‘Current’ Fixes My Biggest Issues With RSS Readers

While RSS readers are still worth using to this day, they're far from perfect. Most have a sidebar showing you your article sources and how many unread articles you have in them, leaving you feeling like you have to read everything in your list. If you're like me, you may have hundreds of unread articles at a time. Maybe you power through a bunch of news articles, hoping to make that number go down, or you send long-form essays to Instapaper so that you can (forget to) read them later. I'm exaggerating how big a deal this is, but I think anyone who uses RSS regularly has come up against something like this. That's what intrigues me about Current, a new RSS reader for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that solves for these problems like no other RSS reader I've seen.

What makes Current a different kind of RSS reader

Current is designed without these traditional RSS reader features. Instead, the app presents you with a selection of articles you can read, filtering out old content over time so there's always a reasonable amount to choose from. I've been using Current for a few days, and I think it really does solve this—and other—issues many people have with RSS readers. I can already see how it's going to change the way I read.

The first big change: no unread counter. When you open the app, you are presented with a bunch of headlines, which Current calls "The River." Click or tap any headline to start reading. Current supports reading all articles directly in the app, even when the RSS feed doesn't have the full text. Then, when you're done reading, you actively "release" the article in order for it to disappear from your list. You can also save the article for later, if you want.

But another key feature is that articles disappear over time without you doing anything, and you can take control over how quickly they disappear. Set a specific feed as "Breaking," and new posts will only stay in your river for three hours. Set a feed as "Evergreen," and it will stay there for seven days. This spectrum allows you to fine-tune how long articles stick around.

This is crucial. It ensures that the kinds of articles that are likely to be worthwhile to read a couple days later stick around, while the kinds of articles that are meant for one specific moment fade away.

How I'm using Current

I write about software, which means I frequently try out an application, write about it, and then move on. Current, I think, is going to stick, because it solves a very real problem for me—my RSS reader was too overwhelming. Current is a less stressful way for me to stay informed, without burying the long-form reading I also want to do.

Having said that, I'm not going to stop using my RSS feed of choice, NetNewsWire. I think the traditional RSS reader is very useful for keeping up with technology headlines, and that works well for my workflow. Current is a better tool for non-work reading. On my feed, I added a combination of breaking news sources and long-form essayists. I open it when I want to spend a few minutes reading. There's always something interesting and I never feel overwhelmed. Even more crucially: the River eventually runs out of articles, so I have a natural moment to change gears and do something else.

It makes sense if you've tried out RSS apps but didn't stick with them. Current isn't like those apps, though, and might actually stick. You can buy Current for $9.99, which grants you access to the app on all Apple platforms.