Changelog

What's new in Newsbin.

Newsbin is under active development, and updates land almost every week. Here's the running list. Subscribe to the feed to follow along.

  1. 2.0.0

    AI, on your terms

    • A major update that adds AI to Newsbin without changing what you love — every feature is opt-in, runs on-device with Apple Intelligence (or your own API key), and never routes through our servers.
    • New Home tab with For You (a personalized feed learned on-device) plus Discover, “Who to Follow” recommendations, and suggested feed previews.
    • Breaking News clusters duplicate coverage of the same event into a single story, and Top Stories gives a daily digest with optional notifications.
    • AI reading tools: article summaries, Section Brief overviews clustered by topic, Smart Tags, and Topics extraction that plug into your existing workflows.
    • Choose Apple Intelligence or bring your own API key (Claude and other providers); Private Cloud Compute is guarded and controllable per feature.
    • Full watchOS support with a redesigned Watch app, Mail-style article windows on macOS, new Shortcuts actions, a browser chooser, and Manage Followed for diagnosing stale feeds.
    • Improvements: LZFSE-compressed iCloud backups, clearer “Sync paused” status on CloudKit mismatches, faster on-device generation, and refined screens across all platforms.
    • Fixes: resolved a background crash (0xdead10cc), stopped deleted follows reappearing after refresh, fixed SwiftUI navigation crashes and Watch snapshot sync, plus stability and localization cleanups.
  2. 1.18.9

    YouTube feed fixes

    • YouTube feeds: restored proper channel discovery after YouTube’s mobile page changes, so feeds use the channel’s real display name and avatar instead of falling back to a generic “YouTube” title and icon.
    • YouTube: view and like stat icons are visible again in the article view.
    • Prevented feed-level metadata (channel homepage, feed publication dates) from leaking into individual articles, which had been creating bogus entries in YouTube and similar feeds.
    • Apple Watch: Watch-initiated refreshes now push results back to the Watch, so the list no longer stays empty after asking the Watch to refresh.
  3. 1.18.8

    Stability release

    • Resolved an issue with a deprecated web view that could affect article rendering.
    • Minor localization and build target updates.
  4. 1.18.7

    Grouped reading fixes

    • Grouped article lists no longer immediately re-mark items as read after “Clear all” or “Mark all read”; auto-read is briefly suppressed while the list settles.
    • macOS: added the missing entitlements needed for Nearby sync to work reliably.
    • Smart Groups: fixed an issue where all tags were incorrectly flagged when editing a group.
    • Added runtime detection and telemetry for suspended-with-locked-file terminations to help diagnose rare background crashes.
  5. 1.18.6

    Smart Groups fixes

    • Smart Groups with their age filter set to “Off” now correctly show all articles instead of falling back to the global expiry window.
    • Smart Group unread badges only appear when iCloud unread tracking and badge preferences are enabled.
    • Folder and Smart Group changes now trigger a more reliable sidebar refresh.
  6. 1.18.5

    More free reading

    • Free reading allowance increased from 5 to 10 articles per day, with refreshed paywall and welcome copy.
    • Thumbnail Discovery now picks up new articles mid-session, with fresh thumbnails appearing immediately and proper diffing of late-written thumbnails and media kinds.
    • More robust thumbnail extraction from real-world web pages, with stronger Open Graph, Twitter, and YouTube meta tag handling and a larger scan window for heavy pages.
    • Blocked tags are applied immediately after a refresh or iCloud sync, so filtered content never briefly appears, and Manual refresh mode now also skips peer- and nearby-triggered refreshes.
    • Nearby sync gained a reconcile acknowledgement step so history tokens only advance once the receiver confirms, improving cross-device consistency.
    • Sound playback runs on a dedicated background queue, and feed imports parse dates and regex faster thanks to cached compilation and shared lookup tables.
    • Resolved iOS background silent terminations caused by SQLite WAL locks during suspension by applying NSFileProtectionCompleteUntilFirstUserAuthentication to the database files.
    • Fixed thumbnail visibility races where background-scanned images could be overwritten by an in-flight refresh, plus small stability, logging, and localization fixes.
  7. 1.18.4

    Thumbnail discovery

    • Thumbnail Discovery: an opt-in background scanner finds and attaches thumbnails for articles whose feeds don’t provide one, such as TechCrunch. Enable it in Reading settings.
    • Choose thumbnail position (leading, trailing, or off) and find article row size in the new Thumbnails section of Reading settings.
    • Refresh-on-open now reliably triggers each time Newsbin becomes active, with throttling so it won’t fire too often, and Manual refresh mode is fully honored.
    • Changing your refresh interval reschedules sync across devices through iCloud, and long refreshes show a “Checking for articles… / Still working…” status after 15 seconds.
    • More responsive sidebar and list updates with centralized blocked-tag handling, plus a native, version-proof selection highlight on macOS.
    • Resolved launch crashes (RunningBoard “0xdead10cc”) caused by database work and SQLite locking during init.
    • CloudKit imports are now debounced and skipped while backgrounded, and corrupt JSON in large backup exports is fixed by looping writes until the full buffer is committed.
    • Minor localization and layout cleanups across the article row and settings screens.
  8. 1.18.3

