Comparison

Amethyst vs CMRSS

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

Head to head
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/

About

CMRSS

This news reader offers a streamlined way to consume content across all Apple devices. It features on-device AI for article summarization and robust organization tools, ensuring a private and efficient reading experience.

Highlights
  • iCloud sync across Apple devices
  • On-device AI article summarization
  • Tabbed reading with built-in browser
  • Organize feeds into folders
  • Follow YouTube, Reddit, X, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook
  • Smart Folders with custom rules
  • Widgets for desktop and Home Screen
Features
Read full description

CMRSS — A native RSS reader for Mac, iPhone, and iPad CMRSS is a fast, beautifully native RSS reader that keeps up with everything you follow — and helps you read it in less time. One app, every Apple device, perfectly in sync. Everything, everywhere — automatically Your feeds, folders, and read/unread state sync seamlessly through iCloud. Set things up once and pick up exactly where you left off, whether you're on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad. Read smarter with on-device AI Get a clear one- or two-sentence summary of any article, generated privately on your device with Apple Intelligence. Skim your feeds, catch what matters, and dive in only when you want to. Nothing is sent to a server. Built for focused reading • Tabbed reading with a built-in browser — open full articles without leaving the app, and your open tabs follow you to your other devices • Unread-first workflow — jump straight to what's new, or browse everything • Organize feeds into folders that stay in sync everywhere • Tune your layout: title line count, summaries on or off Follow more than blogs • Paste a YouTube channel or a subreddit — CMRSS finds the feed for you • Follow X, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook pages, and entire websites through the optional RSS.app integration (RSS.app account required) • Import and export OPML to bring your subscriptions with you — or take them anywhere Smart Folders • Folders that fill themselves — collect articles by title, content, feed, age, or read state • Combine rules into nested any/all groups for precise filters • Unread counts and iCloud sync, just like regular folders Widgets for your desktop and Home Screen • An unread ring for a glanceable count, or latest-articles widgets in two sizes • Show everything or pick a single feed; tap to jump straight to the article Never miss what you care about • Smart background refresh on your schedule (every 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes) • Flexible notifications: a single sync summary, one per feed, or one per article • Mark important feeds for per-article alerts • An app-icon badge that always shows your unread count Power features • Dispatch Actions — send any article to your other apps through Shortcuts, with keyboard slots ⌘1–⌘5 • Spotlight search — find your articles right from the desktop or Home Screen • Curated suggestions to get you started fast • Automatic cleanup — choose how long to keep articles to control storage Private by design Sync runs through your own iCloud account, and AI summaries are generated entirely on-device. No third-party servers. No tracking. Your reading is yours. Free to try, one purchase to own Every feature is free with up to 5 feeds. A single one-time purchase unlocks unlimited feeds — no subscription, yours forever. Download CMRSS and make your feeds feel effortless again. Note: AI article summaries require a device that supports Apple Intelligence.

Screenshots

Amethyst4 screens
CMRSS4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: CMRSS at 100% against Amethyst's 0%. CMRSS also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs monthly). Amethyst's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and device support (5 vs 3). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Amethyst sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and CMRSS sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Amethyst ships an update monthly, CMRSS every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Amethyst versus CMRSS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAmethystCMRSS
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size63 MB20 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperMBRKHRDT LLCCharlie Monroe Software, s.r.o.

Customer experience

Amethyst

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

CMRSS

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Amethyst

Subscriptions2
  • Amethyst Plus - Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Amethyst Plus - Annual14 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Amethyst Plus - Lifetime$49.99
1 purchases

CMRSS

One-time1
  • CMRSS Pro$9.99

Questions

Is Amethyst free?
Amethyst is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is CMRSS free?
CMRSS is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Amethyst or CMRSS have ads?
Neither Amethyst nor CMRSS shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Amethyst or CMRSS?
Amethyst ships an update monthly, and CMRSS every 6 days. Most recently, Amethyst was updated on October 24, 2026 and CMRSS on October 11, 2026.

Other comparisons