News Explorer

Tips and Tricks


News Explorer is a newsreader with a built-in download engine that supports both RSS 2.0, RDF, ATOM, JSON and Mastodon feeds. News Explorer runs on Mac computers (macOS), iPhone, iPod touch, iPad (iOS), Apple Watch (watchOS) and Apple TV 4th generation (tvOS). It offers automatic iCloud synchronization of feeds, folders and news including their read and favorite statuses.

The basics

Configuration of feed subscriptions is being synced via iCloud across all your devices. Adding new feed subscriptions is easy.

Click on the device type below to read more.

With the Mac version of News Explorer, you have five options to add new feed subscriptions.

  • Add feeds from a webpage in Safari
    1. Click on the Share button on the toolbar.
    2. Click on the Add to News Explorer menu item. Read the Troubleshooting section below if you don't see this item.
    3. News Explorer will be started, showing the feed URL (when available) in a dialog.

  • Add feeds from a webpage in Chrome
    1. Choose File > Share > Add to News Explorer in the menu.
    2. News Explorer will be started, showing the feed URL (when available) in a dialog.

  • Add feed subscriptions manually:
    1. Choose Subscription > New… in the menu.
    2. Enter the feed URL or website URL, for websites with RSS, JSON or Mastodon Autodiscovery metadata.
    3. Or enter a Mastodon account name including the @-prefix and @-server postfix, like @betamagic@mastodon.social.
    4. Or enter a Reddit feed by entering r/ followed by the subreddit name, for example ‘r/worldnews’.
    5. The detected feed or feeds will be presented in a dropdown. Select the desired feed when more than one is detected.
    6. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.
    7. Click on the 'Add Feed' button.

  • Add new feed subscriptions by searching:
    1. Choose Subscription > Search… in the menu.
    2. Change the feed source from RSS Feeds to Mastodon Feeds if you want to search for Mastodon feeds.
    3. Enter one or more search phrases.
    4. Press the Enter key on your keyboard.
    5. Select one or more search results.
    6. Choose a folder for the new feed subscriptions.
    7. Click on the 'Add selected Feeds' button.

  • Add new feed subscriptions by clicking a feed URL:
    1. Click on a feed URL (these are URL's that start with 'feed:'.
    2. When a popup appears with 'Add to Shared Links', then choose Cancel. This will only happen within Safari.
    3. News Explorer will be started and will show a dialog with the new feed URL.
    4. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.
    5. Click on the 'Add Feed' button.

  • Add new feed subscriptions by importing an OPML file:
    1. Choose File > Import OPML… in the menu.
    2. Select an OPML file.
    3. Click on the 'Import' button.

In the iOS version of News Explorer, you have five options to add new feed subscriptions.

  • Add feeds from a webpage in Safari
    1. Tap on the Share button in the toolbar.
    2. Tap on the Add to News Explorer item. Read the Troubleshooting section below if you don't see this item.
    3. News Explorer will be started, showing the feed URL (when available) in a dialog.

  • Add feed subscription manually:
    1. Tap on the + icon at the bottom of the feed subscriptions list.
    2. Tap Add New Feed.
    3. Enter or paste the feed URL or website URL, for websites with RSS Autodiscovery metadata.
    4. Or enter a Mastodon account name including the @-prefix and @-server postfix, like @betamagic@mastodon.social, to add a new Mastodon feed.
    5. Or enter a Reddit subreddit feed by entering r/ followed by the subreddit name, for example ‘r/worldnews’.
    6. The detected feed or feeds will be presented in a list. Tap the desired feed when more than one is detected.
    7. Tap Done.
    8. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.

  • Add new feed subscriptions by searching:
    1. Tap on the + icon at the bottom of the feed subscriptions list.
    2. Tap Search New Feeds.
    3. Change the feed source from RSS Feeds to Mastodon Feeds if you want to search for Mastodon feeds.
    4. Enter one or more search phrases.
    5. Press the Search button on the keyboard.
    6. Select one or more search results.
    7. Tap Done.
    8. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.

  • Add new feed subscriptions by clicking an feed URL:
    1. Tap on a feed URL (these are URL's that start with 'feed:'.
    2. News Explorer will be started and will present a dialog with the new feed URL.
    3. Tap Done.
    4. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.

  • Add new feed subscriptions by importing an OPML file:
    1. Tap on the Configuration button on the right side on top of the subscriptions view.
    2. Tap on Import OPML.
    3. A file selection dialog will be shown, showing the content of your iCloud Drive.
    4. Tap on the Locations button if you want to use another source, like DropBox.
    5. Then tap on the OPML file that you want to import.

In the tvOS version of News Explorer, you can add new feed subscriptions by searching.

  1. Press the Menu button on your remote, until the Search tab menu becomes visible.
  2. Select the Search tab.
  3. Change the feed source from RSS Feeds to Mastodon Feeds by highlighting the last said option, if you want to search for Mastodon feeds.
  4. Enter one or more search phrases.
  5. Select an item from the search results.
  6. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription or make a new one by selecting the + button.

The news article list of News Explorer on the Apple Watch is based on the latest news downloaded by the News Explorer app on your iPhone. There is no additional configuration needed on your Apple Watch. To change the article list source for the Apple Watch, long press on an item in the Feeds list on your iPhone, and select Show on Apple Watch in the popup context menu.

All subscription changes you make are automatically synced to your other devices via iCloud.

Click on the device type below to read more.

In the Mac version of News Explorer, you have following subscription management options:

  • Move a subscription:
    1. Select a feed subscription in the sidebar.
    2. Hold down your left mouse button and drag the subscription to a new position until a blue horizontal line becomes visible.
    3. Release the mouse button.

  • Sort subscriptions within a folder:
    1. Select a folder in the sidebar.
    2. Choose Folder > Sort Alphabetically > Content of this Folder.

  • Rename a subscription:
    1. Select a feed subscription in the sidebar.
    2. Choose Subscription > Rename… in the menu.
    3. Enter a new name for the subscription.
    4. Click on the 'Save' button.

  • Delete a subscription:
    1. Select a subscription in the sidebar.
    2. Choose Subscription > Delete… in the menu.
    3. Click on 'Delete' to confirm the removal.

In the iOS version of News Explorer, you have following subscription management options:

  • Move a subscription:
    1. Tap on the ••• icon on top of the subscriptions list.
    2. Tap on Edit Feeds in the menu.
    3. The subscription list is shown in edit modus, with on the right side of each subscription a drag icon.
    4. Tap and hold down on this icon next to the subscription you'd like to move.
    5. Drag it up or down in the list. Repeat this for each subscription you'd like to move around until the order is to your liking. Then tap the Done button in the upper right hand corner to return to your subscriptions list.

  • Move a subscription to a new folder:
    1. Tap on the ••• icon on top of the subscriptions list.
    2. Tap on Edit Feeds in the menu.
    3. Select the feed that you want to move to the new folder.
    4. Tap on the Move To... button in the bottom toolbar.
    5. Select the new folder from the folder list.
    6. Then tap the Done button in the upper right hand corner to return to your subscriptions list.

  • Rename a subscription:
    1. Swipe from right to left on the subscription you'd like to rename.
    2. Choose Rename in the menu that appears.
    3. Enter a new name for the subscription.
    4. Tap on the Save button.

  • Delete a subscription:
    1. Swipe from right to left on the subscription you'd like to delete.
    2. Choose Delete in the menu that appears.
    3. Confirm with tapping Delete in the confirmation dialog.

In the tvOS version of News Explorer, you have following subscription management options:

  • Move a subscription:
    1. Select the subscription you'd like to move in the feed subscriptions list and select it again on the remote to activate a menu.
    2. Choose Move….
    3. Select the folder where you'd like to move the subscription to.

  • Delete a subscription:
    1. Select the subscription you'd like to delete and press again on the remote to activate a menu.
    2. Choose Delete.
    3. Confirm by selecting Delete in the confirmation dialog.

Feed subscriptions in News Explorer are stored in folders. A folder 'Subscriptions' is automatically made for you when your start the app for the first time. You can add new folders, and in macOS and iOS, also rename folders, reorder folders and move subscriptions from one folder to another. All changes you make regarding folders are synced automatically to your other devices via iCloud.

Click on the device type below to read more.

In the Mac version of News Explorer, you have following folder management options:

  • Add a new folder:
    1. Choose Folder > New… in the menu.
    2. Enter a new folder name.
    3. Click on the 'Add' button.

    Perform these steps to add the new folder to the sidebar:

    1. Select a feed that you want to move to the new folder
    2. Right-click to make the context menu visible.
    3. Select 'Move to' > Name of your new folder
    4. The feed will be moved to the new folder and will become visible.
    5. You can now drag-and-drop other feeds to the new folder.

  • Move a folder:
    1. Select a folder in the sidebar.
    2. Hold down your left mouse button and drag the folder to a new position until a blue horizontal line becomes visible.
    3. Release the mouse button.

