Since Google Reader stopped its services in 2013, many users were looking for RSS feed aggregator alternatives. There are many news readers, free and paid, available on the market, a great one is News Explorer.
In this review, we will dive into the News Explorer app and see how it works and whether it’s worth getting on your Mac.
Contents
What Is News Explorer?
News Explorer is an RSS feed reader app that allows you to subscribe to all fresh news and content from your favorite websites in one place. With the News Explorer app, you can keep up with the latest updates and check those you want to read the most.
How Does News Explorer Work?
News Explorer is extremely easy to start and requires a minimum (if not none) learning cost. Once you download and install the app on your Mac, you’ll see its main interface like this:
On the left panel, you can find different filters to sort news and there’s a way to add feeds if it’s the first time you use the app.
Adding New Feeds
News Explorer provides an easy way to create your own reading list. See the “Add…” option on the left panel? Click on it and enter the URL of your favorite websites, then the newsfeeds will pop up in your box right away.
The news will be automatically updated and News Explorer makes it easy to identify news you’ve read and those yet to read. You can also create folders to better organize the feeds.
Another way to add feeds is to use Import OPML, a feature that allows you to add a list of subscriptions at one time. Simply click “File”, then you can find it.
News Explorer is a free app, but it has a newsletter service in the Premium version. You can choose whether you want notifications or newsletters to be sent to your email.
The iOS app of News Explorer has even richer notification features. It can create and deliver you a daily email with a summary of your specific sources.
Reading Experience
The reading experience is very important for a newsreader app. For example, I prefer apps that are ad-free and with black-and-white color schemes.
News Explorer fits my preferences and it’s a breeze to read news through this app. Plus, the app has different themes for the day and night; and you can select from three different reading models: preview, web, and browser.
Here’s a screenshot for the night mode. Looks awesome, doesn’t it?
Reading on the News Explorer app is similar to checking emails on Apple Mail. The main interface has a three-column style, where you read the content of the article on the right side. By default, it won’t show you the full article, but this can be set in the preferences.
Compared to reading on the web, the preview model of News Explorer helps you be more focused on the words with a clean interface.
When you switch to the web model, it will load the website and show the same content as shown on the website, except that you don’t need to bear those annoying ads displayed on the web while reading through News Explorer.
Refresh and Search Feeds
In News Explorer, you can select to update feeds automatically from “On Launch”, “Every minute”, to “Every hour” (by default, it’s every 5 minutes). Or you can update the feeds manually. To do so, go to the menu bar and select News Explorer > Preferences.
Under the “General” tab, adjust the feeds refresh interval.
News Explorer also makes it easy for you to search the feeds, similar to searching for a specific keyword in your mailbox.
Pricing & Platform Compatibility
As of this writing, News Explorer is currently available for macOS and iOS. The app is free to download and use, but there are premium features like the newsletter, different themes, and notifications that you have to unlock by making a monthly or annual payment.
You can get it from the Mac App Store here, $0.99 monthly or $9.99 annually to unlock the premium features. News Explorer is also available in Setapp, 7-day free trial and then $9.99 per month in subscription.
>> Get News Explorer on Setapp <<
Is News Explorer Worth it?
I’m quite pleased with using News Explorer, the app name is so easy to remember. It provides a great reading experience thanks to its sleek interface and beautifully crafted user navigation flow.
Regarding the premium features, at this moment I don’t need them (maybe one day) because the free version is working well for me and I definitely recommend it.
Wrapping Up
News Explorer is a super nice newsreader for Mac and iOS. It’s so simple to use and beautifully designed. I love the light and slick reading experience on the app. If you are a Mac user like me who also has an iPhone, give News Explorer a try, you’ll love the app.
