Comparison

Amethyst vs ChronoFeed

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ€” 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

ChronoFeed

Features
Read full description

Your news, in chronological order. ChronoFeed is a clean, distraction-free RSS & Atom reader for iPhone, designed for people who value their time and want to decide what they read. Add your favorite sources, choose how often they refresh, and read stories in the order they were published - newest first or oldest first. No algorithmic ranking. No endless noise. Just your feeds and your reading. READ YOUR WAY โ€ข See stories in chronological order โ€ข Switch between newest-first and oldest-first โ€ข Search across your feeds โ€ข Filter by All, Unread, Today, This Week, or Saved โ€ข See source names, thumbnails, and estimated reading time โ€ข Save articles to read later โ€ข Mark articles as read or unread with a swipe โ€ข Share articles or copy links with a long press CONTROL YOUR SOURCES Add a feed URL or simply enter a website and let ChronoFeed discover available RSS or Atom feeds. Organize your sources into categories, rename them, pause sources you don't want refreshed, and control notifications on a per-source basis. IMPORT & EXPORT WITH OPML Moving from another RSS reader is easy. Import your feeds from Reeder, NetNewsWire, Feedly, or another compatible reader using OPML. ChronoFeed recreates your folders as categories and skips duplicate sources. You can also export your sources and categories whenever you want. REFRESH ON YOUR SCHEDULE Choose how ChronoFeed keeps your feed up to date. Refresh manually or select an automatic interval from 15 minutes to 24 hours. When iOS allows it, background refresh can fetch new stories and update your badge and notifications. Quiet Hours let you silence notification banners during the hours you choose, while your unread badge can continue to update. PRIVATE BY DESIGN ChronoFeed does not require an account. Your feeds and articles are stored on your iPhone, with no sign-in or cloud sync account required. Favicons are loaded from each site's own domain rather than through a third-party tracker. READ IN-APP OR IN SAFARI Open articles directly inside ChronoFeed using the dark in-app browser, or choose Safari when you want to use Safari Reader Mode and your extensions. BUILT FOR FOCUSED READING ChronoFeed keeps things simple with three main tabs: Feed, Sources, and Settings. Customize your reading experience with font sizes from XS to 3XL, optional Mark as Read on Scroll, automatic article cleanup, notification controls, and more. KNOW YOUR READING Statistics give you an overview of your sources, categories, articles, read percentage, saved items, images, averages, and refresh activity. A searchable User Guide, What's New cards, and first-launch onboarding help you get started quickly. YOUR FEEDS. YOUR ORDER. YOUR TIME. ChronoFeed puts you in control of your reading. Subscribe to RSS 2.0, Atom 1.0, and RDF RSS 1.0 feeds, organize the sources you choose, and read the stories that matter to you - without an algorithm deciding what comes first. ChronoFeed is built for iPhone and requires iOS 26.5 or later.

Screenshots

Amethyst4 screens
ChronoFeed4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ChronoFeed at none against Amethyst's 3. Amethyst's advantage is device support (5 vs 2) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Amethyst sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. ChronoFeed asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 5 level
Amethyst versus ChronoFeed: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAmethystChronoFeed
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews0.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyMonthlyโ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
MonetizationFreeโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size63 MB5 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperMBRKHRDT LLCPaul Crisan

In-app purchases

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
None

ChronoFeed

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Amethyst free?
Amethyst is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ChronoFeed free?
ChronoFeed is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Amethyst or ChronoFeed have ads?
Neither Amethyst nor ChronoFeed shows ads.

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