Current vs Ember Feed
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Current
This app offers a peaceful way to consume RSS feeds without the pressure of unread counts or overdue articles. It prioritizes a calm, unhurried reading experience with beautiful typography and intuitive navigation. Sync with various providers or use local feeds for a personalized content stream.
- No unread counts or badges
- Calm and unhurried design
- Beautiful article presentation
- Support for multiple sync providers
- Full-text article extraction
- Universal app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac
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Current is an RSS reader built on a simple idea: your feed should never make you feel behind. There are no unread counts. No red badges. No number climbing while you sleep, silently tallying everything you haven't read. Current shows you what's new right now, and that's it. Nothing is owed. Nothing is overdue. You open it when you want to read, and whatever's there is what's there. The design is intentional. Every screen, every interaction, every animation was built to feel calm and unhurried. Articles are presented beautifully with clean typography and generous whitespace. Navigation is fluid and intuitive. The app gets out of the way and lets you focus on what matters: the writing. Current supports multiple sync providers so you can bring your existing subscriptions: - Feedbin - Inoreader - MiniFlux - FreshRSS - The Old Reader - NewsBlur - Local RSS (on-device, no account needed) Features: - Universal app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac - Beautiful article reader with smart formatting - Full-text article extraction - Light and dark themes - Background refresh - OPML import and export - Share extension - Keyboard shortcuts on iPad and Mac - iCloud sync for local feeds Current is a one-time purchase. No subscription. No ads. No tracking. Just an app you buy once and own forever. Built by an indie developer who wanted to love RSS again.
Ember Feed
A beautiful and calm RSS reader designed for focus and clarity. Organize your chosen content with custom themes, fonts, and folders. Syncs seamlessly across devices and offers offline reading.
- Customizable themes and fonts
- Folder organization for feeds
- iCloud sync across devices
- Offline article caching
- OPML import/export
- Mark articles as read/unread
- Save articles for later
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A calm, beautiful home for your feeds. Ember Feed is a modern RSS reader for macOS designed for people who want focus, clarity, and control over their news. No algorithms. No noise. Just the content you choose — presented beautifully. Designed to Feel Good Reading should feel calm. Ember Feed features soft pastel gradient themes, light and dark mode, and a curated selection of 20 beautiful fonts so you can create a reading space that feels uniquely yours. Seamless iCloud Sync Your feeds and reading progress stay in sync across your devices with iCloud. Start reading on your Mac and continue right where you left off. Stay Organized • Organize feeds into folders • Personalize folders with custom emoji icons • Mark articles as read or unread • Save articles for later Your feed structure is fully yours — simple, flexible, and intuitive. Import and Export with Ease Already using another RSS reader? Import your subscriptions instantly with OPML. You can also export anytime — your data always belongs to you. Offline-Ready Articles are cached for offline reading, so your feeds are available even without an internet connection.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Ember Feed at 5.0 against Current's 4.5. Ember Feed also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 68%) and price ($5.99 vs $9.99). Current's advantage is ratings volume (111 vs 1) and chart position (#19 vs #139). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Current costs $9.99 and Ember Feed $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Ember Feed holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Current has 111 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of Current's written reviews are positive against 100% of Ember Feed's.
Current ships an update every 3 days, Ember Feed every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Current | Ember Feed |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $5.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.5 (111 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 111 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 6 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #19 — better | #139 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jupiter Interactive Group LLC | Lawrence Gimenez |
Customer experience
Current
Ember Feed
In-app purchases
Current
No in-app purchases
Ember Feed
No in-app purchases









