Comparison

Heaps Reader vs Flux News Reader

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

Head to head
About

Heaps Reader

Organize and consume RSS feeds and podcasts with a unique swipe-based interface. Enjoy distraction-free reading, article summaries, and offline podcast playback. Seamlessly manage subscriptions and discover content.

Highlights
  • Swipe-based article triage
  • Reader mode for distraction-free reading
  • Article summaries with Apple Intelligence
  • Podcast player with offline downloads
  • Organize feeds into colorful collections
  • iCloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

Heaps is an RSS and podcast reader for iPhone built around one idea: getting through your feeds should feel good. Organize your subscriptions into colorful collections called Heaps. Pick from 40 colors and custom icons to make each one yours. Then swipe through articles like a deck of cards — left to skip, right to save, up to mark as read. Or simply tap to read now. A progress bar shows how far you've got to go, haptic feedback keeps every gesture satisfying, and an undo stack means you'll never accidentally lose something. When you tap into an article, you choose how to read it. Reader mode strips away ads and trackers while giving you a clean, formatted experience. Browser mode loads the full site and keeps you logged in to paywalled publishers, so you don't re-enter credentials every visit. If you're short on time, article summaries powered by Apple Intelligence give you the gist in seconds. Podcasts live alongside your feeds, too!. Search, subscribe, adjust playback speed, queue up episodes, and download for offline listening — all without leaving the app. Oh, and Ben the Sheep lives in the app too! He's always there to show you around and cheer you on. Key features: Swipe-based card interface for fast article triage Reader mode for clean, distraction-free articles Browser mode with persistent logins for paywalled sites Article summaries powered by Apple Intelligence Podcast player with speed controls and offline downloads Save articles and clips to a personal library Mute words to hide topics you don't care about iCloud sync across devices with no accounts needed Background refresh so new articles are ready when you open the app Import and export via OPML Subscribe to RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds. Follow your favorite blogs, newspapers, and indie publishers. Keep your podcasts in the same place. Heaps makes all of it feel like one smooth workflow.

About

Flux News Reader

Features
Read full description

Flux News is the native Miniflux reader for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Built entirely in SwiftUI — not a cross-platform port or web wrapper — it looks and feels at home on every Apple device, and brings a fast, focused reading experience to the self-hosted RSS server you already control. Connect once with your Miniflux server address and API key. Your feeds, folders, stars, and read state stay in sync across all your devices — no third-party cloud, no account to create, no tracking. DEEP MINIFLUX INTEGRATION • Manage everything Miniflux offers from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac — no web interface needed • Edit each feed's Miniflux rules: scraper rules, rewrite rules with a built-in rule builder, URL rewrites, and block and keep filters • Per-feed fetch options: full-content crawler, user agent, cookies, HTTP authentication, proxy, and more • Add feeds with discovery, organise folders, and import or export OPML • Refresh feeds on the server, flush history, and save articles to your Miniflux integrations • Read state, stars, folders, and unread counts sync both ways through Miniflux itself A REAL MAC APP • Designed for macOS, not adapted from iPad: native menu bar, Settings window, resizable windows, and widgets • Keyboard-first reading: J/K next and previous, M read/unread, B star, O open in browser, ⌘R refresh, ⌘K mark all as read • One free download covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac FAST AND OFFLINE • Opens instantly to your feeds — even before syncing • Read everything offline; mark, star, and save without a connection and changes sync when you're back online • Search your articles instantly on device READING, YOUR WAY • Newspaper, List, and Topics layouts • Clean article view with optional full-content fetch • 10 fonts including New York, Charter, Georgia, Iowan Old Style, and Palatino • 7 themes including Sepia, Midnight, OLED Dark, and two high-contrast themes, with light, dark, and automatic modes • Inline YouTube, podcasts, and video, with AirPlay and Now Playing controls SMART, ON-DEVICE INTELLIGENCE • Articles are automatically tagged by topic with Apple Intelligence — browse tags just like folders • Bullet-point summaries of any article, even long reads • Everything runs on your device; article text never leaves it LISTEN TO YOUR ARTICLES • Read aloud with system voices, or natural ElevenLabs voices using your own key • Background playback with lock screen and headphone controls MADE FOR EACH DEVICE • iPhone: swipe between feeds, articles, and the reader; pull to refresh; home and lock screen widgets; share extension to add feeds from Safari • iPad: side-by-side split view with keyboard support • Mac: menu bar, keyboard shortcuts, and widgets PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No analytics, no tracking, no ads • Connects only to your Miniflux server • Send feedback from Settings (or the Help menu on Mac) — it includes app and OS versions, never your server address or API key REQUIREMENTS • A Miniflux server — self-hosted, or a hosted account at miniflux.app • iOS 17, iPadOS 17, or macOS 14 or later • Tagging and summaries require iOS 26 or macOS 26 on an Apple Intelligence–capable device Flux News is an independent app and is not affiliated with the Miniflux project.

Screenshots

Heaps Reader4 screens
Flux News Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Heaps Reader at every 2 days against Flux News Reader's monthly. Flux News Reader's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Heaps Reader ships an update every 2 days, Flux News Reader monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Heaps Reader versus Flux News Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHeaps ReaderFlux News Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB6 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperZachary BrownAlexander Brown

In-app purchases

None

Heaps Reader

No in-app purchases

None

Flux News Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Heaps Reader free?
Heaps Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Flux News Reader free?
Flux News Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Heaps Reader or Flux News Reader have ads?
Neither Heaps Reader nor Flux News Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Heaps Reader or Flux News Reader?
Heaps Reader ships an update every 2 days, and Flux News Reader monthly. Most recently, Heaps Reader was updated on October 31, 2026 and Flux News Reader on November 5, 2026.

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