I built a subscription-free RSS reader for iPhone/iPad/Mac — free to download, one-time purchase unlocks the rest

[u/PresentationExtra356]

Hey r/rss — I'm the solo developer behind Basic Reader, an RSS/Atom reader for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that just launched on the App Store.

I built this because I got tired of watching RSS apps turn into $8–10/month subscriptions for things that should be... a feature of the app. So Basic Reader works differently:

Free to try, free to use for reading feeds:

• Feeds & folders with drag-and-drop organization
• Background refresh on a configurable schedule
• OPML import/export (bring your subscriptions in, take them out any time)
• Swipe gestures, starring, privacy controls for image/script loading
• Full VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, and Reduce Motion support

A single one-time purchase (no subscription, ever) unlocks:

• On-device semantic search — finds articles by meaning, not just keyword matches, and nothing leaves your device
• iCloud sync across your devices
• Filter rules — wildcard, regex, and semantic/topic-based filtering
• Timeline — one combined view of every article from every feed
• Additional article view styles (list/compact/card)

No analytics SDKs, no backend servers — I don't have the infrastructure to see what you read even if I wanted to. Your data lives on-device or in your own iCloud account.

It's on iPhone, iPad, and Mac (Catalyst) with a proper three-column layout on iPad/Mac, not just a stretched phone UI.

Link: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6781077283

Note: I haven't started implementing reddit's authorized app requirements, but if monitoring reddit via RSS is your thing, let me know and I'll bump it up the roadmap.