Feeder 4.3 is now available. This version adds support for Shortcuts in macOS 12 Monterey, and makes improvements for dealing with podcast artwork.

Shortcuts

Feeder provides the following actions to the Shortcuts app on Monterey. Most of these actions have additional options that can be set by expanding them, and will return feeds and items whose properties can be used in other actions:

• Add New Item to Feed: Adds a new item to the specified feed with a title (required), and optional link, enclosure file (required for podcast and Sparkle feeds), Description, and any categories. Returns the new item.
• Export Feed: Export the XML from the specified feed as a file that can be saved with the Save File action or passed to another action.
• Find Feeds: Get feeds from feed by name, link, description, feed URL, folder or title, all of which are optional. Returns a list of matching feeds (or all feeds if no criteria specified).
• Find Items in Feed: Finds items in the specified feed by their title, link, unique ID, date, description, or enclosure URL, all of which are optional. Returns a list of matching items (or all items in the feed if no criteria specified).
• Publish Feed: Starts publishing a feed. To perform actions when a feed has finished publishing, set a script in the feed’s Publishing settings in the app itself.
• Reload Feed: Reload a feed from the web or a file.
• Remove Items From Feed: Removes the passed-in items (e.g. found with Find Items) from the feed that contains them.
• Set Properties on Feed Item: Use to set standard RSS, Dublin Core, Media RSS and WordPress tags on an item.
• Set Properties on Podcast Item: Set podcast-specific properties on an item in a podcast feed.
• Set Properties on Sparkle Item: Set Sparkle-specific properties on an item in an appcast feed.

Podcasting

Feeder will now offer to fix artwork that does not meet the Apple Podcast specifications for dimensions, color space, and resolution provided the image is large enough and at least 72 DPI. In addition, all issues with the original image will be reported immediately, rather than individually.

Pricing & Upgrades

Feeder 4.3 is a free update for all existing Feeder 4 users. Feeder 4 is $39.99 and is available from Reinvented Software and the Mac App Store. Feeder 3 users can upgrade for $19.99 unless you purchased Feeder 3 in the last year, in which case it is a free upgrade. Upgrades are only available from Reinvented Software, not the Mac App Store. See the Feeder support page for more information about upgrading from Feeder 3. To download a 15-day trial and see a full list of changes, see the Feeder downloads page.

Feeder 4.2 is now available. This version includes improvements for editing and previewing podcasts, Touch Bar support when editing, specifying tags when posting to WordPress blogs, and more.

Podcasts

When editing the Episode Summary, clickable links are now shown. The conversion of links from HTML to the plain text Episode Summary has been improved to handle phone numbers. Podcast feeds can now be downloaded via their Apple Podcasts URLs.

Editing Changes

Touch Bar support has been added for the rich text editor, and the HTML editor’s Touch Bar now matches that. It’s now possible to set default categories in the template editor, and there are improvements when converting HTML to Markdown.

Posting to Blogs

Feeder 4.2 restores the ability to include tags when posting to WordPress blogs. The Tags field can be enabled by editing the template, and default tags can be specified in the template too. Posting to blogs has also been improved with better error reporting.

Other Changes

The library window now looks better on macOS Big Sur. Various other changes have been made to Feeder over the past few releases to support Apple Podcasts Subscriptions – see this post for more information, and see the release notes for all the changes specific to Feeder 4.2.

Pricing & Upgrades

Feeder 4.2 is a free update for all existing Feeder 4 users. Feeder 4 is $39.99 and is available from Reinvented Software and the Mac App Store. Feeder 3 users can upgrade for $19.99 unless you purchased Feeder 3 in the last year, in which case it is a free upgrade. Upgrades are only available from Reinvented Software, not the Mac App Store. See the Feeder support page for more information about upgrading from Feeder 3. 

Recently Apple announced Podcasts Subscriptions, which are now live in macOS 11.4, iOS, iPadOS and tvOS 14.6, and watchOS 7.5. Feeder 4 has some changes to help people who want to offer podcast subscriptions in Apple Podcasts, and to handle HTML links in show notes with the latest Apple Podcasts redesign.

