# Byline 5 vs RSS News Ticker

Byline 5 and RSS News Ticker both sit at 4.3 stars, but that hides the real split: 88% of RSS News Ticker's written reviews are positive against 41% of Byline 5's. RSS News Ticker also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months). Byline 5's advantage is ratings volume (73 vs 13) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 17.6). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Byline 5 sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and RSS News Ticker sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Byline 5 holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Byline 5 has 73 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 41% of Byline 5's written reviews are positive against 88% of RSS News Ticker's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

Byline 5 ships an update every 5 months, RSS News Ticker every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Byline 5 | RSS News Ticker |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.3 (73 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/byline-5/id946110496/reviews)** | [4.2 (13 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rss-news-ticker/id1548190121/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **73** | 13 |
| Positive reviews | 40.9% of reviews | **87.5% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | **Every 3 weeks** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 8 MB | 10 MB |
| Requires iOS | **9.0** | 17.6 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [Phantom Fish](https://appshunter.io/developer/284946776) | [Daniel Hoefer](https://appshunter.io/developer/1537303116) |

## What reviewers say

### Byline 5

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/byline-5/id946110496)

Access your favorite news sources and blogs, even without an internet connection. Subscribe to thousands of RSS feeds and stay updated with automatic syncing across all your devices. Enjoy a streamlined reading experience with offline access and quick navigation.

**Highlights:** Offline reading with cached content, Syncs across devices and web, Quick article navigation, Background app refresh for syncing, Discover new feeds and search articles

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Byline Premium | $2.99 | one-time |
| Byline Premium | $5.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Great offline reader
- ✨ Sleek new design
- 🚀 Fast and efficient
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Good for subway/plane reading

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Freezes frequently
- 🐛 Ads in paid version
- 🐛 Unable to sign in via Google
- 🐛 Swipe sensitivity issues
- 🐛 Offline caching broken

**Reported bugs**

- App freezes after opening articles
- App attempts to paste from clipboard on opening
- Paid version still shows ads
- Unable to sign in via Google account
- Google login error: 'This browser or app may not be secure'

**Requested features**

- Add progress indicator for downloads
- Add dark mode
- Add widgets
- Improve swipe sensitivity
- Allow reordering of feeds


### RSS News Ticker

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rss-news-ticker/id1548190121)

Organize your news feeds with this reader. Subscribe to RSS and Atom sources, with articles cached locally for offline reading. Features include iCloud sync, a unified newsfeed, tagging for organization, bookmarking, and word muting.

**Highlights:** Subscribe to RSS & Atom feeds, Offline article caching, iCloud sync across devices, Unified newsfeed and timeline, Tagging for article organization, Bookmark articles for later, Mute specific words or topics

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Small Tip | $0.99 | one-time |
| Mid Tip | $2.99 | one-time |
| Big Tip | $5.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Byline 5 free?

Byline 5 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is RSS News Ticker free?

RSS News Ticker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Byline 5 or RSS News Ticker?

Byline 5 is rated higher. Byline 5 averages 4.3 out of 5 from 73 ratings, while RSS News Ticker averages 4.2 from 13 ratings.

### Do Byline 5 or RSS News Ticker have ads?

Neither Byline 5 nor RSS News Ticker shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Byline 5 or RSS News Ticker?

Byline 5 ships an update every 5 months, and RSS News Ticker every 3 weeks. Most recently, Byline 5 was updated on November 6, 2026 and RSS News Ticker on November 3, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*