Unread 4.4 makes it easier to subscribe to feeds offered by Bluesky, Mastodon, Reddit, and YouTube. This update is available now from the App Store.
Unread now lets you search for a feed as follows:
Search for any feed by entering a website URL or feed URL.
Search for the Bluesky feed of a user by entering their Bluesky handle.
Search for the Mastodon feed of a user by entering their Mastodon handle.
Search for the feed of a subreddit by entering its name – such as “r/macapps”, or even just “macapps”.
Search for the feed of a YouTube channel by searching for it by name.
These changes make it even easier to follow Bluesky users, Mastodon users, subreddits, and YouTube channels with Unread.
New Subscription window on MacAdd Subscription screen on iPad
YouTube
Webpage text for YouTube videos includes the author’s notes about the video. Unread is great for following YouTube channels without the distractions of comments and other suggested videos.
Webpage text for a YouTube video
Bluesky
The webpage text for a Bluesky post includes the links to Bluesky handles, hashtags, and link previews that you would see on Bluesky.
Webpage text for a Bluesky post
Additional Improvements
This update fixes a bug that affected the layout of some MacRumors articles.
When deleting old articles, Unread will no longer delete an article that is currently open — even if it otherwise meets criteria for being deleted.
This update improves article list summaries of articles from Bluesky feeds.
This update fixes an animation bug around switching panes in the Settings window on Mac.
The Privacy Policy and Terms of Use have been updated to reflect that Unread’s servers use YouTube’s APIs. The servers use YouTube’s APIs for webpage text generation for YouTube videos and for finding YouTube channels.
The ability to assign a custom keyboard shortcut to each article action.
The ability to perform your own shortcuts on articles and links, along with the ability to assign a custom keyboard shortcut to each.
As we enter the new year, these are some improvements I am seriously considering:
Improvements that make it even easier to subscribe to feeds offered by some websites and services.
An ability to get webpage text for articles behind paywalls for paying subscribers to those publications. This is becoming increasingly important as paywalled articles become more common.
Functionality around organizing saved articles – both articles saved or starred from RSS feeds, and articles saved via Save to Unread.
Support for additional feed syncing services.
My plans change over time, so it is important to emphasize that I am not making specific promises around any of these features. But at this moment these are my areas of focus for Unread.
I love working on Unread and making it even better. If you enjoy using Unread, please consider subscribing to its premium features.
When invoking a shortcut on an article, the article information dictionary now includes the date of the article; the author of the article if it is known; and selected_text and selected_html if content of that article is selected.
The shortcut dictionary view for an article or link now shows all lines of each dictionary value. Previously the view was limited to the first line of text. The appearance of this view is very different on Mac.
This update improves Unread’s ability to discover feeds offered by Bluesky.
This update adds feeds to the set of suggested feeds for new Unread Cloud and Local accounts.
This update adds screenshots to the Shortcuts help article.
The settings window on Mac had inconsistencies around using title case versus capitalizing the first word in settings names. This update fixes that.
The name “wallabag” is now lowercased in the user interface. That appears to be the preferred way to refer to it.
This update adds the ability to follow Unread on Bluesky (@unread.app). This is available in the Help menu on Mac, and on the About screen on iPhone and iPad.
Unread’s Mastodon profile is moving to @unread@goldenhillsoftware.com. The About screen on iPhone and iPad and the Help menu items on Mac are updated to reflect this. (If you follow Unread via Mastodon this change should be transparent. But if you follow with another ActivityPub system, you may need to manually follow @unread@goldenhillsoftware.com to continue to get updates.)
If you enjoy using Unread, please consider purchasing a subscription to its premium features.
Next week I will setup a redirect so that Mastodon followers of the old account should be redirected to the new account automatically. But if you follow using an ActivityPub/fediverse system other than Mastodon, that redirect may not work for you. Therefore you may want to follow the new account manually.
Reasoning Behind the Change
The company hosting my old Mastodon instance is shutting down. I needed to make some changes to keep the Mastodon presence running.
I created the old Mastodon instance with the host “mastodon.goldenhillsoftware.com”. It was a mistake to use the name “mastodon”, instead of something more generic like “social”. In addition I did not realize at the time that I could make a handle with just the “@goldenhillsoftware.com” domain. The new handle @unread@goldenhillsoftware.com is much cleaner.
You can now customize the keyboard shortcut assigned to each premium article action.
You can now run shortcuts on articles and on links inside articles. On a device with a hardware keyboard, you can assign a custom keyboard shortcut to each.
Portion of Article menu on Mac, with all article actions and three shortcuts configured.
New Article Actions: Anybox, Flyleaf, Matter, and wallabag
This update adds new premium article actions for Anybox, Flyleaf, Matter, and wallabag. Like other article actions, you can invoke these in any of the following ways:
Using the context menu of an article in an article list.
Using the context menu of a link in any article.
Using a toolbar button on Mac. Article action toolbar buttons are not present by default, but you can add them to the toolbar by choosing Customize Toolbar… from the View menu.
Using the swipe left menu from inside an article on iPhone or iPad.
Using a keyboard shortcut on Mac, or on iPhone or iPad with a hardware keyboard.