  • Move a subscription:
    1. Select a feed subscription in the sidebar.
    2. Hold down your left mouse button and drag the subscription to a new position until a blue horizontal line becomes visible.
    3. Release the mouse button.

  • Sort all folders:
    1. Select a folder in the sidebar.
    2. Choose Folder > Sort Alphabetically > All Folders.

  • Rename a folder:
    1. Select a folder in the sidebar.
    2. Choose Folder > Rename… in the menu.
    3. Enter a new name for the folder.
    4. Click on the 'Save' button.

  • Delete a folder:
    1. Choose Window > Folder Manager in the menu.
    2. Select the folder that you want to delete.
    3. Click on 'Delete selected folder' button.

In the iOS version of News Explorer, you have following folder and subscription management options:

  • Add a new folder:
    1. Tap on the + icon at the bottom of the feed subscriptions list.
    2. Tap Add new Folder.
    3. Enter a new folder name.
    4. Tap on the Add Folder button.
    5. The new folder will be added to the database, and can be used next time you add or manage subscriptions.

  • Move a folder:
    1. Tap on the ••• icon on top of the subscriptions list.
    2. Tap on Edit Feeds in the menu.
    3. Tap on Edit of a folder, it does not matter which one.
    4. A list with folder names appears, with on the right side of each folder a drag icon.
    5. Tap and hold down on this icon next to the folder you'd like to move.
    6. Drag it up or down in the list. Repeat this for each folder you'd like to move around until the order is to your liking. Then tap the Done button in the upper right hand corner.
    7. You'll now be taken back to the previous screen. Tap again the Done button in the upper right hand corner to return to your subscriptions list.

  • Move a subscription:
    1. Tap on the ••• icon on top of the subscriptions list.
    2. Tap on Edit Feeds in the menu.
    3. The subscription list is shown in edit modus, with on the right side of each subscription a drag icon.
    4. Tap and hold down on this icon next to the subscription you'd like to move.
    5. Drag it up or down in the list. Repeat this for each subscription you'd like to move around until the order is to your liking. Then tap the Done button in the upper right hand corner to return to your subscriptions list.

  • Move a subscription to a new folder:
    1. Tap on the ••• icon on top of the subscriptions list.
    2. Tap on Edit Feeds in the menu.
    3. Select the feed that you want to move to the new folder.
    4. Tap on the Move To... button in the bottom toolbar.
    5. Select the new folder from the folder list.
    6. Then tap the Done button in the upper right hand corner to return to your subscriptions list.

  • Rename a folder:
    1. Tap on the ••• icon on top of the subscriptions list.
    2. Tap on Edit Feeds in the menu.
    3. Tap on Edit of a folder, it does not matter which one.
    4. A list with folder names appears, tap on the folder you'd like to rename.
    5. Tap on Rename at the bottom.
    6. Enter a new name for the folder.
    7. Tap on the Save button.

  • Delete a folder:
    1. Tap on the ••• icon on top of the subscriptions list.
    2. Tap on Edit Feeds in the menu.
    3. Tap on Edit of a folder, it does not matter which one.
    4. Select a folder in the sidebar.
    5. A list with folder names appears, deletable folders are displayed with a red removal icon.
    6. Tap on the red - button before the folder you'd like to delete.
    7. Tap on the Delete button to confirm the removal.

In the tvOS version of News Explorer, you have following folder and subscription management options:

  • Add a new folder:
    1. You can a new folder as part of the feed subscription search procedure by selecting the + button in the upper right hand corner.

  • Move a subscription:
    1. Select the subscription you'd like to move in the feed subscriptions list and select it again on the remote to activate a menu.
    2. Choose Move….
    3. Select the folder where you'd like to move the subscription to.

News Explorer will sync your subscriptions, folders, news items, read status and favorites as long as you use a valid iCloud account on your Apple device. You'll receive clear warnings within the app when this is not the case. Syncing with iCloud is optional for macOS and iOS devices. If you disable iCloud syncing in the settings then your devices will no long be in sync, but you can still use the built-in RSS and Mastodon download engine to retrieve new news articles.

Automatic sync

The default interval for syncing and downloading news is 15 minutes. This can be changed in the settings of the app. See Settings. Each status change of an article or feed, like marking as read or favorite, and most other changes will be synced immediately and as part of the periodic sync. In addition to this, some additional syncing is performed by the app to keep all devices with News Explorer in sync via iCloud.

Manual sync

In addition to, or instead of automatic sync, you can also start a manual sync session:

macOS
Press ⌘ Command + S on the keyboard.
iOS
Pull down the subscriptions list until the progress indicator keeps spinning.
Or, when an item list is active, press the sync icon at the bottom toolbar.
tvOS
Select a subscription in the subscriptions list, press again on the remote and select Sync in the menu.
watchOS
Force touch the news articles list, and tap Get News to start a background download session on the iPhone. The News Explorer app on the iPhone will push a refreshed news articles list to your Watch when done. Please note that this doesn't include a full sync with iCloud, due to technical limitations of iOS.
Redownload

Automatic and manual sync will download news items conform the Storage settings and also conform the last download data for each feed subscription. If you want to download a complete feed, regardless of the settings and age of the news items within the feed, you can use the Redownload function:

macOS
Select the feed in the sidebar and then select menu item Subscription > Redownload.
iOS
Select the feed in the subscriptions and press the Sync icon in the bottom toolbar. Then tap Redownload.
tvOS
Select a subscription in the subscriptions list, press again on the remote and select Redownload in the menu.
Resync

If a particular feed subscription displays a different unread items count, despite multiple manual syncs and restart of the app, then you can perform a resync with iCloud for the selected feed. You'll lose local unsynced data for the selected feed, when you use this function.

macOS
Select the feed in the sidebar and then select menu item Subscription > Resync.
iOS
Select the feed in the subscriptions and press the Sync icon in the bottom toolbar. Then tap Resync.
tvOS
Select a subscription in the subscriptions list, press again on the remote and select Resync in the menu.

Reading news

Reading news in News Explorer using the list view is very similar to reading mail messages in the Mail app:

  1. Select a filter or subscription in the feed subscriptions list.
  2. Select a news article you'd like to read.
  3. The article is shown in the article reading view on the right side or on the next view.

In macOS and iOS you can navigate to the original news article by pressing/tapping the title of a news article. Furthermore, you can change the look and feel of the list view. For more info, read the Viewing part of the Settings section below.

Instead of using the article list for browsing and selecting news articles you can also use the Timeline view. This view shows all articles in a newspaper like way with news article summaries shown side by side accompanied with thumbnails, if available.

macOS
  • Press ⌘ Command + 2 on the keyboard to open the Timeline view.
  • Double-click or press Enter to open the original news article.
  • Press Esc to close the Timeline view.
iOS
  • Tap the thumbnails icon on top of the subscriptions list to open the Timeline view.
  • Tap a news item to open the original news article.
  • Perform a long tap to activate a context menu.
tvOS
  • Select Menu on the remote and activate Timeline on top of the screen.
  • Select a news item to open the news article in a separate view.

In macOS and iOS you can change the filter or subscription in the toolbar on top of the view.

With Reader view you can download the entire original news article from the web, and read it in a clean and easy-to-read format using the default article viewer. It can be used together with the List view and Timeline view discussed above. Reader view works with RSS, RDF and Atom news feeds.

macOS
  • Select a news article that you want to read in full version.
  • Click on the first toolbar button above the article reader panel or press V on the keyboard. The icon of the said button depends on the selected Reader view engine in the Reading section of the News Explorer preferences.
  • The original article will be downloaded and processed to be shown in the default article viewer using the standard news layout.
  • The mentioned button will now show the same icon but with a background color to indicate that Reader view is active. You can go back to the original RSS article by clicking this button, or the keyboard shortcut, again.
iOS
  • Select a news article that you want to read in full version.
  • Tap on the button with a large M or sofa icon. The icon depends on the active default Reader view engine in the Reading section of the News Explorer preferences. If necessary, scroll the article a bit to the bottom to make the toolbar visible.
  • The original article will be downloaded and processed to be shown in the default article viewer using the standard news layout. An activity indicator will be visible.
  • The mentioned button will now show the same icon but with a background color to indicate that Reader view is active. You can go back to the original RSS article by tapping this button again.
tvOS
  • Select a news article that you want to read in full version.
  • Focus and select the article title in the article viewer on the right side.
  • The original full article will be downloaded and shown.
  • A small 4 lines icon will be shown on the right top of the title, indicating that the viewer is in Reader view modus. You can go back to the original RSS article by focusing and selecting the title again.

If you want always to view the articles of a feed in Reader view, you can set a Primary view for that feed. Read more about this in the next topic Primary view of this Help page.

Note: Reader view does not work or does not work properly with all news articles. For macOS and iOS you can select which Reader view engine should be used. Read more in section Settings.

If you want to always automatically open articles for certain feeds in Reader view, or automatically open the source website article, you can set a primary view for these feeds using the View Options dialog. To open this dialog, long press the Reader view button. This will open the View Options dialog for the feed associated with the currently opened article.

