NetNewsWire is free and open source, but it’s not the free alternative to apps such as Reeder and Unread.
In other words, it’s not the job of NetNewsWire to implement every feature of for-pay RSS readers just so that there’s a free version of those features. The opposite is true — if a feature exists in another RSS reader, that’s a pretty good reason not to do that feature.
We realize that free and open source apps often do have the mission of mimicking the features of some one or several commercial apps, as if they’re Prometheus bringing features to the common computer user — but that is not our mission.
Our mission is to make the best RSS reader that we like making. We value stability, high performance, clarity, and lots of figurative air and space rather than a mélange of features.
It’s free because we want to make sure a great, free RSS reader is available to everyone with a Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
But sometimes — often, even — we’re not going to do a feature that you liked in another app. We’re picky and careful about adding features.
And we’re glad those other apps exists — because, among other things, it means those features have already been done and we don’t have to do them!
This release brings new features — iCloud sync; sync with BazQux, Inoreader, NewsBlur, The Old Reader, and FreshRSS; home screen widgets; special support for Twitter and Reddit feeds; and more.
And it fixes bugs — and it’s faster. (We love apps that go fast!)
It’s free. It’s open source. We hope you love it! 🎉
If you’d like to help test NetNewsWire, you can! You’ll need to sign up for TestFlight — please see our page on testing.
If you had already signed up for NetNewsWire 5 testing, you’ll need to sign up again. We were getting close to the maximum number of testers, so we figured the fair thing was to remove that group and start fresh.
Please also note that this really is a test version. We know it has bugs. For instance, we’ve already found that adding the Twitter extension may not work for everyone. We’re sure there are other bugs, too — they could even be crashing bugs or data loss bugs.
PS Don’t bother reporting the Twitter bug! But please do report other bugs. :)
NetNewsWire 6 for iOS is waiting for review — once it gets through, then we’ll start TestFlight builds. There will be a new public link to sign up, and we’ll announce it here.
(If you signed up via the public link for NetNewsWire 5, you’ll need to do it again. We were too close to filling up all our slots, and it seemed like the fair thing was to start fresh.)
Anyway… review will take some time, and it’s always possible there could be an issue. But, if no issue, then a TestFlight build seems likely in a few days. 🐣🐥🕶
Twitter: fixed a date parsing bug that could affect people in some locales, which would prevent Twitter feeds from working for them
Preferences: adjusted layout of the add account sheet so that it fits on smaller monitors
Feeds list: properly scale the smart feed icons when sidebar is set to large size in System Preferences
Feeds list: fixed bug where newly added feed would be called Untitled past the time when the app actually knows its name
Timeline: fixed bug where next-unread command wouldn’t wrap around when you got to the bottom of the Feeds list
Timeline: fixed bug updating article display when an article with the same article ID appears more than once (which can happen when a person has multiple accounts)
iCloud: won’t add feeds that aren’t parseable, which fixes an error upon trying to rename one of these feeds
Feedbin: fixed a bug with read/unread status syncing
Note about iOS
Yes, we’re working on the iOS app. We wanted to get these quick-but-important fixes out right away, though.
We’ll announce a TestFlight beta for iOS on this blog once it’s ready.
Timeline: fix bug updating article display when an article with the same article ID appears more than once (which can happen when a person has multiple accounts)
iCloud: won’t add feeds that aren’t parseable, which fixes an error upon trying to rename one of these feeds
Feedbin: fixed a bug with read/unread status syncing
NetNewsWire 6.0 for Mac is a big release with a bunch of new features. You can download it here — or Check for Updates if you’re already a NetNewsWire user.
Changes since 5.1.3:
Big Sur app icon
Big Sur UI (when running on Big Sur)
App is now sandboxed
Apple Silicon native code
Syncing via iCloud
Syncing via BazQux, Inoreader, NewsBlur, The Old Reader, and FreshRSS
Share extension, so you can send URLs to NetNewsWire
Sidebar contextual menu commands for turning on and off Reader View and for notifications
High resolution icons in the sidebar (when available)
External link, when available, shows in article view
Preference to change article text size
Preference to set preferred browser
NetNewsWire requires macOS 10.15 or newer. Runs great on Catalina; runs great on Big Sur.
