Current: The RSS Reader That Flows Like a River, Not an Inbox
▼ Summary
– The Current app reimagines RSS readers by presenting content as a flowing “river” that fades over time, aiming to reduce the anxiety of unread counts and make news consumption feel less like a task.
– Its developer, Terry Godier, created it to address the guilt induced by traditional RSS readers that mimic email inboxes, arguing this visual language imports unnecessary social pressure.
– Content in the river ages at different speeds based on user-assigned categories (e.g., Breaking, News, Essay), and items are dismissed with gestures instead of being manually marked as read.
– The app includes features like fetching full article text from truncated feeds, muting sources, following individual writers via “Voices,” and offering intelligent suggestions based on reading habits.
– Current is available as a one-time $9.99 purchase for Apple devices with iCloud sync, and it uses thoughtful design elements to create a less stressful reading experience without subscriptions.
Finding a comfortable rhythm for staying informed can be challenging. A new app called Current reimagines the RSS reader, transforming it from a chore into a flowing stream of content. This approach makes following news and blogs feel less like managing an overflowing inbox and more like naturally engaging with a steady current of information. It’s designed to appeal not just to dedicated news enthusiasts, but to anyone who wants to keep up without the pressure.
The developer, Terry Godier, built Current after growing frustrated with traditional feed readers. He realized his anxiety came from their design, which mimics email with bolded unread counts and lists demanding action. He argues that applying email’s visual language to RSS imports the anxiety without the legitimate cause. An email count represents messages from people possibly awaiting a reply, a form of social obligation. An RSS count, however, is just neutral information, yet it often feels like a task list.
For clarity, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a technology that delivers updates from websites in a standardized format. While its popularity waned with the rise of platforms like Twitter, RSS itself never died. It remains vital for podcast distribution and is supported by many apps, but Current offers a distinctly different philosophy.
The app’s core interface is a visual river of content. Items don’t sit in a static list; they arrive, linger for a set duration, and then fade away. Each piece of content ages based on its type. Breaking news stays bright for about three hours, daily news for roughly 18 hours, essays for three days, and timeless tutorials for a full week. As you scroll, you see what’s relevant now, with no need to manually mark items as read to clear them.
During setup, you assign one of five speeds to each source: Breaking, News, Article, Essay, or Tutorial. Reading is intentionally frictionless. You can push a card off the screen with a long left swipe or tap a release button after finishing an article to return to the river. An undo button is available for mistakes.
Current includes several clever features for power users. It can extract full article text even from sites that truncate their feeds. You can tag sources as webcomics for an image-focused view, temporarily mute sources, or pin essential ones to the top. The app also learns from your habits, suggesting you quiet down overly active feeds or pin those you consistently read.
A standout feature is “Voices,” which lets you follow individual writers separately from institutional publications. This helps highlight personal blogs and newsletters. You can filter your river to see only content from a specific voice, adding a human layer to the news stream. This ties into Godier’s work on the Byline specification, which enriches feeds with author context.
“Voices” is one of three default categories, or “currents.” The main feed is the “River,” and there’s a “Read Later” section. Users can create custom currents (like “tech” or “design”) or receive app-generated suggestions based on reading patterns.
Through thoughtful design choices in typography, gestures, and themes, Current cultivates a calmer reading experience. The app is available as a one-time $9.99 purchase on iOS, iPad, and Mac, with iCloud sync and OPML import. There are no subscriptions or in-app purchases, and a web version is planned for the future.
(Source: TechCrunch)