The following views can be set as primary view for a feed:

Article View
This is the unaltered feed article. Depending on the feed, this concerns just a summary or first few paragraphs, or it concerns the whole article. Article View is the default primary view for all feeds, unless another view is set for setting Default primary view. More info about can be found in the next section.
  • Toolbar icon: shows the outline icon of the default Reader view engine, as defined in the Settings. If the Reader view is manually triggered, the shown icon is a filled variant of the icon of the applied Reader view engine.
Mercury Reader
The news article is presented in Reader view generated by the Mercury Reader library.
  • Sub options: Mercury Reader has the following sub option:
    • Optimize parsing if possible: when enabled, the parsing engine will use special optimized algorithms for popular feeds.
  • Toolbar icon: filled Mercury Reader icon (large M), or outline Mercury Reader icon if the Reader view is not yet available.
Arc90 Readability
The news article is presented in Reader view generated by the Arc90 Readability library.
  • Sub options: Arc90 Readability has the following sub option:
    • Optimize parsing if possible: when enabled, the parsing engine will use special optimized algorithms for popular feeds.
  • Toolbar icon: filled Arc90 Readability icon (sofa), or outline Arc90 Readability icon if the Reader view is not yet available.
Web Article
The original complete website article will be opened, including all styling, ads, etc.
  • Sub options: Web Article view has the following sub options:
    • Open in Safari view controller (iOS only): when enabled, the article will be loaded in Safari view controller, which has a lot in common with Safari.
    • Enable JavaScript: determines if JavaScript is allowed for loading website articles for this feed. Disabling JavaScript may improve loading speed, but may also lead to missing or non-working content, like videos.
    • Enable private browsing: when enabled, the website will not be allowed to permanently store cookies and other data.
    • Request desktop site (iOS only): when enabled, the desktop variant of the website will be loaded, if available.
  • Toolbar icon: filled Safari web browser icon.

You can configure a default primary view for all feeds in the iOS and iPadOS editions of News Explorer. To do that, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Preferences panel.
  2. Open the Reading section.
  3. Select a view type for Primary view.

Depending on the selected view type, you may see some additional options. These are discussed in the 'Primary view' article above.

Skip feeds with full articles

When you select 'Mercury Reader' or 'Arc90 Readability' as default primary view, you'll see an additional option Skip feeds with full articles. When enabled, articles of feeds with full articles are not processed by the chosen reader view engine.

Override the default primary view

When you are not happy with the results of the selected default primary view for a particular feed, you can override the primary view for that feed:

  1. Open an article of the feed in question.
  2. Long-press on the Reader view button until a settings popup appear.
  3. Select another view type for 'Primary view'.

To go back to the default primary view, tap on the Reset button, displayed on top of the settings popup.

If you just want to override the view for one article, you can simply press or tap on Reader view button to toggle between the standard feed article view and the standard Reader view.

Marking news

When you open a news article, then it's automatically set to read after 2 seconds. You can change this behavior in the settings of the app. On Apple Watch you must manually mark news articles as read. Setting items manually to read or back to unread can be done on all platforms:

macOS
  • Press R on the keyboard to mark a news article as read.
  • Press again R to mark a news article as unread.
iOS
  • Swipe from left to right to mark an selected item as read.
  • Swipe again from left to right to mark a news article as unread.
tvOS
  • Select a news article and press on the remote to active a menu, then choose Mark as Read to mark a news article as read.
  • Repeat this and choose Mark as Unread to set the article back to unread.
watchOS
  • Open a news article by tapping on it. Long press on the article to activate a menu, then choose Mark as Read to mark the news article as read.
  • Repeat this and choose Mark as Unread to set the article back to unread.

The macOS version support the same swipe gestures for toggling between Read and Unread as the iOS version. And if you use a Bluetooth keyboard with the iOS version, then you can use the same shortcut keys as the macOS version.

While scrolling through the news item list, you can mark all items above or below the selected item as read:

macOS
  • Press ⌘ Command + ↑ on the keyboard to mark all items above the selected item as read.
  • Press ⌘ Command + ↓ on the keyboard to mark all items below the selected item as read..
iOS
  • Long press on an item and choose Mark Above as Read to mark all items above the pressed item as read.
  • Long press on an item and choose Mark Below as Read to mark all items below the pressed item as read.

These commands are also available in the Timeline view.

In macOS, you can also use the context menu to perform the described actions, while in iOS you can also use the shortcuts of macOS, if your iOS device is connected to a bluetooth keyboard.

All items in an article list of a subscription, filter or folder, can be marked as read by a single tap or click.
macOS
Press ⌘ Command + D on the keyboard
iOS
Tap on the Checkmark icon in the toolbar
tvOS
Select the subscription or filter in the list which contains items you'd like to set to read, and choose Mark All as Read in the menu.

Depending on the number of unread items, a confirmation dialog will be shown. This number can be configured in the settings of the app. See section Settings for more info. All items in the Favorites filter cannot be marked as read with one command.

Setting After marking all as read gives you the option Select next subscription or folder, which does exactly what it says. If you are in a subscription list than the next subscription list will be opened. And when you're in a folder, the next folder will be opened. It will also select the first item in the list. It works even better when combined with the global 'Unread items' filter. To get this behavior you must open the Preferences panel (macOS and iOS) or go to the Settings app (tvOS), because the default option for this setting is Do nothing.

When you're in the 'Unread items' list or when the equally named global filter is active, you can manually clear the items that you've just read with the Clear read items command. In macOS, you can use shortcut key C, in iOS you can use the clear button on the bottom bar, at the right side. See section 'Filter news items' for more info about global filters.

Setting After clearing read items works together with the new 'Clear read items' command. The default option is Select next item, but you can also opt for Select first item or Do nothing.

News items marked as favorite can be found back in the Favorites smart filter in the feed subscriptions list. These items are also longer stored on your device and in iCloud, unless you change this in the settings. So if you want to save an article for later reading, just mark it as favorite:

macOS
  • Press F on the keyboard to mark a news article as favorite.
  • Press again F to remove the favorite mark.
iOS
  • Swipe from right to left on the news article item in list and tap on Mark as Favorite to mark a news article as favorite.
  • Swipe again from right to left and tap on Mark as Unfavorite to remove the favorite mark.
tvOS
  • Select a news article and press on the remote to active a menu, then choose Mark as Favorite to mark a news article as favorite.
  • Repeat this and choose Mark as Unfavorite to remove the favorite mark.
watchOS
  • Open a news article and long press on the article to activate a menu. Then choose Mark as Favorite to mark the news article as favorite.
  • Repeat this and choose Mark as Unfavorite to remove the favorite mark.

Selecting news

You can apply a global data filter on the subscription list, articles list and timeline, to show only 'Unread items' or 'Favorite items'.
macOS
  • Press ⌥ Option (Alt) + 2 to apply the 'Unread items' filter.
  • Press ⌥ Option (Alt) + 3 to apply the 'Favorites' filter.
  • Press ⌥ Option (Alt) + 0 to remove the filter.
iOS
  • Tap the circle icon in the middle of the bottom toolbar to apply the 'Unread items' filter.
  • Tap the star icon on the bottom toolbar to apply the 'Favorites' filter.
  • Tap the list view icon on the bottom toolbar to remove the filter.

When filter 'Unread items' is active, you can manually clear the items that you've just read with the Clear read items command.

macOS
Press C on the keyboard.
iOS
Tap the clear button on the bottom bar, located at the right side.

Setting After clearing read items works together with the new 'Clear read items' command. The default option is Select next item, but you can also opt for Select first item or Do nothing.

You can search for news items in the current database using full text search.
macOS
  • Press ⌘ Command + F on the keyboard.
  • Type one or more search phrases in the search box.
  • Search results are updated while you type.
iOS
  • Open a smart filter or subscription from the feed subscriptions list.
  • Scroll the article list to the top. As a shortcut you can tap on the statusbar on top of the screen.
  • A search bar will be displayed.
  • Type one or more search phrases in the search box.
  • Search results are updated while you type.

Sharing news

Share menu

In macOS and iOS, you can share news items by using the share menu. The share menu is located on the right hand corner of the toolbar on top of the news article view.

The items in this menu are populated with the share services of the apps installed on the device. For example, when Evernote is installed on your iPhone, you'll see an Evernote sharing option in the share menu. In addition to the share service items of other apps, News Explorer offers three built-in share services in the macOS version, namely Twitter, Instapaper and Pocket. More info can be found in the dedicated sections below.

Copy menu

In macOS you can copy the internet address of the current selected news article in the list by using menu item Edit > Copy or shortcut ⌘ Command + C on the keyboard. To copy the internet address of the current feed, highlight the feed in the list and use the said menu item or shortcut key.

On iOS you can copy the internet address of the current news article by tapping on the Copy item in the Share menu.

