, Mastodon, Bluesky, and more • Paste a URL or keyword and Flat finds the right source • Browse a clean chronological timeline • Filter by source, focus or hide feeds, and filter out unwanted keywords SAVE ANYTHING • Save articles, videos, podcasts, and links to your Stash • Save links from any app, browser, or Flat browser extension • Auto-stash items from feeds you never want to miss • Keep saved items until you are ready to come back LISTEN AND WATCH • Play podcasts and videos with playback progress synced across devices • Build your own audio and video queue • Use chapters and a sleep timer AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE • iPhone, iPad, and Mac • Automatic iCloud sync across devices • Offline access for saved articles, audio, and video podcasts PRIVACY FIRST • No ads • No tracking • No account required • Your reading data is not used for advertising FLAT PRO Start free with Stash, saved links from other apps, and up to 30 feeds. Upgrade to Flat Pro for unlimited feeds, so new articles, podcasts, and videos from all your favorite sources appear automatically in your timeline. A free trial is available. Just your content, at your pace. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://justasimple.app/privacy

Screenshots

YourPods4 screens
Flat RSS4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Flat RSS at Free against YourPods's $4.99. Flat RSS also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 56%). YourPods's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and chart position (#8 vs unranked). On update cadence, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Flat RSS is free to download; YourPods costs $4.99 up front. Flat RSS sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. YourPods asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 10 days. Both last shipped on November 5, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
YourPods versus Flat RSS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterYourPodsFlat RSS
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews55.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
Best chart rank#8 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS18.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB19 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperA Secret Company, LLCRene Fischer

Customer experience

YourPods

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive55.6%
Neutral22.2%
Negative22.2%

Flat RSS

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

YourPods

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Flat RSS

Subscriptions2
  • Flat Pro Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Flat Pro Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Flat Pro Lifetime$44.99

Questions

Is YourPods free?
YourPods costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Flat RSS free?
Flat RSS is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do YourPods or Flat RSS have ads?
Neither YourPods nor Flat RSS shows ads.
Which is updated more often, YourPods or Flat RSS?
YourPods ships an update every 10 days, and Flat RSS every 10 days. Most recently, YourPods was updated on November 5, 2026 and Flat RSS on November 5, 2026.

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