What about iOS?
NetNewsWire 6 for iOS will have all the applicable features from above. Next on our to-do list is TestFlight betas — we’ll make an announcement on this blog once we’ve got this going.
This is a final candidate build — yes, a second one. We’re hoping not to make any more code changes before shipping NetNewsWire 6.0 for Mac.
If you’re already running a 6.0 test build, you can check for updates (be sure your prefs are set for test builds). Or you can download the latest build.
Changes since 6.0b4:
Fixed a bug where sometimes the app wouldn’t automatically refresh after the Mac wakes from sleep
Updated the Help book link to the 6.0 Mac help book website
App now displays a helpful error message if you don’t have iCloud Drive enabled and were able to successfully add an iCloud Account
This is a final candidate build. We’re hoping not to make any more code changes before shipping NetNewsWire 6.0 for Mac.
After we ship the Mac version, we will be working on iOS, and we’ll start TestFlight builds as soon as we can.
If you’re already running a 6.0 test build, you can check for updates (be sure your prefs are set for test builds). Or you can download the latest build.
Changes since 6.0b3:
Feedly: Deleting a feed successfully no longer shows an alert and leaves the feed in the sidebar
iCloud sync: fixed a bug where, in some circumstances, dragging a feed from elsewhere in the sidebar to the iCloud account could trigger the feed-finder
NetNewsWire will now refresh on launch if you have the Debug menu enabled
Article view: footnotes should now work with articles from a Feedly account
If you’re already running a 6.0 test build, you can check for updates (be sure your prefs are set for test builds). Or you can download the latest build.
Changes since 6.0b2:
Article view: fixed bug where URL status field might not disappear when switching articles
iCloud sync: dragging feeds from elsewhere in the sidebar to the iCloud account won’t trigger the feed-finding process since this is a better experience for migrating
Syncing: fixed a bug authenticating with some sync services when the user has some special characters in their password
Preferences: removed checkbox for showing unread count in the Dock — control this instead via System Preferences > Notifications > NetNewsWire > Badge app icon
If you’re already running a 6.0 test build, you can check for updates (be sure your prefs are set for test builds). Or you can download the latest build.
Changes since 6.0b1:
Feeds list: when dragging feeds/folders from one account to another, the operation is now always copy, to avoid data loss due to misunderstanding that moving a feed between accounts does not move its read/starred statuses
iCloud sync: refined logic to improve performance of large uploads
Fixed a crashing bug that could happen when deleting an iCloud-synced folder
Fixed a crashing bug, triggered by bad server data, that could happen when validating credentials with syncing systems that use the Reader API
This is the first beta release of NetNewsWire 6! We believe the app is freakishly stable, and we’ve fixed a bunch of bugs since the earliest test builds.
It’s still a test build, though, and you should use your best judgment as to whether or not to run it.
If you’re already running a 6.0 test build, you can check for updates (be sure your prefs are set for test builds). Or you can download the latest build.
Important note: we don’t have test builds for NetNewsWire 6 for iOS yet. We’ll probably ship NetNewsWire for Mac first, and then start testing on iOS. (We realize this isn’t ideal, but it’s easier to manage. The quality of the apps is more important than the timing.)
Changes since 6.0a6:
Article view: fixed several layout edge cases, including with fullscreen
Timeline: fixed a bug scrolling up via arrow key where a row might not be fully visible when it should be
If you’re running a 6.0 test build, you can check for updates (be sure your prefs are set for test builds). Or you can download the latest build.
Changes since 6.0a4:
Performance boost: use compression with content synced in CloudKit
Fixed bug where detail view title bar could be overlapped by toolbar when in full screen
Fixed bug where add-feed window could block when syncing CloudKit statuses
Added hidden pref to mark all as read in a feed when double-clicking on it in the sidebar and opening its home page (defaults write com.ranchero.NetNewsWire-Evergreen GruberFeedDoubleClickMarkAsRead -bool true)
Switched the crash log catcher URL to our brand-new crash log catcher server
