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an update to an earlier OS), edit the items to generate EdDSA signatures, and remove any other items that have been superseded by later releases.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 its final 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.

Tim Chaten interviewed my for the iPad Pros podcast, which is all about getting work done on iOS.

In the podcast we discuss Keep It: what it can do, some of the thinking behind the app, plus a little about its history and its future. We also talk a little about the non-existence of Feeder for iOS.

You can check out to the interview on the iPad Pros web site or listen to the show on Apple Podcasts.

Feeder 3.4 is now available. This version adds support for the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar, updates the look of the main window, and includes other minor improvements.

The Touch Bar is customizable and changes based on what’s on screen. Here are some of the things you can do, with screenshots of the default setup.

Library Window

In the Library window you can switch between the Feed, Items, Drafts and Settings views, create a new item, reload and publish the feed, show the Links panel, share items and toggle the sidebar.

Editor Window

The editor window has both touch bar items that apply to the whole window, such as switching between the Edit, Preview and Template views.

Additional items that appear when you’re in a certain field, including choosing enclosures and fetching their attributes, inserting HTML tags, links and images, and uploading files.

Other Changes

In addition to these changes, the appearance of the Feed, Items, Drafts and Settings buttons have been updated, there is now support for publishing to Amazon S3 buckets hosted in Canada, and there are accessibility improvements, including new menu items that perform the equivalent of some of the action menus in individual fields. See the release notes for a full list of changes.

Availability

Feeder 3.4 is a free upgrade for all Feeder 3 users or costs $49.99 otherwise. Feeder 2 users can upgrade from this site for $24.99, with free upgrades if Feeder 2 was purchased between the release of 10.10 Yosemite in October 2014 and the release of Feeder 3 in July 2015. A 15-day trial is also available for download from this site.

Feeder 3.3 is now available. This version includes support for tabs on macOS Sierra, along with improvements for split screen mode, editing, sharing to Facebook, publishing, drafts and more.

macOS Sierra

Sierra has introduced tabs for windows, and Feeder 3.3 has been updated to work well with these. In version 3.3 library and editing windows can be tabbed together, if desired, and there’s a new setting in General preferences to control that. Feeder respects the setting for tabs in Dock System Preferences, but you can reverse that default by holding on Option when you create or edit items.

Editing & Drafts

Drafts were added in Feeder 3.2, but it wasn’t always clear when something not in the feed had been saved as a draft. Now Feeder shows a count next to the Drafts button, along with a count of unpublished items next to the Items button.

It’s now possible to set defaults for when pasting or inserting HTML links into the description for the “target” and “rel” attributes. People who have Feeder set up to post to their blogs may set the target to “_blank”, for example, to open the link in a new window. The “rel” attribute can be used for a number of purposes, including to thwart “tab nabbing” in some browsers.

Publishing

Occasionally people need to upload everything in a feed again, such as when moving to a new server. Feeder 3.3 normally only uploads files once, but you can now set all files to be uploaded again in the Publishing section of a feed’s Settings. This can also flag any missing files, so you can be sure everything will be uploaded.

Facebook Sharing

Feeder 3.3 can now share links to Facebook groups you administer, and when sharing manually by choosing Post to Facebook from the Share button in the toolbar or Item > Share menu, you can now choose a page or group from all the ones available to your Facebook account.

Availability

Feeder 3.3 costs $49.99, is a free upgrade for all Feeder 3.x users and requires El Capitan 10.11 or later. An upgrade from Feeder 2 is $24.99. A fully functional 15-day trial can be downloaded from Reinvented Software. See the release notes for a full list of changes.