Apple provides two ways to offer alternative versions of episodes without subscribers seeing the freely available versions as duplicates. Feeder supports both these methods.

Matching Type, Season and Episode Numbers

If your podcast is a Serial or an Episodic podcast that includes Season and Episode Number tags, you will not need to do anything different in Feeder, apart from make sure the numbers match the episode in Podcasts Connect.

Serial podcasts show the Episode Type / Season / Number fields by default. If you want to use these for your Episodic podcast, you can show the fields:

• While editing an item, choose Editor > Edit Template from the menu
• Scroll down to the Apple Podcasts section
• Click the checkbox next to Episode Type
• Click Save

Using the Apple Podcasts Episode ID as the GUID

If your podcast is not a Serial or Episodic podcast that uses season and episode numbers, you can set the episode’s GUID to match the Apple Podcasts Episode ID, which you can get from Podcasts Connect after uploading your subscriber audio there.

In Feeder, the GUID is called the Unique ID. Feeder automatically generates a Unique ID for each item in the feed. The Unique ID field is normally hidden; to show it, while editing an item:

• Choose Editor > Unique ID > Show Unique ID from the menu

The Unique ID is not editable by default, because if it’s changed for an item that has already been published, your episode will appear as a duplicate. To edit the Unique ID:

• Click the action button next to the Unique ID field
• Choose Make Editable from the menu shown

If the item has already been published, Feeder will show a warning.

Formatting Show Notes

Update: From July 1, 2021 this issue has been fixed in Apple Podcasts.

Apple Podcasts no longer uses any HTML in your show notes, but other podcast apps might. That means that links in the show notes won’t be active in Apple Podcasts unless they literally appear as URLs. 

If necessary, Feeder can create a version of your show notes just for Apple Podcasts in the Episode Summary, which is an alternative to the Description.

When a podcast episode has an Episode Summary, Apple Podcasts shows that instead of the Description. This means you can keep your Descriptions as before, and use Episode Summary to provide a plain text version for Apple Podcasts only.

Feeder can convert HTML in the Description to plain text, expanding links that otherwise wouldn’t appear clickable. The links will be shown in brackets alongside what would normally be the clickable text.

To show the Episode Summary, while editing an item:

• Choose Editor > Show Episode Summary from the menu

You can now switch between the Description and Episode Summary fields using the buttons above the text area.

To have Feeder insert a plain text version of the Description with links expanded:

• Choose Editor > Episode Summary > Insert Description With Links from the menu

You can see how your podcast will look in Apple Podcasts and other apps using Feeder’s preview.

• Click the Preview button in the editor window toolbar
• Use the pop-up below the preview to switch between the Podcasts and Standard previews.

Feeder 4.1 is now available. This version introduces rich text editing, a format bar for working with rich text, HTML and Markdown, updates Sparkle appcasting, and includes various other improvements.

Rich Text Editor

Feeder 4.1 now includes a rich text editor, which supports headings, images, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, links, bulleted and numbered lists, and horizontal rules. This is probably as much as most RSS readers support, and far more than the paragraphs, links, and lists supported by Apple Podcasts. 

While you can never be sure how your feed will appear in all the apps out there, Feeder’s preview will show you how it will most likely appear in an RSS reader, and exactly how a podcast episode will appear in the Podcasts app.

The new format bar can apply formatting or tags when editing in rich text, but also HTML and Markdown. It also allows you to switch between different formats.

Rich text editing will be used by default for new feeds; existing feeds, whether those already in Feeder, or ones you import will use “Automatic Line Breaks”.

Sparkle Appcasting

Version 2.0 of the Sparkle framework has been in beta for a few years, but it is now the main focus of development, and required for sandboxed apps. Newer version 2.0 betas support EdDSA signatures, and indeed require them in some circumstances. 

Feeder allows you to choose a Sparkle framework version to ensure your feed works correctly: previously using the 2.0 beta required you select “v1.6+ or 2.0 beta”, but now that can be set to “1.21+”.

Changing the framework version so that EdDSA keys are required will cause Feeder to show validation errors for any items that do not have them. For items that are still required in the feed (because they provide an update to an earlier OS), edit the items to generate EdDSA signatures, and remove any other items that have been superseded by later releases.

