Stop using Feedly: I found two better RSS reader apps on Android

Almost every morning the same thing happens in my house. Eggs for breakfast, then pour-over coffee that goes straight into the Fellow Carter insulated cup so I can extend the flavors forever. While doing so, I read.

It used to be everywhere. I called it intersectional research. News sites, topics, YouTube, Mastodon, Google News-You name it. But I soon got tired of all the noise. Constant scrolling, jumping through sources, and avoiding pop-up ads. I finished my coffee, but I was none the wiser. So, I turned back to RSS, just as I did over a decade ago.

Every morning, I grab my lightweight and reliable Pixel 9a to do the job (it doesn’t have my SIM card, so no hassles). In my search for the perfect RSS setup, I looked beyond the Play Store and found two simple RSS readers that do the job — and neither of them are called Feedly.

I’ve been using RSS for almost half of my existence on this planet. I’ve survived the end of Google Reader and navigated through several services using my trusty OPML file (the file that stores all my RSS subscription links, in a folder structure I like). I’ve tried so many services and applications that my OPML file has become more important than any RSS sync service.

I keep coming back to it because of the absolute control I have over my feed. I read independent blogs, major publications, and dedicated tech sites like Android Authority daily. I entered the sources, and that’s all I see.

And if you know where to look, you’ll find RSS feeds everywhere. I follow people’s Bluesky and Mastodon accounts via RSS, I monitor YouTube pages, and for a while I tried using the subreddits via RSS (although it got too messy and I had to quit). The point is that you can make your RSS feed your own. You can use a sync service if you want, or, like me, keep updating and moving the real OPML file.

After the untimely demise of Google Reader, Feedly has emerged as a spiritual successor. I’ve used it several times over the past decade, and by now my Feedly sources are up to date. If you haven’t used RSS before, Feedly is a good place to start.

But these days, Feedly is more of a content platform than an RSS reader. The app starts with a curated list of the day’s top stories, rather than the actual chronological feed (hidden in the sidebar). There are prompts to urge you to upgrade and, of course, incorporate artificial intelligence. In my testing, Feedly’s free plan doesn’t automatically display full-text display for truncated feeds either. The app itself, while good to use, feels outdated and not as customizable as I would like.

So, what’s the alternative? Most days, I go with me Read to you. This is a free and open source RSS reader with a simple design based on the Material Design language. It looks elegant, with beautiful icons and an airy interface with large titles. Plus, it supports Android’s dynamic colors, so when I change the wallpaper (which happens often), the Read You highlight color automatically adjusts, which is a delightful little touch.

I keep coming back for the reading experience. It’s the closest thing I can get to a paperback book without switching to an e-ink screen. The toolbar and buttons don’t have chrome around them, and they disappear the moment I scroll. It’s just text and some images.

The reading interface is also customizable (it defaults to unread articles on launch). If you’re coming from the iPhone world, you can switch to the Reeder theme (although I personally think the Material You theme has merit). You can switch to a different font or upload your own font file. If you want, you can customize the font size, text spacing, and even the padding. For early morning reading, the black OLED look goes a long way (it pairs well with… Expanded dark theme for Pixel). For feeds that show clipped articles, there’s an option to automatically parse the full text of the website (hidden behind a long-press gesture on the site name).

Most importantly, when I use Read You, I feel at home. All RSS features work as you would expect. I can get notifications about new articles, turn off badges entirely, organize feeds into folders, and listen to articles if I want.

Although I use Read You every day without any issues, it’s still pre-1.0, and the roadmap explains why. Read You’re missing a widget that I desperately want, and as it stands, Feedly sync is still in the future. You can sync via Fever, Google Reader API, or FreshRSS. Or, like me, just import your OPML file.

Of the two apps, FeedFlow is the one I use less often, but it’s the one I recommend to most Android users. It is available on play store (Along with F-Droid), and unlike Read You, is a mature and stable RSS reader available across Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, and Mac. You can import your own OPML file or connect to services such as FreshRSS, Miniflux, Feedbin, and BazQux. You can also handle cross-device syncing yourself using iCloud (Apple devices only), Dropbox, or Google Drive.

While Read You leans toward a light and breezy look, FeedFlow has a utilitarian aesthetic. The text-only layout options, coupled with the premium black OLED look, go a long way to making early morning reading sessions easier on my eyes. By default, FeedFlow opens all articles in a cached reader view, pulling in the entire website content. If you disable this feature from Settings > reading behavior, The article will only open in the browser. This means that without any changes, you get the best reading experience.

Along with the black theme, it’s the tool I use the most. A full page on my account Home screen pixel launcher Dedicated to this widget, which supports scrolling. Every 30 minutes, the widget is updated with the latest articles (as long as background sync is enabled in settings). This is a feature I sorely miss in Iqraaak.

FeedFlow has a hidden feature that tells you that the developer is a prolific RSS reader himself. With the Blocked Words feature, you can automatically hide articles that contain words you don’t want to see. Like the mute feature on social media platforms, but for websites. Very useful if you don’t want another Elon Musk update at 7:30 AM.

I’m leaning towards reading yours, but I still use both

I use both RSS readers throughout the day, but my favorite remains Read to You. There’s something about the reading experience that interests me. When I want to quickly check news, I prefer the FeedFlow tool and the slightly faster text-only interface I’ve set up in the app. Maybe Read You’s well-themed material tool will turn the tables in the future, but for now, I’m happy with my personalized, simple news reading experience that’s completely under my control.