Preferences

In macOS you can configure share services in the Sharing tab of the Preferences panel. In this tab you can determine the visibility of the share services in the menu, and you can assign shortcut keys to each service. Follow these steps to assign a shortcut key to a service:

  1. Select the service in the list
  2. Press ↩︎ Enter on the keyboard
  3. Type the keys you want to assign to the service
  4. Press again ↩︎ Enter to save your shortcut

News Explorer has built-in support for sending news articles to Instapaper, after you have authorized News Explorer to use your Instapaper account.

Sending news articles to Instapaper is easy in News Explorer, after you have authorized News Explorer to use your Instapaper account. Click on the device type below to read more.

Follow these steps to authorize News Explorer to use your Instapaper account:

  1. Open the Preferences panel
  2. Click on the Sharing tab
  3. Click on the 'Login to Instapaper' button
  4. Enter your credentials in the login form
  5. Save your credentials by pressing on the 'Login' button
  6. A confirmation is being shown when the authorization is handled correctly

For quick access, you can assign a shortcut key to the Instapaper share option:

  1. Select the Instapaper service in the list
  2. Press ↩︎ Enter on the keyboard
  3. Type the keys you want to assign to the service
  4. Press again ↩︎ Enter to save your shortcut

There are two ways to send a selected news article to Instapaper:

  • After assigning a shortcut key, you can use it to add selected news articles to Instapaper.
  • You can also use the Share button in the toolbar, the share menu contains a Instapaper item on top of the list.

Follow these steps to authorize News Explorer to use your Instapaper account:

  1. Open the 'Preferences' panel
  2. Tap on the Sharing section
  3. Tap on 'Allow access to Instapaper'
  4. Enter your credentials in the login form
  5. Save your credentials by pressing on the 'Login' button
  6. A confirmation is being shown when the authorization is handled correctly

After logging in, the following additional options are displayed:

  • Show in long press menu: when enabled, an 'Add to Instapaper' menu item will be displayed in the long-press context menu of the article list and Timeline view.
  • Show in share sheet: when enabled, an 'Instapaper' item will be shown in the share sheet of the article viewer and places in the app where the share sheet is displayed.

In addition to these options, you can set the leading action of the left-to-right swipe menu of the article list in the Viewing section of the Preferences.

News Explorer has built-in support for sending articles to Pocket, after you have authorized News Explorer to use your Pocket account.

Sending news articles to Pocket is easy in News Explorer, after you have authorized News Explorer to use your Pocket account. Click on the device type below to read more.

Follow these steps to authorize News Explorer to use your Pocket account:

  1. Open the Preferences panel
  2. Click on the Sharing tab
  3. Click on the 'Login to Pocket' button
  4. Your default browser will be started, to open the login webpage
  5. Log into Pocket, if necessary
  6. Click on the Authorize button
  7. Confirm 'Do you want to allow this page to open “News Explorer”?'
  8. A confirmation is being shown when the authorization has been handled correctly

For quick access, you can assign a shortcut key to the Pocket share option:

  1. Select the Pocket service in the list
  2. Press ↩︎ Enter on the keyboard
  3. Type the keys you want to assign to the service
  4. Press again ↩︎ Enter to save your shortcut

There are two ways to send a selected news article to Pocket:

  • After assigning a shortcut key, you can use it to add selected news articles to Pocket.
  • You can also use the Share button in the toolbar, the share menu contains a Pocket item on top of the list.

Follow these steps to authorize News Explorer to use your Pocket account:

  1. Open the 'Preferences' panel
  2. Tap on the Sharing section
  3. Tap on 'Allow access to Pocket'
  4. A web form appears
  5. Follow the on-screen instruction to login to Pocket
  6. After successful login, tap on the Authorize button
  7. A confirmation is being shown when the authorization has been handled correctly

After logging in, the following additional options are displayed:

  • Show in long press menu: when enabled, an 'Add to Pocket' menu item will be displayed in the long-press context menu of the article list and Timeline view.
  • Show in share sheet: when enabled, an 'Pocket' item will be shown in the share sheet of the article viewer and places in the app where the share sheet is displayed.

In addition to these options, you can set the leading action of the left-to-right swipe menu of the article list in the Viewing section of the Preferences.

Background refresh

Overview

With Background App Refresh you can periodically download news in the background when you are not using News Explorer. To use Background App Refresh you must enable it in the News Explorer section of the Settings App. Background App Refresh is only available on iOS, iPadOS and tvOS.

The sync refresh interval that you have configured in the Preferences acts as a preferred background refresh interval for the operating system. The availability of a network connection, battery level, and some other factors only known by Apple determines the actual background refresh interval.

Limitations

The effective working time of Background App Refresh is limited by Apple to 30 seconds. To make effective use of Background App Refresh, News Explorer only download news of the last 30 recently updated feeds, with a preference for feeds that are selected for Background App Refresh in the Feed Manager. Furthermore, News Explorer doesn't sync with iCloud, to prevent issues with the 30 seconds limit. This data will be synced in the background when you open the app.

Tips

Follow these tips to make effective use of Background App Refresh:

  • Disable Background App Refresh for all other apps that do not need to be updated in the background.
  • If you have more than 20 subscriptions, you should consider to select the subscriptions you want to be part fo Background App Refresh (iOS only).
    • Tap on the settings icon on the top right in the Subscriptions list.
    • Then tap on Open Feed Manager. This option is not available when the app is syncing.
    • Make your selection in the Background App Refresh tab and tap Done.
  • Do not force close News Explorer.
  • Keep your battery level above 20%.

Please read article 'Background App Refresh doesn’t work as expected. How do I fix this?' in the FAQ if you need additional help.

Overview

When you activate Background Push Notifications in News Explorer, an external notifications server will periodically send a silent push notification that will wake up News Explorer when it is in the background, in order to refresh it’s data. It is very similar to Background App Refresh, but instead of being dependent on a trigger generated by iOS, an external server managed by Betamagic determines the trigger interval. Background Push Notifications is only available in iOS, iPadOS and visionOS.

Enable Background Push Notifications

Follow these steps to enable Background Push Notifications:

  1. Tap on the settings icon on the top right in the Subscriptions list.
  2. Tap on Preferences.
  3. Tap on Syncing.
  4. In the 'Background Push Notification' section, switch on Enable silent push notifications.
  5. The Status field value should change after some time from 'Not subscribed' to 'Subscribed'.
Tips
  • When enabled, a silent push notification will be received in about every 20 minutes.
  • To receive silent push notifications, the receiving device must have a working internet connection and News Explorer must be active and running in the background. Never force close the app without restarting it.
  • The date and time of the last received background push notification can be checked in the 'Background Push Notifications Status' panel, which can be opened by tapping on the Info icon on the right side of the Status field.
  • Because silent push notifications are sent with a fixed interval to all subscribed iOS devices at the same time, it’s best to only enable this option on just one of your iOS or iPadOS devices. Otherwise multiple devices will download the same data at the same time in the background, which may lead to an overload of syncing conflicts.

Advanced topics

News Explorer contains some special enhancements for YouTube channel and playlist feeds. This article explains how to subscribe to YouTube channel and playlist feeds and how to use these feeds in News Explorer.

Click on the device type below to read more.

Subscribe to a YouTube channel
  1. Browse to a YouTube channel on the YouTube website, using Safari or any other browser. You can easily navigate to the channel of a YouTube video by clicking on the name of the maker, displayed under the video.
  2. Click on the Share menu button.
  3. Click on the 'Add to News Explorer' share item. If this item is not visible, then you have to make it visible by clicking on the 'More' item.
  4. News Explorer will be started, with a filled in dialog.
  5. If everything goes well then the feed will be recognized as a 'RSS' feed.
  6. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.
  7. Click on the 'Add selected Feeds' button.
  8. News Explorer will add the feed with the correct channel title to the selected folder.
Subscribe to a YouTube playlist
  1. Open the YouTube playlist page in your webbrowser.
  2. Click on the Share menu button.
  3. Click on the 'Add to News Explorer' share item. If this item is not visible, then you have to make it visible by clicking on the 'More' item.
  4. News Explorer will be started, with a filled in dialog.
  5. If everything goes well then the playlist feed will be recognized.
  6. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.
  7. Click on the 'Add selected Feeds' button.
  8. News Explorer will add the feed to the selected folder.
Play YouTube videos

Each item in a YouTube feed contains one video. Just click on the play button to start the video.

Play YouTube videos full-screen

Click on the YouTube button in the toolbar to play the video in full-window. To play the video full-screen, maximize the window by clicking on the green full-screen button on the top left.

