Comparison

:)ssue vs nook

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

Head to head
About

:)ssue

Features
Read full description

:)ssue is an RSS reader that behaves like a newspaper instead of a feed. It turns articles from the sites you follow into a morning and evening Daily edition, built around the delivery windows you choose. A PAPER, NOT A STREAM Every edition has a front page: a lead story, supporting stories, and sections by category. On a quiet day it is short. On a busy one it is long. Either way, it ends—and you are finished reading. GROUPED BY STORY, SHAPED FOR YOU The app analyzes articles on your device. It groups reports covering the same story into a single entry, organizes articles by category, and scores and arranges them to build each edition. As you read, it learns from the articles you open and those you mark Not for Me, so future editions gradually reflect what interests you. Related coverage stays close at hand, and you can adjust how the analysis works in Settings. YOUR WAY OF READING - Reader view for clean text, or the built-in browser for the full page - Your own compatible Safari content-blocker list, loaded from a URL - YouTube videos that play in place - Article retention settings and an image cache you can inspect and clear READ IT IN YOUR LANGUAGE Set a source language for a feed and the app can translate its headlines and article text into your language. Translation uses Apple's system translation and the languages downloaded on your device, so you can follow sites you could not read before. SUBSCRIPTIONS THAT STAY YOURS Add an RSS, Atom, or JSON feed by entering its address, or paste a website URL and let the app find the feed for you. Import and export your subscriptions as OPML whenever you like. There is no account to create and no server run by us that synchronizes your reading. Your subscriptions and reading history are stored on your device. AROUND THE SYSTEM - Home Screen widgets for your latest edition - Search from Control Center, the Lock Screen, or the Action button - Subscribe to a page from Safari - Add an article to a conversation from Messages - Find articles with Spotlight, Siri, and Shortcuts - Background refresh that helps prepare each edition before you open the app MAKE IT YOURS Adjust the analysis weights, set your morning and evening delivery windows, and use diagnostics when you want to look under the hood. No ads. No subscription. No account. If you would like to support the work, you can leave a tip—a single payment that unlocks nothing.

About

nook

Features
Read full description

Read collected technical articles and research papers cleanly on your devices. This app is a companion reader designed to work alongside the Mac version of nook. Feed registration, folder organization, article polling, and AI summarization are handled in the Mac app. Synced articles and briefings appear on your iPhone and iPad via iCloud for a quiet reading experience on the go. Using sync requires signing in with the same Apple Account on both your Mac and iOS devices. Everything syncs privately through your personal iCloud storage (private database). No proprietary account is required. ■ Built for Technical Reading - Native Markdown: Clean hierarchy, structured lists, tables, inline code, and block quotes. - LaTeX Math Rendering: Crisp rendering of mathematical formulas and equations in research papers and articles. - Expandable Image Viewer: Tap or pinch to zoom into architecture diagrams, charts, and technical figures. - In-App Video Playback: Watch demonstration and technical videos directly within articles (streamed on demand). ■ Briefings and Citations - Topic Overviews: Review key topics summarized across multiple articles in a feed or folder. - Interactive Citations: Tap citation links to jump directly to referenced excerpts and source articles. ■ Organization and Offline Access - Filter by Folders and Feeds: Filter articles by synced feeds and folders. - Fast Search: Instantly search articles by title and list preview text. - Automatic Offline Caching: Automatically caches the last 30 days of articles, images, and your favorites for offline reading on planes or subways. - Two-Way Favorite Sync: Starred articles sync across your devices. ■ Language Settings - The app UI language can be set independently under Settings to System, Japanese, or English (changing the UI language does not retranslate existing saved articles). - The language used for AI summaries, briefings, and Ask responses is determined by the settings in the Mac app. Getting Started - This app cannot register feeds, create or edit folders, poll articles, or generate AI summaries and briefings on its own. These operations are performed in the Mac app. - Data sync utilizes your personal iCloud storage. - Even without a Mac or before syncing, you can test core reading features—including article layout, math and figure rendering, image zoom, search, and favorites—using 3 built-in sample technical articles (briefings, video playback, and iCloud sync are not included in sample mode). Completely free. No in-app purchases, no subscriptions, no ads, and no user tracking.

Screenshots

:)ssue4 screens
nook3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: nook at none against :)ssue's 1. nook also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 8 days) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support 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. :)ssue sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. nook asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

:)ssue ships an update every 8 days, nook daily. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 3 level
:)ssue versus nook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter:)ssuenook
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size63 MB16 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperWatanabe ToshinoriKohei Ono

In-app purchases

1 purchases

:)ssue

One-time1
  • Tip$0.99
None

nook

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is :)ssue free?
:)ssue is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is nook free?
nook is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do :)ssue or nook have ads?
Neither :)ssue nor nook shows ads.
Which is updated more often, :)ssue or nook?
:)ssue ships an update every 8 days, and nook daily. Most recently, :)ssue was updated on November 7, 2026 and nook on November 6, 2026.

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