Update: skip to the end to read about the RSS app I selected. It’s free, open-source, and works well for me.
I rely on RSS feeds to keep up with my favourite websites. For years I’ve been using a marvellous RSS aggregator to read news feeds on my Android device. But it went terribly wrong, alas. So I’ve been testing other Android RSS apps, looking for something that will work well for me.
Feature wishlist
I want an app that:
- Does not have advertising, or in-app purchases. (I am willing to pay for apps, but will not endure nonsense on my screen each day.)
- Does not require extra permissions. I am not going to grant an app access to my contact list, for example. That’s just crazy.
- Can import OPML files: I want to import the list of feeds I follow.
- Can handle hundreds of feeds.
- Can export OPML files: I want to be able to export my feed list, in case I change to a different RSS aggregator later on.
- Can handle hundreds and hundreds of RSS feeds without difficulty.
- Allows me to sort apps into categories (news, books, etc) so that I can choose to read only one category of feeds at a time, if I wish.
- Will allow me to revisit a news item I have already read.
- Will allow me to favourite an article, so that I can find it more easily within the app later on.
- Has a share button so that I can share a post or news article using another app.
Review Notes
Apps I have considered:
FeedR – this is the app that I used and loved for years, but recent updates have caused it to be unusable.
spaRSS – Has potential. Has folders for categories, but I have to to scroll down through all feeds in a category before I can see the next category. As I have hundreds and hundreds of feeds, this is a lot of scrolling. If only I could collapse feeds into their respective folders. I used to link to this app on the Google Play store, but it’s not there anymore.
Another RSS – can’t see a way to import my OPML file.
Read – looks great, but I can’t see a way to import my OPML file.
RSS Reader Xoonity – does import my feeds, but not in categories. Does have features like ‘create new collection, switch collection, remove current collection. I don’t see a way to export my OPML feed, though, so can’t consider this one.
Lite RSS Pro – used this for a while and liked it, but it does not block advertising, so it had to go.
Flym – OK, now this is my favourite. It’s free, and has no advertising. Just perfect for me. (You can probably find it on Google Play, but why would you get apps from there if excellent ones are on f-droid.org? I got this at f-droid, and that’s where the link will take you.)
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of the programs mentioned here, or with the programmers who created them. I’m just a user looking for a good RSS app.
Suggestions?
If you know of an Android RSS app that meets the requirements above, I’d love to hear from you.