    Sync overhaul

    • Sync overhaul: session reads and unreads write directly to the database as the single source of truth, removing parallel queues and duplicate broadcasts.
    • iCloud Reader and full articles are now enabled by default for new installs, with a “Refresh on startup” option to pull the latest articles every time Newsbin opens.
    • Session read overlay updates sidebar badges and the app icon count the moment you mark items read by scrolling.
    • Folder deletions are broadcast to nearby devices first, preventing deleted folders and feeds from being resurrected.
    • Hardened RSS parsing: feed HTML is sanitized against unsafe scripts and schemes, image URLs are restricted to http(s), and failed feeds are surfaced in the refresh status.
    • More reliable StoreKit restores: unfinished transactions are drained on launch and refreshes are coalesced, fixing repeated redelivery and auth prompts.
    • Faster Subscription screen and various localization and UI fixes.
  9. 1.18.2

    YouTube and timestamp polish

    • YouTube feeds: alternate video links are detected and promoted to first-class video items.
    • “Time ago” labels use a rolling 24-hour and 7-day window for accuracy.
    • New item counts on refresh match what actually passes your filters.
    • Smoother sidebar rendering and faster badge updates.
    • Fixed an iPad duplicate subtitle and “Mark all read” restoring the focused article.
  10. 1.18.1

    Stability release

    • Faster list refreshes and fewer duplicate items after large syncs.
    • Fixed background crashes by guarding database work while the app is suspended.
    • New per-folder and per-feed Archive action in the article toolbar.
    • Cleaned up orphaned feeds and duplicate folders left behind by deletions.
    • Large articles load via the JavaScript bridge after navigation, avoiding crashes.
  11. 1.18.0

    Group by website

    • Group by Website: article list sections by source with favicon headers and one-tap mark-as-read.
    • Optional auto-read: website sections mark themselves read as you scroll past.
    • New Unreads settings panel and haptic feedback on common actions.
    • Nearby sync now uses history-based reconciliation: deletions stick, peers catch up after being offline.
    • More stable iCloud sync, faster startup, and broader localization.
    • Preserved read state on re-parse and fixed the “Icon Changed” alert on launch.
  12. 1.17.0

    In-app browser

    • New in-app browser: open article links without leaving Newsbin (optional).
    • Snappier scrolling and faster, more accurate unread badges, including nested folders.
    • Article refreshes and database maintenance now run in the background.
    • Smoother sidebar and image loading with smarter favicon prefetching.
    • Fixed background-write crashes, a nearby-sync hang, and backup memory crashes.
  13. 1.16.4

    Reinstall restore fix

    • Fixed grandfathered purchase restore after reinstalling Newsbin.
  14. 1.16.1

    Restore fix

    • Fixed an issue where grandfathered users could not restore their purchase.
  15. 1.16.2

    Restore fix, continued

    • Further fixes for grandfathered users restoring purchases.
  16. 1.16.0

    Apple Watch companion

    • Apple Watch companion: browse feeds on your wrist with WatchConnectivity sync and background file transfer.
    • Nearby sync overhaul: resource-based transport, mutual invites, and phase sync.
    • Import deduplication via a new ID registry: no more duplicate articles.
    • More reliable CloudKit background sync with automatic change-token recovery.
    • Smarter RSS parsing, unified Blogger and Reddit parsers, faster launches.
    • Migrated app state to Swift’s Observation API for a snappier UI, plus visionOS tuning.
    • Fixed deletion propagation, sync timeouts, and thumbnail parsing issues.
  17. 1.15.1

    Restore purchase fix

    • Fixed an issue where the “Restore Purchase” button was non-responsive.
  18. 1.14.0

    Free to try

    • Newsbin is now free to try, with subscription and lifetime unlock options.
    • New Safari Extension for quickly adding feeds while browsing.
    • Zoom support for images and an updated app icon.
    • Resolved an async stutter, improved Blogger and Reddit parsing, and fixed RTL/LTR layout issues.
  19. 1.15.0

    More reading options

    • More reading options and improved purchase messaging, plus bug fixes.
  20. 1.13.0

    Deeper system integration

    • App Shortcuts, Dock quick actions, and Handoff support.
    • Improved video detection with fewer false positives.
    • Better reader-mode detection and batched media scanning.
    • Updated visionOS styles and expanded localizations with new notification options.
  21. 1.12.0

