Comparison

FLAT RSS Reader vs Heartfeed RSS Reader

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

Head to head
About

FLAT RSS Reader

This app offers a streamlined way to follow your favorite news sources. Easily manage your RSS feeds, discover new ones from website URLs, and save interesting articles for later access.

Highlights
  • Manage registered RSS information
  • Get RSS from website URLs
  • Register favorite news content
  • Simple outlook
  • Useful functions
Features
Read full description

'FLAT RSS Reader' — Only what matters, beautifully. Stay focused on the articles you actually want to read, free from ads and noise. Add your favorite blogs and news sites, and catch up on everything in one place. [Features] · Latest - See the newest articles from all your feeds in one unified list. Never miss a thing. · Feeds - Easily add, remove, and reorder feeds. Browse articles by feed at a glance. · Bookmarks - Save articles to read later. Access them instantly, even offline. [Perfect for you if…] · You want a clean, simple experience without cluttered features. · You'd rather have fewer ads and unnecessary notifications. · You like reading news in a browser with a content blocker (ad blocker) enabled. · You prefer reading in Dark Mode for a gentler experience on your eyes. · You want one place to manage your personal news feed.

About

Heartfeed RSS Reader

This app offers an efficient, no-nonsense way to read news from RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds without requiring account setup or server reliance. It features a compact grid view, background feed refreshing, and seamless syncing across iOS devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Compact grid view for feeds
  • Internal browser with content blocker support
  • Automatic iCloud sync for feeds and read status
  • Quick pick list for selecting news items
  • Background feed refresh and caching
  • Bookmark management with iCloud sync
  • Night mode theme
Features
Read full description

Do you want to read your news using RSS/Atom/JSON feeds in the most efficient, no-nonsense way, and with no requirement to setup an app-specific user account or relying on a server? If you do, Heartfeed might be the app for you. Features: - A compact grid view for your feeds, making it easy to check all of them at once - When reading news in the internal browser, full support of your configured content blockers, saved passwords, etc. - Automatic synching of subscribed feeds and read status between iOS devices (requires an iCloud account) - Quick pick list: Easily select which news items from different feeds you want to read - Background refresh of feeds: Some feeds refresh often and you then risk missing news in case the app is not used frequently. Background refresh, together with caching of the last 50 news items in each feed, prevents this from happening - Bookmarks, including reading them from either inside Heartfeed or from any iOS or macOS browser (requires an iCloud account) - Night mode theme - Subscribing to feeds from the current Heartfeed top list, from files, or directly from the web - Full support for split views and multi-tasking on iPads - No tracking of usage or personal data; optionally, you can anonymously share which feeds you subscribe to for improving the builtin top list of recommended feeds The app is 100% free and without ads. If you want to tip me somethings as thanks for the app, you can do so within the settings. I hope you'll enjoy using Heartfeed!

Screenshots

FLAT RSS Reader4 screens
Heartfeed RSS Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Heartfeed RSS Reader at 89% against FLAT RSS Reader's 50%. Heartfeed RSS Reader also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.8 vs 4.4). FLAT RSS Reader's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5). On price, update cadence 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. Heartfeed RSS Reader sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. FLAT RSS Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Heartfeed RSS Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Heartfeed RSS Reader has 90 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of FLAT RSS Reader's written reviews are positive against 89% of Heartfeed RSS Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
FLAT RSS Reader versus Heartfeed RSS Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFLAT RSS ReaderHeartfeed RSS Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (8 ratings)4.8 (90 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews89.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings890 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supportedFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB14 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperNobuhide UzawaOzymandias

Customer experience

FLAT RSS Reader

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Heartfeed RSS Reader

All ratings90 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral2.2%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews91 reviews
Positive89.0%
Neutral5.5%
Negative5.5%

Bugs and requests

FLAT RSS Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Heartfeed RSS Reader

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • App crashes on launch
  • Crashes after adding feeds
  • Multiple crashes during normal usage
  • App fails to start after recent updates
  • iCloud syncing issues (requires troubleshooting)
Show 1 more
  • Bright reader screen conflicts with dark mode setting

Requested features

13 requests
  • Search functionality with highlighting across feeds
  • Individual mark-as-read buttons per feed
  • Thumbnail images in grid view
  • Apple Watch app support
  • Offline reading capability
Show 8 more
  • Multi-language support including RTL scripts
  • Integration with Feedly and other accounts
  • Preserve feed groups on OPML import
  • Dark mode for reader screen
  • Feed discovery page with popular feeds index
  • Ability to save/bookmark articles
  • Variable font sizes in grid view
  • Apple News+ integration

In-app purchases

None

FLAT RSS Reader

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Heartfeed RSS Reader

One-time5
  • Tipping the developer$0.99
  • Unlimited feeds$2.99
  • Tipping the developer$2.99
Show 2 more
  • Even more tip to the developer$9.99
  • Maximum tip to the developer$24.99

Questions

Is FLAT RSS Reader free?
FLAT RSS Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Heartfeed RSS Reader free?
Heartfeed RSS Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, FLAT RSS Reader or Heartfeed RSS Reader?
Heartfeed RSS Reader is rated higher. FLAT RSS Reader averages 4.4 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Heartfeed RSS Reader averages 4.8 from 90 ratings.
Do FLAT RSS Reader or Heartfeed RSS Reader have ads?
FLAT RSS Reader shows ads; Heartfeed RSS Reader does not.
Which is updated more often, FLAT RSS Reader or Heartfeed RSS Reader?
FLAT RSS Reader ships an update every 2 months, and Heartfeed RSS Reader every 2 months. Most recently, FLAT RSS Reader was updated on October 1, 2026 and Heartfeed RSS Reader on September 26, 2026.

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