The Anybox article action requires that the Anybox app be installed. On iPhone and iPad, the Anybox article action works by opening Anybox. Anybox will open briefly, and it will then bring Unread back to the foreground. On Mac, the Anybox article action works by opening Anybox in the background.
Similarly the Flyleaf article action requires that the Flyleaf app be installed. On iPhone and iPad, the Flyleaf article action works by opening Flyleaf. Flyleaf will open briefly, and it will then bring Unread back to the foreground. On Mac, the Flyleaf article action works by opening Flyleaf in the background.
The Matter article action requires installing a shortcut. Unread provides a button that makes installing that shortcut easy. The Matter article action also requires that the Matter iPhone/iPad app be installed. The Matter shortcut will save the article via the Matter app. Since the Matter app runs on Mac with Apple Silicon, this article action runs on Mac with Apple Silicon, iPhone, and iPad. On iPhone and iPad, the Matter article action works by opening Shortcuts. Shortcuts will open briefly, and it will then bring Unread back to the foreground. On Mac, the Matter article action works by opening Shortcuts in the background.
The wallabag article action sends links directly to wallabag via its API.
These article actions require a subscription to Unread’s premium features.
Custom Keyboard Shortcuts for Premium Article Actions
Unread now lets you set a custom keyboard shortcut for each premium article action. This is available on any Mac, iPad, or iPhone with a hardware keyboard. You can set these in the Article Actions pane of the Settings window on Mac, or on the Article Actions settings screen of iPhone or iPad.
By default keyboard shortcut settings are not visible on iPhone. To see and edit them, open the Article Actions settings screen, swipe the screen to the left, and select Show Shortcuts from the resulting menu.
The interfaces for setting up article actions now show an appropriate icon for each article action.
Article actions are available to customers who subscribe to Unread’s premium features.
Set a custom keyboard shortcut for an article action on Mac.Set a custom keyboard shortcut for an article action on iPad.
Run Shortcuts on Articles and Links
Unread now lets you run shortcuts on articles and links. The shortcuts are defined in the Shortcuts app. Unread sends a dictionary to the shortcut that includes the URL, article title, and other metadata. The shortcut can perform any task with that input data.
You can invoke a shortcut in any of the following ways:
Using the context menu on an article in an article list.
Using the context menu of a link in any article.
Using an optional toolbar menu on Mac. The Shortcuts toolbar menu is not present by default, but you can add it to the toolbar by choosing Customize Toolbar… from the View menu.
Using the swipe left menu from inside an article on iPhone or iPad.
Using a user-defined keyboard shortcut on Mac, or on iPhone and iPad with a hardware keyboard.
This functionality is similar to Unread’s Article Actions, but you define the functionality with a shortcut.
This functionality requires a subscription to Unread’s premium features.
Configure shortcuts that you want to invoke from Unread in the Settings window on Mac.Configure shortcuts that you want to invoke from Unread on iPad or iPhone.
If you choose a custom keyboard shortcut that Unread is using for another keyboard command or menu item, Unread will warn you first and then allow you to reassign it. For example if you indicate that you want ⌘P to invoke the Pocket article action on Mac, Unread will warn you that this keyboard shortcut is used for the Print… menu item. You can then either cancel, or reassign ⌘P to Pocket.
Unread supports using a single key, such as a letter, as a custom keyboard shortcut on Mac, iPad, and iPhone.
Recording a keyboard shortcut on iPad or iPhone requires a hardware keyboard.
Additional Improvements
Omnivore has shut down its hosted service. Unread’s Omnivore article action still works and is still supported for customers running their own Omnivore server. When enabling the Omnivore article action, Unread no longer asks whether to use the Omnivore hosted service. It just asks for the Omnivore server URL.
On Mac, the ability to import and export subscriptions is now also available from the File menu. Importing subscriptions is only available for Unread Cloud and Local accounts.
Unread’s dark mode icon on iPhone and iPad now uses the standard iOS/iPadOS dark mode background.
I changed the color of the Mail Content article action icon on iPhone and iPad.
The privacy policy has been updated to link to the privacy policies of Anybox, Flyleaf, Matter, and wallabag. It also now states that work performed by shortcuts is beyond the scope of Unread’s privacy policy.
Sunday is the last day of Indie Charity Weekend. 23 apps, including Unread, are donating their proceeds to charity.
My earlier post with more details:
This weekend, November 16-17, is Indie Charity Weekend. Participating apps are donating 100% of their profits to a charity of the developer’s choosing.
I am proud to participate, donating Unread’s proceeds from this weekend to the American Cancer Society. If you purchase an annual subscription to Unread’s premium features this weekend (November 16-17), proceeds from your first year will go to the American Cancer Society. If you purchase a monthly subscription this weekend, proceeds from your first month will go to the American Cancer Society.
This weekend, November 16-17, is Indie Charity Weekend. Participating apps are donating 100% of their profits to a charity of the developer’s choosing.
I am proud to participate, donating Unread’s proceeds from this weekend to the American Cancer Society. If you purchase an annual subscription to Unread’s premium features this weekend (November 16-17), proceeds from your first year will go to the American Cancer Society. If you purchase a monthly subscription this weekend, proceeds from your first month will go to the American Cancer Society.
