Why rely on the feeds built into your favorite websites and social media apps when you can make a custom one that combines them all together? I like to read online by using RSS services like Feedly and Inoreader, for a true newspaper vibe. But as great as RSS is, it only works for articles. And like it or not, so much of our current discourse happens across multiple platforms, like YouTube, Reddit, Threads, and Substack newsletters. To follow everything everywhere, you need something that goes beyond RSS.
This is exactly why I'm excited to have found the Feeeed app (yes, with four "e"s), which is available on Apple platforms including iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with native design elements and a fast interface. It's a passion project from Nate Parrott, a designer for The Browser Company, which makes the Arc browser. Arc is known for its thoughtful design, and the Feeeed app brings the same design magic to your news feed. The app is free, updated regularly, and Nate has even added quick AI summaries to articles.
In my experience, building your own news feed in Feeeed takes time, but it is ultimately worth it. When you first start using the app, it will offer to create basic settings for you, but I suggest taking the manual route. Like in RSS apps, the Subscribe screen has pre-populated feeds from various popular publications, and you can also search for and add any RSS feed (you can also import all your feeds using an OPML file).
But things get more interesting when you get to YouTube and Reddit. Open the YouTube menu and you can search for and subscribe to any channel to add it to your feed. For Reddit, all you need to do is to enter the subreddit name, and the app will show you new posts just like that. Now that real third-party Reddit apps are gone, this can be a good way to stay on top of certain subreddits without getting sucked into Reddit as a whole. The same trick also works for Tumblr blogs, Substack publications and TikTok creators. There's also support for following Mastodon accounts, and it works for any Fediverse account, including Threads. Sadly, you'll need to search for each account you want to follow by its exact username—I wish Feeeed would add an auto import option.
The app also has a newsletters feature that connects with your Gmail account. I wasn't able to get the feature working, as Google seems to have blocked Feeeed's account. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in a future update.
Overall, building your own news feed is quite the labor intensive process, but I think that's the point. You really should be thoughtful and take your time before adding a YouTube channel, subreddit, or a Mastodon account to your feed, so you can browse with intention.
Where the Feeeed app shines, of course, is the feed itself. The app does some fairly intelligent grouping to make sure that similar articles from different sites aren't repeated. Plus, it has image thumbnails, and it shows three top stories from each source in a box. This strikes a happy medium between old-school Twitter and the current algorithm-heavy X feed.
What's great is how non-RSS sources are integrated. YouTube videos show up right in the feed, and you can start playback either in full-screen or using an embedded player. All with no comments or ads to think of. Reddit posts open in article view, and you can switch to viewing comments with ease. Mastadon posts also get a full preview right in the feed.
If you are a purist, you can go into Settings and switch to "Chronological" in the Ranking system to get a simpler timeline. Here, you can also choose to see stories as a list instead of cards. The app also has options for muting words.
The overall reading experience in Feeeed is one of ease. Articles open in a stripped-down, ad-free reader view by default, and you can call up an AI summary if you want. The app has it's own Reading List feature, and the sharing menu is easy to find.
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