Unread 4.9

Unread 4.9 will be released on Thursday, May 28, 2026, at 12:00 PM Boston time. Unread 4.9 adds these improvements and more:

  • Syncing with Gobbler, a new RSS syncing service
  • Improvements to the Matter article action
  • Improved display of Reddit posts
  • More fine-grained control over caching

Syncing With Gobbler

Gobbler is a new web-based RSS reader and syncing service by Stuart Breckenridge. This update adds the ability to sync with Gobbler. Add a Gobbler account to Unread just like you would any other feed service account.

Particularly nice attributes of Gobbler and Unread’s integration include:

  • Gobbler can receive email newsletters. These newsletters are available in Unread.
  • The Gobbler API reports which feeds it is unable to access. Unread makes the list of feed errors available for Gobbler accounts, just as it does for Unread Cloud and Local accounts.
  • The Subscribe in Unread share sheet extension supports Gobbler accounts.

You can learn more about Gobbler at its website and on the Gobbler Blog.

Unread for Mac showing a Gobbler account. The left pane shows a set of feed sources and newsletters. The middle pane shows a list of articles. The right pane shows an article.
Unread syncing with a Gobbler account

Matter Article Action

Article Actions allow Unread Premium subscribers to quickly save articles and links to bookmarking apps and read later services. Unread has article actions for Anybox, Flyleaf, GoodLinks, Instapaper, Matter, Pinboard, Plinky, Raindrop.io, Readwise, Safari Reading List, and wallabag.

On Mac, an article action can be performed via keyboard shortcut, the toolbar, the Article menu, or the context menu of an article or link. On iPhone and iPad, an article action can be performed via the swipe left menu of an article or the context menu of an article or link. On an iPad with a hardware keyboard, an article action can also be performed via keyboard shortcut.

Matter recently released the Matter API. With this update, the Matter article action can use the Matter API.

Using the Matter API avoids the need to briefly bring Shortcuts to the foreground when invoked on iPhone and iPad. It also allows the Matter article action to work on Intel Macs.

Matter makes the Matter API available to Matter Pro subscribers. For the benefit of customers who do not subscribe to Matter Pro, Unread’s Matter article action can also operate as it has in the past: by invoking a shortcut that works with the Matter app.

If you subscribe to Matter Pro and use the Matter article action, you can configure the Matter article action to use the Matter API as follows:

On iPhone or iPad:

  1. Open Unread’s Settings screen.
  2. Tap Article Actions under the Premium Options section.
  3. Tap the Matter row. Or if keyboard shortcuts are shown on that screen, tap the Status row below the Matter header.
  4. Choose Use Matter API from the resulting menu.
  5. You will be prompted to enter an API token.
Screenshot of the Article Actions setting screen on iPhone. The screenshot shows the Matter article action set to use the Matter API.
The Article Actions settings screen on iPhone

On Mac:

  1. Open the Settings window.
  2. Select the Article Actions tab.
  3. Select Matter in the list of article actions.
  4. Set the Mechanism to Matter API.
  5. You will be prompted to enter an API token.
Screenshot of the Unread Settings window on Mac. The Article Actions tab is selected. The Matter article action is selected in the left pane. On the right pane, the Matter article action settings let one choose a Mechanism for the article action: either the shortcut or the Matter API
Settings for the Matter article action on Mac

You can generate an API token from the Matter settings webpage. When a new Matter API token is generated, Matter invalidates any previously generated API tokens for that Matter account. Therefore I recommend storing your Matter API token in a password manager.

Reddit Posts

This update improves the layout of Reddit posts that contain images. Under some circumstances Unread will display images in Reddit posts that previous versions of Unread could not display.

Reddit posts that are links to articles are now treated as link articles in Unread. You can determine whether Unread views an article as a link article based on whether it has another website domain (such as goldenhillsoftware.com) at the bottom of its entry in the article list.