Subscribe to a YouTube channel
  1. Browse to a YouTube channel on the YouTube website, using Safari or any other browser. You can easily navigate to the channel of a YouTube video by tapping on the name of the maker, displayed under the video.
  2. Tap on the Share menu button.
  3. Tap on the 'Add to News Explorer' share item. If this item is not visible, then you have to make it visible by clicking on the 'More' item.
  4. News Explorer will appear with a filled in dialog.
  5. If everything goes well then the feed will be recognized as a 'RSS' feed.
  6. Tap Done.
  7. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.
  8. News Explorer will add the feed with the correct channel title to the selected folder.
Subscribe to a YouTube playlist
  1. Browse to the playlist page in Safari or any other browser.
  2. Tap on the Share menu button.
  3. Tap on the 'Add to News Explorer' share item. If this item is not visible, then you have to make it visible by clicking on the 'More' item.
  4. News Explorer will appear with a filled in dialog.
  5. If everything goes well then the playlist will be recognized as a feed.
  6. Tap Done.
  7. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.
  8. News Explorer will add the feed with to the selected folder.
Play YouTube videos

Each item in a YouTube feed contains one video. Just tap on the play icon placed on top of the video to start it.

Play YouTube videos in High Definition

To play YouTube videos in HD, you may need to enable setting 'Play YouTube in HD quality' in the News Explorer settings. See section Settings below for more info. After changing this setting, videos in YouTube news items are configured to use HD resolution. The effective resolution depends on the source material. A side effect of this setting is that the play controls are rather small. Just tap on the video to start it. Then tap the video with two fingers and spread them to play the video full-screen.

Subscribe to a YouTube channel or playlist

You can't directly add YouTube channel or playlist feeds in the tvOS version of News Explorer. However, each feed configured on another Apple device with News Explorer will sync with the tvOS version, when using the same iCloud account. Each new feed 'landed' on your tvOS will be updated like any other feed.

Play YouTube videos

Each item in a YouTube feed contains one video. Highlight this video with the remote of the Apple TV and press again to play the video full screen. In case a video cannot be played embedded in News Explorer, the video will be opened in the YouTube app when this app is installed on your Apple TV.

In the macOS, iOS and iPadOS editions of News Explorer, you can add Reddit feeds (‘subreddits’) by following these simple steps:

  1. Tap or click on the + icon at the bottom of the feeds list.
  2. Choose Add New Feed in the popup menu.
  3. Enter r/ followed by the subreddit name, for example ‘r/worldnews’.
  4. The subreddit feed will be presented in a list.
  5. Tap Done.
  6. Choose a folder for the new subreddit feed.

News Reader supports RSS feeds with Basic and Digest HTTP authentication. If you add a new RSS feed with HTTP authentication, then you will be asked for your login credentials. These credentials will be safely stored in the systems's Keychain after a successful login. You can also change, update or remove the credentials associated with a RSS feed.

Feeds with HTTP authentication are synced via iCloud just like ordinary feeds. The authentication credentials however are not synced between the different platforms. Follow the 'Update credentials' instructions to handle synced feeds that still need HTTP authentication.

Add a new feed with HTTP authentication:

  1. Choose Subscription > New… in the menu.
  2. Enter the feed URL.
  3. While entering the feed URL, a login button will appear.
  4. Complete the feed URL address.
  5. Click on the Login button and follow the instructions of the Login panel.
  6. The detected feed or feeds will be presented in a dropdown after you're successfully authenticated. Select the desired feed when more than one is detected.
  7. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.
  8. Click on the Add Feed button.

Update credentials of a feed with HTTP authentication:

  1. Select a feed subscription in the sidebar.
  2. Choose Subscription > Credentials… in the menu.
  3. Update your credentials.
  4. Click on the Save button.

Delete credentials of a feed with HTTP authentication:

  1. Select a feed subscription in the sidebar.
  2. Choose Subscription > Credentials… in the menu.
  3. Click on the Delete button.
  4. Click on the Delete credentials button to confirm the deletion of the credentials from the system's Keychain.
  5. You can also optionally choose to remove the authentication marking from the feed subscription by enabling the 'Remove also the authentication mark' check box. This will result in handling the feed as a normal unsecured feed until proven otherwise.

If a selected feed doesn't show an enabled 'Credentials' menu item, then the feed is not known as a feed with HTTP authentication. Perform a manual sync to let the app detect the need for HTTP authentication for the selected feed.

Add a new feed with HTTP authentication:

  1. Tap on the + icon at the bottom of the feed subscriptions list.
  2. Tap Add New Feed.
  3. Enter or paste the feed URL.
  4. While entering the feed URL, a login button will appear.
  5. Complete the feed URL address.
  6. Tap the Login button and follow the instructions.
  7. The detected feed or feeds will be presented in a list after you're successfully authenticated. Tap the desired feed when more than one is detected.
  8. Tap Done.
  9. Choose a folder for the new feed subscription.

Update credentials of a feed with HTTP authentication:

  1. Swipe from right to left on the feed in the subscriptions list.
  2. Choose Credentials in the menu that appears.
  3. Update your credentials.
  4. Click on the Save button.

Delete credentials of a feed with HTTP authentication:

  1. Swipe from right to left on the feed in the subscriptions list.
  2. Choose Credentials in the menu that appears.
  3. A confirmation dialog will appear.
    • Choose Delete to just delete the credentials from the system's Keychain.
    • Choose Delete and remove mark to delete the credentials from the system's Keychain and to remove the authentication marking from the feed subscription. This will result in handling the feed as a normal unsecured feed until proven otherwise.

If a feed doesn't show a 'Credentials' menu item, then the feed is not known as a feed with HTTP authentication. Perform a manual sync to let the app detect the need for HTTP authentication for the selected feed.

Manually adding a new feed with HTTP authentication is not possible with the tvOS version of News Explorer. Please add the feed with the iOS or macOS version of News Explorer and retrieve this feed on the Apple TV by using iCloud sync. Then use the steps in the next section to authenticate the feed.

Update credentials of a feed with HTTP authentication:

  1. Select the subscription you'd like to update and select it again on the remote to activate a menu.
  2. Choose Credentials.
  3. Update your credentials.
  4. Click on the Save button.

Delete credentials of a feed with HTTP authentication:

  1. Select the subscription you'd like to change and select it again on the remote to activate a menu.
  2. Choose Credentials.
  3. Choose Delete.
  4. A confirmation dialog will appear.
    • Choose Delete to just delete the credentials from the system's Keychain.
    • Choose Delete and remove mark to delete the credentials from the system's Keychain and to remove the authentication marking from the feed subscription. This will result in handling the feed as a normal unsecured feed until proven otherwise.

If a feed doesn't show a 'Credentials' menu item, then the feed is not known as a feed with HTTP authentication. Perform a manual sync to let the app detect the need for HTTP authentication for the selected feed.

With Handoff you can start reading a news article on one device and continue reading on another device with just one click. Bluetooth must be activated on both devices to make this work. Just open a news article on a device to 'broadcast' a Handoff notification to all devices in reach of the Bluetooth signal. Do the following on the second device to open the news article initiated by the first device:
macOS
  • Look for a special News Explorer icon on the left side of the dock.
  • Click on this icon.
  • News Explorer will be activated and the news article will be opened. If necessary, the related subscription will be refreshed first, so be patient if nothing happens on first sight.
iOS
  • Press the home button when your device is locked. On the Lock screen you'll see a special News Explorer icon on the left hand corner at the bottom of the Lock screen.
  • Swipe this icon to the top of the screen to activate News Explorer and open the news article. If necessary, the related subscription will be refreshed first, so be patient if nothing happens on first sight.
  • Double press the home button when your device is already unlocked. At the bottom of the screen you'll see a special bar, with on the left side a News Explorer icon, indicating that there is something to hand over.
  • Tap the mentioned bar to activate News Explorer and to open the related news article.
All Apple devices are able to broadcast Handoff notifications, except Apple TV. Read this article to troubleshoot Handoff issues.

Data snapshots dramatically speeds up synchronisation with iCloud when syncing on a new device or on a device that hasn’t be used for some time. Snapshots are automatically saved to iCloud on a daily basis, as part of the standard sync procedure. A data snapshot stored in iCloud can be used by all devices with News Explorer 1.11 or newer.

The data snapshot feature includes the following extras:

  • The Storage tab of the Preferences contains a Data Snapshots section with status info and settings. With these settings you can determine if the app should generate and store data snapshots, and you can define if and when data snapshots are being used for data synchronisation.
  • ​Tapping or clicking on the Info icon in the Data Snapshots preferences section will open a new page with more details and options to delete or manually generate a new data snapshot.
  • The Resync All function makes use of Data snapshots when one is available and the usage is allowed according the Data snapshot settings.
More info about database backup and restore in News Explorer can be found here.
You can adjust the color scheme and some other aspects of the app, to make it fit with your mood and taste.
macOS
  • Choose menu View > Theme.
  • Select one of the four themes represented by the sub-menu items.
  • The Standard and System themes support Dark Mode in macOS 10.14 and newer.
iOS
  • Open a news article.
  • Tap the Aa icon at the bottom toolbar of the news article view. Scroll the article downwards when this toolbar is not visible, to make it visible again.
  • Tap on one of the four color theme circles in the popop menu.
    • If you own an iPhone X, you may use the black theme to help improve battery life.
    • In iOS 13 or newer, the System theme (second option) will automatically adapt the system appearance.
tvOS
  • Open the Settings app of your Apple TV.
  • Open the Appearance setting in the General section.
  • Choose between Light, Dark or Automatic appearance.
  • Open News Explorer. It will use the chosen appearance as theme.
  • The blurred background based on the selected feed can be disabled via setting Use adaptive background in the Settings section in the app.
Automatic appearance switching in iOS

When you use the System theme in iOS, News Explorer will automatically adapt the system appearance. If you prefer the default Light theme when iOS is in 'Light Mode' (you'll never see this term in Apple marketing), and the System theme when iOS is in 'Dark Mode, you must enable setting 'Auto-switch themes' in the Viewing section of the News Explorer Preferences.

