Tidings vs trickle
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tidings
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Tidings is an RSS reader built for people who want to read, not manage software. Add a feed by pasting any site's URL — it finds the feed for you. Your articles land in one inbox, oldest first, and you triage them: read now, keep for later, star what matters, or sweep the rest away. Nothing is recommended to you, nothing is ranked by an algorithm, and nothing arrives that you didn't ask for. READS BEAUTIFULLY Articles are stripped to their text and images — no popups, no cookie banners, no newsletter modals. Adjustable type, light and dark, and it remembers exactly where you stopped reading, even after you change the font. WORKS OFFLINE Articles are downloaded and cached, so a subway ride or a flight is just reading time. Images come along too. SYNCS PRIVATELY Your feeds and reading state sync across your iPhone and iPad through your own iCloud account. There is no server in the middle, because there is no server at all. BRINGS YOUR FEEDS WITH YOU Import an OPML file from any other reader, and export yours whenever you like. Your subscriptions are yours to take. FEATURES • Automatic feed discovery — paste a site URL, not a feed URL • RSS, Atom, JSON Feed, and YouTube channels • Distraction-free reader with full-text extraction • Offline reading with cached text and images • Inbox, Read Later, and Starred — triage with swipe gestures • Mark Above as Read for fast sweeping • Remembers your place in every list and article • iCloud sync across your devices • OPML import and export • Full VoiceOver and Dynamic Type support • iPhone and iPad FREE FOR UP TO 10 FEEDS Everything above is included — the reader, offline articles, iCloud sync, YouTube feeds, OPML import and export. Nothing is crippled, nothing expires, and there's no trial countdown. If you outgrow 10 feeds, Tidings Premium removes the limit for a single one-time payment. That's the only thing it changes. NO ADS. NO TRACKING. NO ACCOUNT. NO ANALYTICS. NO SUBSCRIPTION. Tidings has no way to know what you read — it has no server to tell.
trickle
A podcast player and feed reader with a unique dark cyberpunk interface. It allows users to stream or download episodes, manage playback, and read various feed types including RSS, Atom, and JSON. Public YouTube videos can be watched without ads.
- Podcast search and subscription
- Stream or download episodes
- Customizable playback queue
- Global playback speed control
- Sleep timers and playback skipping
- Read RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds
- Follow YouTube channels and Nostr profiles
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trickle is a podcast player and feed reader with a dark cyberpunk interface. Podcasts • Search the Apple Podcasts catalog and view shows before subscribing • Stream or download episodes • Build and reorder your Up next queue • Resume from saved progress • Use global playback speeds from 1x to 2x • Set sleep timers, bookmarks, intro skip, and outro skip • Search timed transcripts and tap a segment to seek • Read chapters and show notes • Control playback from the Lock Screen • See download storage and remove played or all downloads Feeds • Read RSS, Atom, and JSON Feed • Follow public YouTube channels and playlists • Follow verified posts from Nostr profiles • Read articles in a clean reader view • Save readable article text for offline use • Search, filter, and sort a source or category • Group non-podcast sources into categories • Share a feed or website to trickle from another app Public YouTube videos play without ads when supported, with the official player as a fallback. Use Picture in Picture to keep listening while using other apps or when the screen is locked. Import and export OPML files, or make a local backup of your subscriptions and app data. trickle does not collect your information.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: trickle at none against Tidings's 1. On price, 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
Both are free to download. Tidings sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. trickle asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Tidings | trickle |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 33 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Hongyu Zhang | Parmesh Krishen |
In-app purchases
Tidings
- Tidings Premium$9.99
trickle
No in-app purchases









