NetNewsWire 6 for iOS is now available on the App Store!

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! 🎉

The latest release fixes a regression with the L shortcut, and it calls Inoreader way less often (so we don’t go over the API rate limits). 🎩

Check for updates or download the latest.

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. 🐣🐥🕶

Check for updates or download the latest build.

Changes since 6.0:

• 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.

Check for updates (be sure your prefs are set for test builds). Or download the latest build.

Changes since 6.0.1b1:

• Twitter: fixed a date parsing bug that could affect people in some locales, which would prevent Twitter feeds from working for them
• Feeds list: fixed bug where newly added feed would be called Untitled past the time when the app actually knows its name
• Fixed bug where next-unread command wouldn’t wrap around when you got to the bottom of the Feeds list

Check for updates (be sure your prefs are set for test builds). Or download the latest build.

Changes since 6.0:

• 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

FYI: Feedly is currently undergoing maintenance. If you see a Feedly-related error in NetNewsWire, it’s because of that.

See status.feedly.com and @feedly on Twitter for more info and updates.

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
• Special support for Twitter and Reddit feeds
• 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

On his blog, Brent writes about the new-in-NetNewsWire-6 feature Twitter search feeds.

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 6.0a5:

• Article view: make code and preformatted fonts and sizes follow Apple’s precedents more closely
• Article view: removed a stray line next to the timeline/article separator
• Debug menu: add Force Crash command (beware: works in production)
• Debug menu: allow Test Crash Log Sender to work in production

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

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 6.0a3:

• Fix a bug with keyboard shortcuts on Big Sur (for real this time)
• Change drag-and-drop behavior to default to copy when dragging between accounts
• Show a single error message when dragging feeds into an account and some of the feeds can’t be found

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 6.0a2:

• Use the new URL for the crash report catcher (so that we actually get crash logs again)
• Update other URLs to point to netnewswire.com when correct
• Fix a bug with keyboard shortcuts on Big Sur
• Show folders more quickly in the iCloud account when dragging a folder into that account

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 6.0a1:

• Fix regression in Preferences toolbar (placement of icons was wrong on Big Sur)
• Fix regression in Twitter support (it wasn’t working)

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 6.0d5:

• Feeds list: added contextual menu items for always showing reader view and for notifications

• Feeds list: now respects the size chosen in System Preferences > General > Sidebar icon size

• iCloud syncing: don’t inadvertently clear progress indicator when copying a folder and an error was encountered

• Notifications: don’t open app when closing a notification

Note about iOS: we’re getting closer to a TestFlight build. We’ll announce it on this blog once it’s ready.

If you’re using a TestFlight beta of NetNewsWire, and it expired today, you should switch to the App Store version. It’s the same build as the most recent TestFlight beta.

We will be starting TestFlight builds for NetNewsWire 6 soon, but not today and not tomorrow.

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 6.0d4:

• Added some shadow to the app icon
• Fixed bug where iCloud account description was truncated in Catalina, in account setup
• Fixed bug with iCloud account where undoing deletes of read feeds left articles deleted
• Fixed bug connecting to Inoreader when username has a + character
• Fixed bug with NewsBlur when all feeds are in folders
• Fixed long beachball on quit that could happen with the iCloud account (due to a long sync)

Note about iOS: we’re testing on Mac first because it’s easier. We’ll be able to find and fix a bunch of bugs in the shared code before starting TestFlight builds for iOS.

NetNewsWire 6.0d4 for Mac is the first public test build of NetNewsWire 6.

You should probably skip it. It’s not a beta. It’s not even an alpha. It’s a d release — where d, which used to stand for development, now stands for dangerous.

We’re not being cute; this is not reverse psychology. We’re not fans of testing other people’s stuff and you shouldn’t be either. Especially not early stuff.

Things will almost surely go wrong, and, since we’re just a bunch of volunteers working during our spare time, we may not have time to help you.

Important: if you’re just running it because you’re curious, and then want to go back to NetNewsWire 5.1.3, you might have some trouble doing that, since this version turns on sandboxing, which changes the location of your data. It’s essential that you make a backup of ~/Library/Application Support/NetNewsWire/ before you launch this test build, so you can restore it if you go back to 5.1.3.

And let us satisfy your curiosity in advance: it’s just an app. It’s got some more features. You know the story, and you don’t need to run this if you’re just curious. Seriously.

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All that said, if you’d like to help test, then: thank you! We appreciate your bravery and understanding.

Please post bug reports to GitHub. We can also talk about the app on the Slack group, in the #nnw-mac-feedback channel. (Both of these links are available in the Help menu.)

Changes since 5.1.3:

• Big Sur app icon
• Big Sur UI (when running on Big Sur)
• App is now sandboxed
• Syncing via iCloud
• Syncing via BazQux, Inoreader, NewsBlur, The Old Reader, and FreshRSS
• Special support for Twitter and Reddit feeds
• Share extension, so you can send URLs to NetNewsWire
• Preference to change article text size
• Preference to set preferred browser
• External link, when available, shows in article view
• High resolution icons in the sidebar (when available)

Download the app here. After downloading and launching, go to Preferences > Advanced, and turn on downloading Test Builds so that you get updates. (Otherwise you’ll be stuck on this version for a while and you’ll miss bug fixes. You will definitely want bug fixes.)

The app requires macOS 10.15 (Catalina) and newer.

Check for updates or download the latest.

We were hoping that 5.1.2 was the last of the 5.x series, but we found a couple crashing bugs to fix — and we can’t resist a good crashing bug. Or two.

Changes since 5.1.2:

• Fixed a crashing bug that could happen with empty titles in the timeline
• Fixed a crashing bug that could happen when adding a feed