Automatic appearance switching in tvOS

The 'Automatic' appearance option changes between light and dark mode based on time of day. Light mode in tvOS is enabled at sunrise and dark mode is enabled at sunset so you’ll need to enable location time zone for the feature to work. Then automatic appearance switching will toggle Apple TV between light and dark mode based on local sunrise and sunset times as they change throughout the year.

News Explorer for macOS is a sandboxed app, which is one of the requirements to be in the Mac App Store. Sandboxed apps are not allowed to change default apps for file types like feed URL's. To bypass this limitation, you have to download a small utility which is not 'sandboxed'.

Do the following to change the default newsreader app in macOS:

  1. Download the News Explorer Configurator app.
  2. Start the downloaded app.
  3. Choose the app from the list you'd like to use as the default app for feed URL's.
  4. You're done!

Additional remarks:

  • To make sure that the new setting actually works, you can hit the Test button.
  • Please restart your Mac if the tool doesn't seem to work.
  • The download file is a ZIP file containing the 'News Explorer Configurator' app. This is a small utility to change the default handler for feed URL's.
  • On most Macs the mentioned ZIP file will be automatically extracted, so you can start the utility app right from the Downloads folder.

Changing the default newsreader app in iOS is currently not possible due to multiple limitations of iOS.

In the Mac version of News Explorer, you have following notifications management options:

  • Determine when notifications for new articles must be combined to one notification:
    1. Open the News Explorer Preferences, located in main menu News Explorer.
    2. Open the General section.
    3. Adjust setting Summarize by selecting the desired option from the dropdown list.

  • Select feeds that should be shown in Notification Center:
    1. Choose Window > Feeds Manager in the menu.
    2. Select the feeds that should be shown in the Notification Center when new articles are downloaded.
    3. Click on the 'Save' button.

  • Adjust sound and display options for notifications:
    1. Open the System Preferences app.
    2. Open the Notification item.
    3. Select News Explorer in the list on the left.
    4. Adjust settings in the right panel to your liking.

  • Disable notifications for all feeds:
    1. Open the System Preferences app.
    2. Open the Notification item.
    3. Select News Explorer in the list on the left.
    4. In the panel on the right, set 'News Explorer alert style' to 'None'.
    5. Disable all other checkboxes, except 'Badge app icon'.

In the iOS version of News Explorer, you have following notifications management options:

  • Determine when notifications for new articles must be combined to one notification:
    1. Tap on the ••• icon on top of the subscriptions list.
    2. Tap on Preferences and open the General section.
    3. In the Notifications sub section, adjust setting Summarize by selecting the desired option from the options list.

  • Select feeds that should be shown in Notification Center:
    1. Tap on the ••• icon on top of the subscriptions list.
    2. Tap Feed Manager. This option is not visible when the app is syncing.
    3. Select the feeds that should be shown in the Notification Center when new articles are downloaded.
    4. Tap on the Done button.

  • Adjust sound and display options for notifications:
    1. Open the Settings app.
    2. Open the News Explorer section.
    3. Open the Notification item on top.
    4. Adjust the settings to your liking.

  • Disable notifications for all feeds:
    1. Open the Settings app.
    2. Open the News Explorer section.
    3. Open the Notification item on top.
    4. Disable setting 'Allow Notification' on top.
Article viewer

Follow these steps to adjust the article reader font size and type:

macOS
  • Choose menu View > Font to change the font type.
  • Choose ⌘ Command + + to increase the font size.
  • Choose ⌘ Command + – to decrease the font size.
  • Choose ⌘ Command + 0 to reset the font size.
  • You can also use the 'View' tab of the Preferences panel (menu News Explorer > Preferences).
iOS
  • Open a news article.
  • Tap the Aa icon at the bottom toolbar of the news article view. Scroll the article downwards when this toolbar is not visible, to make it visible again.
  • Tap the large A symbol to increase the font size.
  • Tap the small A symbol to decrease the font size.
Article list and Timeline view

Follow these steps the adjust the font size of the subscription list, article list and Timeline view:

iOS
  • Open the Settings app.
  • Open section 'Display & Brightness'.
  • Tap Text Size.
  • Select a text size by using the slider.
Main views

Follow these steps the adjust the font size of the article list and article viewer in the app:

tvOS
  • Open the Settings app.
  • Open the Apps section.
  • Open the News Explorer section.
  • Adjust setting 'Font size'.
watchOS
  • Open the Settings app.
  • Open the 'Brightness & Text Size' section.
  • Tap on the Text Size button.
  • Use the Crown to increase or decrease the size of the font used on the Apple Watch.

Do this to open the settings of News Explorer:

macOS
  • Press ⌘ Command + , on the keyboard to open the Preferences panel.
iOS
  • Press the Configuration button on the right side of the navigation bar on top of the subscriptions list.
  • Tap on 'Open Preferences'.
  • Or do this: Swipe from the left screen edge to the right in the subscriptions list.
tvOS
  • Select Menu on the remote until you're back in the home screen of Apple TV.
  • Start the Settings app.
  • Select Apps.
  • Select News Explorer.

News Explorer contains the following settings:

