Comparison

Byline 5 vs Pulse RSS

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

Head to head
About

Byline 5

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
Read full description

Read the latest news from the websites that matter to you most, even when you’re offline. Simply sign in with a free Feedly account and subscribe to your favourite blogs, magazines, and news sources. Byline automatically stays in sync and brings you new content, putting thousands of RSS feeds at your fingertips. FEATURES: - Stay in sync across devices and the web via feedly.com. - Move between articles quickly with a simple swipe gesture. - Read offline with cached images and (optionally) full web pages. - Find new feeds and search for articles in the app or with Spotlight. - Sync and cache articles automatically with Background App Refresh.

About

Pulse RSS

Features
Read full description

Stay informed without the noise. PulseRSS is a fast, beautiful, and privacy-first RSS reader built for iOS. Subscribe to any blog, news site, or publication, and enjoy all your content in one place — no algorithm, no ads, no clutter. FOLLOW WHAT MATTERS Subscribe to any RSS or Atom feed in seconds. Add your favorite blogs, newspapers, independent publications, and niche sites. PulseRSS fetches the latest articles automatically so you never miss an update. ORGANIZE YOUR FEEDS YOUR WAY Create custom groups to organize your subscriptions by topic, project, or mood. Collapse or expand groups to focus on what's relevant. Move feeds between groups with a single tap. READ LATER, ANYTIME Bookmark articles with a swipe and find them in your Read Later collection whenever you're ready. PulseRSS also prefetches and caches articles so you can keep reading even when you're offline. AI-POWERED SUMMARIES (Apple Intelligence) Short on time? Use Apple Intelligence to generate instant article summaries. Choose from predefined styles — Default, Detailed, or Bullet Points — or write your own custom prompt. Get the gist of any article in seconds. SEAMLESS ICLOUD SYNC Your feeds, groups, bookmarks, and reading preferences sync automatically across all your devices via iCloud. Private by design — your data is never shared with third parties. HOME SCREEN WIDGETS Keep your favorite feeds at a glance with beautiful home screen widgets. Tap any article to jump straight into reading. Supports Large and Extra Large sizes. A READING EXPERIENCE DESIGNED FOR YOU • Adjustable font size and line height for comfortable reading • Clean article view with content extraction for a distraction-free experience • Filter unread articles or browse your full history • Full-text search across all your articles • Share any article with a single tap IMPORT & EXPORT Already using another RSS reader? Import your subscriptions in seconds via OPML. Export your feeds at any time to switch apps freely — your subscriptions always belong to you. SMART ARTICLE MANAGEMENT Set a retention policy to automatically clean up old articles and free up storage. Or manage your library manually with bulk actions and per-feed controls. PULSE PRO Unlock the full PulseRSS experience: • Unlimited feeds and groups • Advanced search filters (by date, scope, and read state) • Unlimited AI summaries • Priority features and future updates PulseRSS is for people who love reading. Whether you follow 5 feeds or 500, it's the RSS reader that fits how you think. Download PulseRSS and take back control of your news. Terms of Use: https://pulserss.com/terms-conditions.html Privacy Policy: https://pulserss.com/privacy-policy.html

Screenshots

Byline 54 screens
Pulse RSS4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Pulse RSS at monthly against Byline 5's every 5 months. Byline 5's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (9.0 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. Byline 5 sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Pulse RSS sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Byline 5 ships an update every 5 months, Pulse RSS monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Byline 5 versus Pulse RSS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterByline 5Pulse RSS
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (73 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews40.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings73 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS9.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB20 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperPhantom FishFrancisco de la Rosa Aguilar

Bugs and requests

Byline 5

Reported bugs

20 issues
  • 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'
Show 15 more
  • Cannot login to Feedly
  • App freezes when initiating sync
  • Offline page caching broken
  • Offline reading only works for text, no images/diagrams
  • Cannot link into websites when offline
  • Cached items number in settings seems static
  • Syncing is too slow
  • Swipe sensitivity decreased
  • Swipe gestures are difficult to use
  • Swipe to mark as read is slow
  • Mark all as read function moved to categories
  • Cannot open items to Chrome
  • Offline saving of web pages not working
  • App crashes when trying to sign in with Feedly
  • Doubling of some headlines

Requested features

12 requests
  • Add progress indicator for downloads
  • Add dark mode
  • Add widgets
  • Improve swipe sensitivity
  • Allow reordering of feeds
Show 7 more
  • Add 'mark all as read' when scrolling
  • Improve offline caching for images/diagrams
  • Add option to expand groups to see sites within them
  • Add font size adjustment
  • Make scrolling mark as read
  • Move to top article after manual refresh
  • Allow opening items in Chrome

Pulse RSS

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Byline 5

One-time2
  • Byline Premium$2.99
  • Byline Premium$5.99
3 purchases

Pulse RSS

Subscriptions2
  • 1 Month$0.991 Month
  • 1 Year Pro$8.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$9.99

Questions

Is Byline 5 free?
Byline 5 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pulse RSS free?
Pulse RSS is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Byline 5 or Pulse RSS have ads?
Neither Byline 5 nor Pulse RSS shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Byline 5 or Pulse RSS?
Byline 5 ships an update every 5 months, and Pulse RSS monthly. Most recently, Byline 5 was updated on October 22, 2026 and Pulse RSS on October 7, 2026.

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