And More…

When finding and replacing links it’s now possible to target either all items in a feed or only the selected items. Fetch dimensions when inserting images. Recent links to images are now shown better in the menu you see when clicking and holding on the Insert Link button. There are also some layout fixes for standard preview and the order of shared feeds in the sidebar is now always preserved. See the release notes for a full list of changes.

Pricing & Upgrades

Feeder 4 is $39.99 and is available from Reinvented Software and the Mac App Store. Feeder 3 users can upgrade for $19.99 unless you purchased Feeder 3 in the last year, in which case it is a free upgrade. Upgrades are only available from Reinvented Software, not the Mac App Store. See the Feeder support page for more information about upgrading from Feeder 3. 

Feeder 4.0 is now available with a brand new look for macOS Big Sur, iCloud syncing and sharing, new episode previews for podcasts and improvements for podcast seasons, improved feed and item editors, and with this release Feeder is built for Apple silicon.

macOS Big Sur

Feeder 4 works on macOS 10.14 or later, but takes full advantage of the new features of macOS Big Sur, with a full-height sidebar, colour-coded icons in the sidebar, an inset item list, sectioned toolbar, collapsible search field, and new icons throughout the app.

iCloud and Sharing

Feeder can now store your feeds and settings in iCloud so that they are available on all your Macs. In addition, Feeder allows you to invite other Feeder users to collaborate on feeds via iCloud.

With iCloud, changes and saved and retrieved automatically. Feeder can optionally store unpublished enclosure files in iCloud temporarily to ensure they can always be accessed on all your Macs, and by anyone else who’s allowed to work on the feed. 

Apple Podcasts

Feeder’s podcasting support was previously based on the iTunes Store. Now that iTunes has been replaced by the Podcasts app on all of Apple’s platforms, Feeder 4 shows podcasts as they will appear in that app: seasons, trailers and bonuses are grouped and listed in the correct order, and a new per-episode preview shows how each episode will look.

Artwork for podcast previews is now based entirely on what’s in the feed, rather than artwork in the media file, which is not used by Apple Podcasts, and Feeder now validates the format, dimensions, resolution and colorspace of artwork that you choose.

Main Window

Many Feeder users publish multiple feeds, and Feeder’s new sidebar can show site icons (aka favicons), and icons based on a podcast’s artwork, so that you can more easily identify feeds.

The Feed view now shows feed-level information as one continuous page, and no longer shows things that are not currently included in the feed or probably ever used by most people, but these can be added if required.

To help avoid confusion, Feeder now points out when standard RSS tags are overridden by Apple Podcasts tags (e.g. the image). These informational notes can be dismissed once read.

Editor & Preview

Feeder’s editor window now shows the fields and the description in one continuous scrolling view, which over-scrolls to allow blank space at the bottom of the window.

When full screen, Feeder’s editor will show adjustable margins on either side to help keep the view to a manageable width.

And when previewing items either in the editor or the main window, you can now switch between preview types where feeds can potentially be viewed in different ways. For example, a podcast can be previewed as it will appear in Apple’s Podcasts app, or as in a standard RSS reader.

And More

Search for items by date, just by typing a date, partial date, or day name into the search field. Use a calendar to choose dates in the editor. Click and hold on the Insert Image and Insert Link buttons to choose from a list of recent images or links. Syntax colouring for HTML and Markdown has been improved, and Feeder now provides more help to resolve validation errors.

This is the biggest update in the app’s 15-year history. Feeder 4 has been extensively reworked to work with iCloud and bring collaboration to the app for the first time, to update its support for Apple Podcasts now that it has fully replaced iTunes, and to bring the app bang up to date, ready for everything the future can throw at it.

See the release notes for a full list of changes.

Pricing & Upgrades

Feeder 4.0 is $39.99 and is available from Reinvented Software and the Mac App Store. Feeder 3 users can upgrade for $19.99 unless you purchased Feeder 3 in the last year, in which case it is a free upgrade. Upgrades are only available from Reinvented Software, not the Mac App Store. See the support page for more information about upgrading from Feeder 3.