General settings Description macOS iOS tvOS
Sync interval Determines the interval for syncing with iCloud and for downloading new RSS news items. It's also possible to change this setting to Manual. ✓ ✓ ✓
Mobile data interval Determines the interval when using a mobile data connection, for syncing with iCloud and for downloading new RSS news items. It's also possible to change this setting to Manual. This setting is only visible on devices with a cellular data connection. ✓ ✓ ✓
Refresh on start When active, the app will start a sync session on startup of the app and also download new RSS news items. ✓ ✓ ✓
Dock unread count Determines which source should be used for calculating the unread count of the app icon badge, when visible in the macOS dock. Can also be set to None, to not show a badge at all. ✓
Sidebar unread counts Determines which items in the sidebar should have an unread count badge. It's also possible to not show any badge at all. ✓
App icon badge Determines which source should be used for calculating the unread count of the app icon badge. Can also be set to None, to not show a badge at all. ✓
Subscription badges Determines which items in the subscription list should have an unread count badge. It's also possible to not show any badge at all. ✓ ✓
Use iCloud synchronization When inactive, no any iCloud synchronization will be performed and the app will only make use of the RSS and Mastodon download engine. ✓ ✓
General settings ›
Notifications		 Description macOS iOS tvOS
Summarize notifications Defines when notifications for new news items should be summarized, instead of generated as separate notifications. ✓ ✓
Include images Defines if an image should be included in the notification, when the news items contain at least one image reference. ✓
Include feed icon Defines if the feed icon should be included in the notification. ✓
General settings ›
Spotlight		 Description macOS iOS tvOS
Index articles Determines if news articles should be indexed by Spotlight Search. When enabled, you can search for news articles in News Explorer by using Spotlight. The index is updated after each sync session. ✓ ✓
Include images Determines if a thumbnail should be added to news articles, when indexed by Spotlight Search. This is being shown in the search results of Spotlight. ✓ ✓
Delete Spotlight Index Removes the News Explorer items from the Spotlight database. This index is rebuilt during the next sync session, unless setting 'Index articles in Spotlight' is disabled. ✓ ✓
Storage settings Description macOS iOS tvOS
Keep unread items Maximum storage period for unread items, both locally and in iCloud. ✓ ✓ ✓
Keep read items Maximum storage period for read items, both locally and in iCloud. ✓ ✓ ✓
Save snapshots to iCloud When enabled, News Explorer saves daily a data snapshot to iCloud. This snapshot can be used to speed up initial syncing on a new device, or on devices that has not be synced for a while. ✓ ✓ ✓
Use snapshots This setting determines if and when data snapshots are being used for synchronisation with iCloud. ✓ ✓ ✓
Clean iCloud data Determines the interval for cleaning News Explorer data in your iCloud data container. Cleaning deletes all News Explorer data in iCloud that should not be stored any longer according the storage period settings discussed above. It can be a lengthy process, especially when you have a lot of subscriptions. ✓ ✓ ✓
Only clean on Wi-Fi When enabled, cleaning of iCloud data will only be performed when the device is connected to internet via Wi-Fi. This setting is only visible on devices with a cellular connection. ✓
Storage settings are synced across all your Apple devices. All period settings are based on the publication date of the news items.
Syncing settings Description macOS iOS tvOS
Enable silent push notifications When enabled, subscribes the app to a notification server that will periodically send a silent push notification to the app, to download new articles in the background. More info about this can be found in section Background Push Notifications above. ✓
Sync Timeout Determines, expressed in seconds, how much time the RSS and Mastodon download session may take. You should increase the default of 20 seconds when you have a lot of subscriptions. ✓ ✓ ✓
Use feed update interval data Some feeds contains data about the update frequency and interval. When this setting is enabled, the interval data will be used to prevent unnecessary download actions. ✓ ✓ ✓
Auto correct invalid data When enabled, News Explorer will try to parse feeds that are normally rejected. This takes more time and processor power, and is therefore default disabled. ✓ ✓ ✓
Cancel sync when quitting the app Determines if the app may perform iCloud sync actions when you close the app. ✓
Block updates during feed downloads Determines if updating the subscription and article list should be postponed, when the sync process is downloading new feed articles. This happens automatically when you have more than 199 feeds. ✓
Limit interface updates during sync Determines if updating the subscription and article list should be dependent on CPU usage, during the sync process. This happens automatically when you have more than 99 feeds. ✓
Syncing settings ›
Apple Watch		 Description macOS iOS tvOS
Update in background When enabled, the Apple Watch connected to your iPhone will be updated with new articles as part of the Background App Refresh. iPhone
Skip images When enabled, no image links will be uploaded to your Apple Watch. As a result, no images will be displayed in articles on your Apple Watch, which may be useful with slow or expensive internet connections. iPhone
Viewing settings Description macOS iOS tvOS
Application theme The theme that the app should use. In iOS it can also be set within the app. ✓ ✓
Auto-switch themes When this setting is enabled, the app will automatically switch between the default Light and the dark variant of the System theme, depending on the current system appearance. This setting is only visible on iOS 13 or newer, and when the Light or System theme is selected. ✓
Sidebar unread counts Determines the styling of the unread count badges. ✓
Use grayscale icons When enabled, all subscription icons will be rendered in grayscale colors. ✓
Article list preview Determines how many content lines are previewed in the articles list. You can choose between 0 and 10 lines. In iOS, this setting is part of the settings popup that appears when tapping the ●●● button in the article list. ✓ ✓
Article list font size Let you choose between a standard font size or a slightly larger size for all list views. In iOS, this setting is part of the settings popup that appears when tapping the ●●● button in the article list. Also in iOS, the size can be further adjusted using the Text Size property in the Display & Brightness section of the Settings app. ✓ ✓
Article list images Set the visibility and type of thumbnails in the article list. In iOS, this setting is part of the settings popup that appears when tapping the ●●● button in the article list. ✓ ✓
Image size Set the size of the thumbnails in the article list. This setting is only enabled when thumbnails are made visible in the previous setting. In iOS, this setting is part of the settings popup that appears when tapping the ●●● button in the article list. ✓ ✓
Transparency read items Determines the amount of transparency applied to read items. The default setting is 50%. This makes them easier distinguishable from unread items. If you don't want this effect you must set the transparency to 0%. This setting is on iOS part of the List view section. ✓ ✓
Leading swipe action Determines if the 'Mark as Favorite' swipe action in the articles list should be shown instead of 'Mark as Read', when you swipe from left to right. If you enable this setting, the 'Mark as Read' action moves to the trailing actions, which are part of the right to left swipe gesture menu. ✓
Show feed cons Determines when a feed icon should be displayed before an article in the article list. ✓
Restore last list on startup Determines the last selected subscription or list should be reselected on startup of the app. ✓
Mark as read while scrolling When enabled, marks articles automatically as read that are being scrolled out of sight at the top of the article list when scrolling from top to bottom. ✓ ✓
Extra bar tap gestures When enabled, you can perform the following gestures in the article list:
  • Single tap on the navigation bar title to scroll to the top of the list.
  • Double tap on the navigation bar title to scroll to the selected item. If there is no item selected, the scroll to top action will be performed.
  • Tap on an empty space in the bottom toolbar to scroll to the bottom of the article list.
 ✓
Scan article source for display data Determines if the app will scan the article web source for thumbnail and summary data, when the original feed data doesn't contain this data. ✓ ✓
Animate image loading Determines if the app animate displaying an image that's downloaded while visible on screen. ✓
Only download on Wi-Fi When enabled, images in the article list are only downloaded with a working Wi-Fi connection. ✓
Maximum list view width Determines the maximum width of the subscriptions and articles list views, when using an iPad. ✓
Show list view in portrait orientation Determines if the subscriptions and articles list views should be shown, when using an iPad in portrait orientation. Normally these lists are automatically hidden. ✓
Use popover menu style Determines the type of context menu that's being shown in the article list and Timeline view, when using iOS 13 or newer. When this setting is disabled, the new iOS 13 context menu will be used when you force press or long press on an article. When this setting is enabled, the classic more compact context menu will be shown. On smaller devices like iPhone and iPod, this setting is default enabled. ✓
Viewing settings ›
Sorting		 Description macOS iOS tvOS
Sort by Determines which field is being used to sort the articles in the articles list and Timeline views. You can choose between 'Publication date' and 'Download date'. Menu View ✓
Direction Determines the sorting direction:
  • Descending: sorting will be from new to old.
  • Ascending: sorting will be from old to new.
 Menu View > Sort By ✓
Viewing settings ›
Timeline		 Description macOS iOS tvOS
Show imageless items Determines whether the Timeline view contains news items without any image. ✓ ✓ ✓
Reading settings Description macOS iOS tvOS
Default primary view

Defines the default view for articles. This is discussed in more detail in section Primary view above.

 ✓ ✓
Manual Reader view

Defines the engine that must be used to render a Reader view when using the Reader view button. Both engines render the Reader view locally.

Mercury Reader is the default engine. This library is developed by Postlight and is more or less based on the same principles as Arc90, but it is totally rewritten with addition of a lot customizations and dedicated parsers for popular websites.

Arc90 Readability will render the Reader view using the Mozilla Readability library. This library is based on the original Arc90's Readability code, is still maintained and is being used as default Reader View engine in FireFox. The accuracy is sometimes better than the Mercury Web Parser, and because the library is less complex than Mercury Reader, it may sometimes perform quicker.

 ✓ ✓
Optimize parsing if possible When enabled, the parsing engine will use a special optimized parsing algorithm for popular feeds. If the current article is not supported by this optimization, the chosen engine will be used. ✓ ✓
Article font family The font type used for the news article viewer. Font type 'San Fransisco' is the default setting. ✓ ✓
Use sans serif font for The following two options are selectable when a serif body font is selected:
  • Article title section: combines serif body font with sans serif font in the article title section.
  • Headers in article: combines serif body font with sans serif font in headers used in the article.
 ✓ ✓
Font smoothing Determines the anti-aliasing technique used for text rendering in the article viewer. ✓
Article width Determines the maximum width of the news article viewer. ✓
Body font size Font size of the body text of the news article viewer. All other styles are scaled according to this setting. Default size is 12 pt.

In iOS, this setting is part of the Theme settings panel. This panel can be opened by tapping on the Aa icon at the bottom toolbar of the article viewer.		 ✓ ✓
Body font weight Font weight of the body text of the news article viewer. Available font weights depends on the selected font family.

In iOS, this setting is part of the Theme settings panel. This panel can be opened by tapping on the Aa icon at the bottom toolbar of the article viewer.		 ✓ ✓
Body line height weight Line height of the body text of the news article viewer. With this you can adjust the space between the text lines.

In iOS, this setting is part of the Theme settings panel. This panel can be opened by tapping on the Aa icon at the bottom toolbar of the article viewer.		 ✓ ✓
Title font weight Determines the weight of the font used for the title in the news article viewer. Available weights depends on the selected font family.

In iOS, this setting is part of the Theme settings panel. This panel can be opened by tapping on the Aa icon at the bottom toolbar of the article viewer.		 ✓ ✓
Title font size factor Determines the size of the font used for the title in the news article viewer. The size setting is relative to the Body font size, as discussed above.

In iOS, this setting is part of the Theme settings panel. This panel can be opened by tapping on the Aa icon at the bottom toolbar of the article viewer.		 ✓ ✓
Resize images to maximum width if possible When enabled, performs the following actions when rendering a feed article: after downloading each image, the actual width is determined. When the width of the image is lightly smaller than the article width, it's resized to maximum width. When the image is extremely small, it will be hidden. In most cases these small images concerns tracking images or social media icons. ✓ ✓
Show divider line Determines the visibility of a divider line between the title and the body text of the article in the article viewer.

