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RSS Reader on Android

Subscribe to RSS and Atom feeds, read articles in a clean reader view, import and export OPML, and read offline — built into PlainApp, no external service required.

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The Feeds tab is PlainApp's built-in RSS and Atom reader. Subscribe to blogs, news sites, podcasts, or any source that publishes a feed, and PlainApp will fetch new entries in the background. There's no intermediary server aggregating your subscriptions — the phone polls each feed directly, so your reading list stays private.

The reader view strips away publisher chrome and renders article content in a consistent Material 3 layout. Images, code blocks, and blockquotes come through cleanly; embedded scripts and trackers do not. Articles you've already read are marked automatically, and unread counts appear next to each feed in the sidebar.

Screenshot: Feeds
Feeds

Key capabilities

  • Feed list with unread counts — every subscription shows a live unread badge in the sidebar. Tap a feed to see only its entries, or tap All for a merged timeline.
  • Clean reader view — articles open in a reader pane that strips ads, popups, and tracker pixels. Markdown-style formatting is preserved for code blocks and blockquotes.
  • OPML import and export — bring your subscriptions over from another reader by importing an OPML file. Export your full subscription list to OPML at any time.
  • Offline reading — once an entry is fetched, it's stored on-device. Read articles on the subway, on a flight, or anywhere without a connection.
  • Dark mode — the reader follows the system theme by default and can be pinned to dark or light from the reader overflow menu.
  • Today filter — tap Today in the sidebar to see only entries published since the start of the day.

Walkthrough

  1. Open the Feeds tab from the bottom navigation bar. The merged All timeline shows recent entries across every subscription.
  2. Tap an article to open it in the reader view. The header shows the source feed, title, author, and publish time.
  3. Read in the reader view — scroll through the body, tap links to open them in your default browser, and use the overflow menu to share or tag the article.
  4. Swipe to the next article — swipe left or right inside the reader to move between entries without returning to the list.
  5. Add a new feed by tapping the + button in the top app bar, choosing Add subscription, and pasting the feed URL. Toggle auto-fetch full content if you want PlainApp to pull the complete article instead of just the summary.
  6. Import OPML from the same + menu — choose Import OPML, pick the .xml file from your file system, and PlainApp adds every feed in the file, including nested categories.

Tips & tricks

  • Long-press a feed in the sidebar to rename it, change its URL, or unsubscribe. Renames persist across OPML export.
  • Tap the Today filter in the sidebar when you only have time for fresh content. The badge shows how many new entries arrived today.
  • Tag individual articles as you read them — tags apply per-entry, not per-feed, so you can pull together a "must read" list across different subscriptions.
  • Feeds refresh on a schedule set in Settings → Sync. You can also pull-to-refresh in the feed list to fetch on demand.

Privacy & security notes

  • PlainApp fetches feeds directly from each publisher. There is no relay or proxy in the middle, so publishers see your phone's IP address, not a centralized aggregator's.
  • Article content is cached on-device for offline reading. Cache size is capped in Settings → Sync; older entries are pruned automatically.
  • Feed subscriptions are never logged or sent to a third party. The OPML file you export contains only the URLs you subscribed to.