Comparison

Simple News 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

Simple News Reader

This app offers a clean and intuitive interface for managing RSS feeds. Easily add, refresh, and browse articles, with options to save for later and a convenient night mode.

Highlights
  • Clean and intuitive interface
  • Easy feed management
  • Save articles for later
  • Night mode
  • Search functionality
  • Share articles
Features
Read full description

Are you looking for a nice clean designed Rss Reader with all the functions you always missed with others? Then Simple News Reader is perfect for your needs. The app makes it super easy to add feeds, refresh them, scroll through articles and even share or save them for later reading. Simple News Reader combines following functions: - A simple, intuitive and clean interface - Managing feeds, simple adding process with auto pasting from clipboard. - Convenient paging through articles - Saving articles for later reading - Nightmode for reading your favourite feeds in bed - Search feature

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

Simple News Reader4 screens
Heartfeed RSS Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Heartfeed RSS Reader at 4.8 against Simple News Reader's 3.3. Heartfeed RSS Reader also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 9 months) and ratings volume (90 vs 3). Simple News Reader's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, monetization model 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. Simple News 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 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Heartfeed RSS Reader has 90 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simple News Reader ships an update every 9 months, Heartfeed RSS Reader every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Simple News Reader versus Heartfeed RSS Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimple News ReaderHeartfeed RSS Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (3 ratings)4.8 (90 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—89.2% of reviews
Number of ratings390 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB14 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperFerdinand HofOzymandias

Customer experience

Simple News Reader

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Heartfeed RSS Reader

All ratings90 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral2.2%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews93 reviews
Positive89.2%
Neutral5.4%
Negative5.4%

Bugs and requests

Simple News 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

Simple News 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 Simple News Reader free?
Simple News 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, Simple News Reader or Heartfeed RSS Reader?
Heartfeed RSS Reader is rated higher. Simple News Reader averages 3.3 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Heartfeed RSS Reader averages 4.8 from 90 ratings.
Do Simple News Reader or Heartfeed RSS Reader have ads?
Neither Simple News Reader nor Heartfeed RSS Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simple News Reader or Heartfeed RSS Reader?
Simple News Reader ships an update every 9 months, and Heartfeed RSS Reader every 2 months. Most recently, Simple News Reader was updated on October 3, 2026 and Heartfeed RSS Reader on October 17, 2026.

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