In iOS, this setting is part of the Theme settings panel. This panel can be opened by tapping on the Aa icon at the bottom toolbar of the article viewer.		 ✓ ✓
Reading settings ›
External links		 Description macOS iOS tvOS
Show external link in article viewer When enabled, the external link associated with the current article will be shown under the title of the article, if available. ✓ ✓
Use external link as Reader view source When enabled, the chosen Reader view engine will use the external link, if available, instead of the standard link of the article to generate the Reader view. ✓ ✓ ✓
Reading settings ›
Media		 Description macOS iOS tvOS
Start video and audio manually When enabled, video and audio in news articles will not start automatically. Videos of some webpages don't work properly when this setting is enabled. ✓
Play HTML5 videos inline Determines if HTML5 videos should be opened in full-screen or play within the context of the current page. ✓
Play YouTube in HD quality Determines if videos of YouTube feeds should be loaded in HD quality or in standard quality. Does only apply to YouTube videos in YouTube feeds. ✓
Reading settings ›
Navigation 		Description macOS iOS tvOS
Swipe to next article Determines the swipe gesture to navigate to the next (or previous) item in the article viewer. You can choose between Horizontally, Horizontally with page curl or Vertically. If you experience performance problems with the Horizontally option, then please try the 'Horizontally with page curl' option. ✓
Auto hide bars When enabled, the navigation bar above the article and the toolbar under the article will automatically be hidden when you scroll the article upwards. When you scroll downwards, the bars will be made visible again. ✓
Restore bars on opening articles When enabled, the navigation bar and bottom toolbar will be made visible, if necessary, when you navigate to a new article. ✓
Swap Font and Reader buttons When enabled, the Font settings and Reader view buttons will be swapped regarding their position in the bottom toolbar. ✓
Behaviors settings Description macOS iOS tvOS
Mark selected item as read Determines the interval in seconds after which a news item, presented in the news article viewer, will be set to read. Can also be set to Immediately or Manual. ✓ ✓ ✓
Confirm mark all as read Determines the lower limit of unread items for showing a confirmation for the 'Mark all as Read' action. Can also be set to Always or Never. ✓ ✓ ✓
After marking all as read

Determines what happens after marking all items in a filter, subscription or folder as read. Options are:

Open next subscription or folder tries to do what it says. If you are in a subscription list than the next subscription list will be opened. And when you're in a folder, the next folder will be opened. It will also select the first item in the list. It works even better when combined with the global 'Unread items' filter.

Do nothing is the default value. It will let you stay in the current filter, subscription or folder.

 ✓ ✓ ✓
After clearing read items

Determines what happens after selecting or tapping the 'Clear read items' menu item or button. This command is available when the 'Unread items' smart or global filter is active. Options are:

Do nothing will remove the read items from the list and close the selected article.

Select the first item will select the first unread item from the list, if available, and it will open the article in the article viewer (if supported by the device).

Select the next item is the default value. It will select the next unread item from the list, following the previous selection, and it will open the article in the article viewer (if supported by the device). If no next article exists, the first item will be selected.

 ✓ ✓
Open links with Determines whether title and article links should be opened in the built-in Safari view controller, with Safari view controller in Reader view modus, the default URL handler or with an external browser, like Chrome or Brave. The default handler can also open custom apps for certain news URL's. For example, when the The Guardian app is installed, all taps on links in news articles in The Guardian will be opened in The Guardian app, instead of Safari. ✓
Hitting Enter on a list item Determines which action should be performed when you press the Enter key when an item in the articles list has the focus. ✓
Double-clicking a list item Determines which action should be performed when you double-click on an item in the articles list. ✓
Hitting Enter in Timeline Determines which action should be performed when you press the Enter key when an item in the Timeline view has the focus. ✓
Double-clicking in Timeline Determines which action should be performed when you double-click on an item in Timeline view. ✓
Opening a new window Determines if a new window for a news article should be added to a tabbed window, or if should be opened separately (default). ✓
Clicking the article title Determines which action should be performed when you click on the title header of a news article. ✓
Clicking a hyperlink Determines which action should be performed when you click on a link in the news article. ✓
Open YouTube videos videos in full window Determines if the clicked YouTube video should be maximized to the size of the News Explorer window. You need macOS 10.13 or newer for this. ✓
After closing all windows > Close app When enabled, the app will be closed when the last window is closed. ✓
When opening the app > Restore last selected subscription or folder When enabled, the app will reselect the last selected subscription or folder. ✓
Behavior settings ›
Timeline		 Description macOS iOS tvOS
After scrolling to the bottom Determines which action, if any, should be performed when you have reached the bottom of the timeline view. ✓
Advanced settings Description macOS iOS tvOS
Enable JavaScript Determines if JavaScript is enabled in the in-app browser. When you disable JavaScript, some functionality like automatic scrolling with spacebar key, playing YouTube videos, will stop functioning. ✓
Enable private in-app browsing When enabled, nothing will be stored, like cookies and other data, when using the in-app browser. ✓
Enable plug-ins Determines if plug-ins, like Flash and Java, are allowed to work in the in-app browser. Plug-ins must be compatible with Safari and must be installed outside News Explorer by using the standalone installers associated with these plug-ins. ✓
Delete in-App Browser Cache Deletes the cache, including cookies, of the in-app browser. ✓
Auto hide subscriptions When enabled, the subscription list will be automatically hidden when the user navigates with arrow keys (on the keyboard or on the remote) to the article details view (right hand side). Navigating back (to the left hand side) will turn back the visibility of the subscription list. The main advantage is a larger screen space for reading news and less clutter on your display. ✓ Settings tab in the app
Open article with right arrow key Determines if the article in the in-app browser should be opened, when pressing the right-arrow key and when an item in the article list has the focus. ✓
Focus browser after opening article Determines if in-app browser should get the keyboard focus after opening an article. ✓
Enable application logging When enabled, important app events like start and end of each sync session, subscription deletions and errors are logged to a file. These log files can be send within the app to Betamagic support by using the Send to Betamagic Support button or can be viewed in the document folder of the app by using the Files app of iOS or Finder in macOS. ✓ ✓

You can use keyboard shortcuts to quickly accomplish many tasks in News Explorer. To use a keyboard shortcut, press all the keys in the shortcut at the same time. Shortcuts for common commands in News Explorer are listed in the tables below. In addition to this, News Explorer also supports most common Mac keyboard shortcuts.

The keyboard shortcuts listed here are of the macOS version of News Explorer. To discover the keyboard shortcuts supported in a view in the iOS version, long-press on the Command key on your external keyboard. A info sheet will popup, showing all key commands for the active view. Most keyboard shortcuts in iOS are identical to those in macOS.

General actions Shortcut
Open next article, or scroll the current article when needed Space bar
Open next article, without automatic scrolling J or ↓
Open previous article K or ⇧ Shift + Space bar or ↑
Select and open the first article in the list ↖︎ Home or ⌥ Option (Alt) + ↑
Select and open the last article in the list ↘︎ End or ⌥ Option (Alt) + ↓
Add new feed subscription ⌘ Command + N
Add new folder ⇧ Shift + ⌘ Command + N
Search for new feed subscriptions ⇧ Shift + ⌘ Command + F
Search locally for news items using full text search ⌘ Command + F
Start manual sync session ⌘ Command + S
Mark all items in current news items list as read ⌘ Command + D
Redownload the current selected feed ⌘ Command + R
Selects the news items list, or (when already selected) focus the news article view. When setting 'Auto hide subscriptions' is on, the original source of the selected news item will be opened. →
Remove read items from the current list, when 'Unread items' smart or global filter is active C
Selects the news items list, or (when already selected) selects the feed subscriptions list. ←
Close timeline view or the slideshow view. Esc
Select the next subscription or folder (depending on the current selection) N
Select the previous subscription or folder (depending on the current selection) P
View actions Shortcut
Activate or reactivate main window ⌘ Command + 0
Show news items in list view ⌘ Command + 1
Show news items in timeline view ⌘ Command + 2
Show all subscriptions and all items in the current selected subscription or filter (default view) ⌥ Option (Alt) + 1
Show only subscriptions that contain unread items and show only unread items in the current selected subscription or filter. ⌥ Option (Alt) + 2
Show only subscriptions that contain favorite items and show only favorite items in the current selected subscription or filter. ⌥ Option (Alt) + 3
Activate next theme ⌘ Command + T
Use default font size of the news article viewer ⌘ Command + 0
Increase font size of the news article viewer ⌘ Command + +
Decrease font size of the news article viewer ⌘ Command + -
News item actions Shortcut
Toggle selected item as read/unread R
Toggle selected item as favorite/unfavorite F
Mark all items above the current selected item as read ⌘ Command + ↑
Mark all items below the current selected item as read ⌘ Command + ↓
Toggle Reader view for the selected news article. V
Toggle Reader view using the alternative reader engine for the selected news article. ⌥ Option (Alt) + V
Open the original source of the selected news article. ↩︎ Enter
Start slideshow for selected news item. Only enabled when the current news items contain images. S
Play YouTube video of the selected article. Only available when the article is part of a YouTube feed. Y
Open the original source of the selected news article in the default internet browser. ⌘ Command + B
Open the original source of the selected news article in the default internet browser behind the News Explorer window. ⇧ Shift + ⌘ Command + B