The best way to get news that is tailored to you in via RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. What is RSS, why is it the best way and how do I use it? In this blog post I will explain what it is, why it better than using something like Ground News, Google News or Apple News, and a few ways to use it.
What an RSS Feed?
An RSS feed acts as a helpful tool, allowing you to receive updates from websites and blogs you’re interested in. When someone publishes a new article on their site, an RSS reader will update the feed for that website with the new article and can alert you that a new article has been published.
You also have the option to go to the website directly if you click on the header of articles on most RSS feeds, so you only read the articles that you are interested in.
How can I find RSS Feeds.
Most news websites, blogs and even Bluesky support RSS Feeds. Some websites offer a follow button on their site. For example this website has a button called RSS Feed at the bottom of every page which you can click to view the feed.
Many sites like the Guardian have separate feeds for each news category. To access a feed simply go to the desired category then add /feed at the end of the URL. You can then copy that URL to your chosen RSS reader.
How can I access RSS Feeds?
Well, you need some software, or an RSS Reader, and a website that supports RSS Feeds.
Here are some RSS Readers I recommend:-
Lire. Lire is an RSS reader for Mac and iOS devices. It syncs RSS feeds using iCloud and automatically syncs the read state of articles across all devices where Lire is installed. It’s a paid app costing £10 one time purchase for all devices. While it syncs RSS feeds, it can also sync other content like YouTube channels. For those primarily in the Apple eco-system, Lire is my recommendation.
Vivaldi Web Browser. Vivaldi, a cross-platform web browser developed in Europe, includes a built-in RSS feed reader in its desktop clients. However, this feature doesn’t sync across devices and isn’t available in the mobile browser. Despite this, Vivaldi is compatible with all major desktop operating systems.
FeedFlow. Feedflow is a free and open-source RSS reader available on all major platforms including macOS, Windows, Linux, Android and iOS. It can sync across devices through various services like iCloud, Dropbox and Google Drive as well as your own server. More details below. This is my recommendation for a simple and effective RSS reader.
I’m a homelabber, can I host an RSS server.
Of course you can! I run a ZimaOS server and have installed FreshRSS Server on it. This free and open source server is available via the App Store on ZimaOS or you can install it via a Docker instance. While the server has a web interface, it not that good to use but you can also connect to it using FeedFlow, the RSS reader I recommended above.
The advantage of using your own server is privacy and knowing the service won’t be discontinued. This happened to Google Reader, one of the most popular RSS readers. Despite its popularity, Google discontinued it because it wasn’t profitable and according to Google declining use. Hosting your own server prevents this from happening unless you choose to.
You also get the benefit that as it’s on your own server it is as secure as your server is, which should be very secure!
I’ve set this up with TailScale so I can access my server on my iPhone, iPad Pro and MacBook Air when I’m not home without opening any ports on my firewall.
Conclusion
I use RSS feeds to bypass the algorithmic feeds pushed by big tech and simply access the news I want to read. As you can see in the Screenshot at the top of this post, the article by Amelia’s Angels is not an article that would come up on any news app like Ground News, Google News or Apple News but is an article I am very interested in.
I have been using RSS feeds for a very long time, I would recommend anyone who is interested in the news but don’t want to wade through the rubbish that big tech is trying to push on us to use RSS.
Leave a Reply