    YouTube feeds

    • Full YouTube RSS support: follow channels like any other feed, with proper media detection.
    • Force refresh fully clears cached HTML for clean re-parsing.
    • More robust background syncing and iCloud message handling.
    • Reduced stale state, clearer error feedback, and updated localizations.
  22. 1.11.1

    Discovery and polish

    • Faster, more reliable feed discovery, including redirected feed URLs.
    • More efficient, lifecycle-aware background media scanning.
    • Fixed an iPad double-title bug and iOS navigation glitches.
    • Parsers now skip non-article “demo” pages and fall back to RSS content.
    • Option to show or hide favicons, plus greatly improved French translations.
  23. 1.11.0

    Widgets and Spotlight

    • Widgets on all supported platforms for quick access to your feeds.
    • System-wide Spotlight search to instantly find articles.
    • Vastly improved Apple Watch app with faster sync.
    • New folder support to group and organize feeds.
    • Major overhaul of article loading, caching, and display.
    • Better support for non-standard feeds and a large internal refactor.
  24. 1.10.4

    Faster article loading

    • All-new HTML loading system with caching, deduplication, and prefetching.
    • Smarter feed parsing with fallbacks for unusual RSS and Atom formats.
    • Better video support with cleaner detection and improved thumbnails.
    • More robust Nearby syncing on a streamlined transport layer.
    • Cleaner titles and more accurate dates via improved normalization.
  25. 1.10.3

    Clearer sync status

    • New sync status indicator with clearer iCloud and device sync feedback.
    • Refined onboarding with iCloud and nearby sync setup, plus restore-from-backup.
    • Smoother sidebar and toolbar animations, minor design tweaks, and fixes.
  26. 1.10.2

    Speed for big libraries

    • Huge speed improvements for users with lots of feeds.
    • Edit tags directly with simple built-in tools.
    • Hide followed feeds that have no unread articles.
    • More accurate unread badges, improved notifications, and a refreshed article reader.
  27. 1.9.0

    The big redesign

    • Complete redesign of Newsbin’s appearance, performance, and sync foundation.
    • Accent colors everywhere: customize tint, icons, and themes with iCloud sync.
    • New app icons in multiple color sets.
    • Redesigned two-column Settings and a dynamic sidebar for Mac, iPad, and Vision Pro.
    • Completely refactored iCloud and Nearby peer-to-peer sync, plus a new peer backup system.
    • Improved focus and keyboard navigation, refined toolbars, expanded localization.
    • Faster startup, smoother scrolling, and modern Swift 6 architecture under the hood.
  28. 1.8.4

    Smart group fix

    • Fixed an issue that prevented smart groups from being deleted, plus minor improvements.
  29. 1.8.2

    Performance patch

    • Addressed performance and stability issues.
  30. 1.8.0

    Nearby device sync

    • Nearby Device Sync: sync articles, read states, and preferences directly between devices, even without iCloud.
    • Smarter, faster badges with atomic updates and local caching.
    • Manual sidebar sorting for followed feeds and smart groups.
    • Smoother animations and better media handling while reading.
    • Smarter date detection for more feed formats and a new modular logging system.
  31. 1.7.1

    Badge and feed fixes

    • Fixed issues with badges, subtitles, and certain feeds.
  32. 1.6.2

    Stability patch

    • Addressed stability and performance issues following the 1.6 release.
  33. 1.6.0

    Ready for iOS 26

    • Fully updated for iOS 26, macOS 26, and visionOS 26.
    • Major performance boost from a re-engineered core foundation.
    • Reader mode now preserves audio, video, and rich embeds.
    • Smarter iCloud sync for settings, unread counts, and badges.
    • More viewing options, text size, and row size controls.
  34. 1.5.0

    Full articles arrive

    • Read complete articles right inside Newsbin with the new reader mode: no more snippets or click-throughs.
    • Cleaner, easier-to-read formatting.
    • Force refresh for instant feed updates.
    • Faster, leaner, and more reliable overall.
  35. 1.4.2

    Cleaner imports

    • More accurate validation when adding new feeds.
    • Smarter detection powered by improved pattern matching.
    • Cleaner and more reliable OPML imports, plus general polish.
  36. 1.4.1

    Discovery follow-ups

    • Improved feed validation: fewer false “invalid” errors.
    • Added manual feed entry as a fallback option.
    • Better handling of enclosure tags in feeds.
    • Fixed the OPML import button during onboarding on macOS.
  37. 1.4.0

    Smarter feed discovery

    • Reimagined feed discovery with improved validation and fallback strategies.
    • Better article previews with enhanced thumbnail and media parsing.
    • Easier, more reliable OPML imports and cleaner summaries from multiple feed fields.
    • Faster sidebar rendering, smoother tab changes, and streamlined unread counts.
    • New connection settings for troubleshooting, plus expanded translations.
    • Fixed crashes from missing feed titles and refined markdown handling.