As with link articles from other feeds, you can show the article to which a Reddit article links by setting the display mode to Feed and Webpage Text. The linked article will appear underneath the article from the feed to which you are subscribed.

For all new subscriptions to subreddit feeds, Feed and Webpage Text will be the default display mode for link articles. This update does not change your existing feed subscription settings.

The improvements around Reddit posts will apply to new articles downloaded after installing this update.

Unread on iPhone showing a Reddit post that links to an article. The top of the screen shows the original Reddit post. Below it is the content of the linked article.
A Reddit post that links to another article

Caching

Unread’s caching capability allows Unread Premium subscribers to cache webpage text and images for articles ahead of time. This makes opening articles much faster, and makes articles available for offline viewing. This update adds more fine-grained control over Unread’s caching.

The webpage text caching setting can now be set to one of the following:

  • Never
  • Wi-Fi or better
  • Cellular/hotspot or better
  • Even in low data mode

The image caching setting can be set to one of the following:

  • Never
  • Wi-Fi or better
  • Cellular/hotspot or better

Unread never caches images when in low data mode.

The caching setting value for webpage text must be at least as broad as that for images, because Unread needs webpage text for an article in order to determine the set of images to cache for that article.

A separate setting allows you to determine whether caching should happen when a device is in low power mode.

On iPhone and iPad, the Caching settings screen now displays the current network connection type and whether low power mode is enabled.

Unread on iPad showing caching settings. Unread is configured to cache webpage text even in low data mode, and to cache images when on a Wi-Fi connection or better. Unread is configured to disable caching when in low power mode. Unread is showing that the device is currently using a Wi-Fi connection and that low power mode is disabled.
Caching settings on iPad

Similarly on Mac, the Caching pane of the Settings window now displays the current network connection type and whether low power mode is enabled.

Unread on Mac showing caching settings. Unread is configured to cache webpage text even in low data mode, and to never cache images. Unread is configured to enable caching when in low power mode. Unread is showing that the Mac is currently using a Wi-Fi connection and that low power mode is disabled.
Caching settings on Mac

Additional Improvements

This update also incorporates these improvements:

  • When adding a feed service account on Mac, the list of feed service account types is now a scrollable list.
  • On iPhone and iPad, Unread is now much more resilient in its handling of unexpected authentication failures — situations that arise when a feed service account password changes, OAuth access is revoked, or keychain entries are not migrated to a new device. The Update Password button for Feedbin accounts is no longer present in Settings on iPhone and iPad. Instead, Unread automatically prompts you to sign in if the password it has no longer works. Across all types of feed service accounts, Unread will now prompt you to sign in automatically if its current credentials are no longer accepted.
  • This update adds modest improvements to the display of feed text for Techmeme articles. These improvements will apply to new articles downloaded after installing this update.
  • On Mac, hovering over a feed subscription title in the sidebar now results in the full subscription title being shown as a tooltip if that subscription title is too long to be displayed without truncation in its alloted space.
  • In Inoreader accounts, the Read Later indicator is now a bookmark instead of a star.
  • When choosing a parent folder for a folder in a NewsBlur account on iPhone or iPad, Unread now uses its custom menus for presenting the list of available options.
  • This update adds modest improvements to summaries provided for articles in article lists. These improvements will apply to new articles downloaded after installing this update.
  • For now, Unread on Mac no longer allows you to set a custom keyboard shortcut for an article action or a shortcut that does not have a modifier key, such as Command (⌘). I hope for this change to be temporary. It is intended to limit the effect of a bug in macOS 26.5 that I hope Apple will soon fix.
  • This update adds modest improvements to the in-app webpage text generator.
  • This update adds modest improvements around article list images.
  • This update incorporates a newer icon for Inkwell.
  • This update fixes layout bugs in the Subscribe in Unread and Save to Unread share sheet extensions on iPhone and iPad.
  • This update fixes bugs around scrolling beyond the last article in an article list to mark all read on iPhone and iPad.
  • This update fixes bugs around showing footnotes.

Unread Press Kit