An RSS reader without an account, built to stay private
Most services start with a sign-up form. An RSS reader doesn't really need one. You have a list of sites, and you want to read what they publish. Tilde works that way: open it and start reading. No email address, no password, no profile.
Get Tilde on the Mac App Store Open the web app
Why a reader usually wants an account
When a reader keeps your feed list on its own server, it has to know which list is yours, and that means an account. It also means your subscriptions, and often your reading history, sit on someone else's machine.
Tilde takes the other route. Your subscriptions and the articles you open are stored on your device. There is no server-side copy to log in to, so there is nothing to ask you for.
What makes it a private RSS reader
Privacy here is less about promises and more about what the app simply doesn't do.
- No trackers and no analytics. Tilde doesn't count you, profile you or send usage data anywhere.
- No ads and no algorithm. Nothing is recommended, ranked for engagement or inserted between your articles.
- Remote images are off by default. Pictures embedded in articles are a common way for a site to learn that you opened a post, so Tilde doesn't load them unless you switch that on in Settings.
- Full articles are fetched only when you ask. The Read the full article button gets the page and extracts the text. Tilde doesn't do it in the background.
Where your data actually is
On the Mac, everything is stored in the app's own folder on your computer, and the app fetches each feed directly from the site that publishes it, with no proxy in between. The support page shows exactly where that folder is and how to delete it.
On the web, your data is kept in your browser's storage for the site. Browsers can't always read feeds directly, so the web version uses one small proxy function to fetch them. It keeps no log. The articles and your feed list are not stored on a server.
One honest note: the sites you subscribe to still see a request for their feed, as they would from any reader. Tilde can't change that, and it doesn't pretend to. The privacy policy goes through the details.
What you give up
No account means no sync. The Mac app and the web version are separate, and your phone or another computer won't pick up your list on its own. If you want your feeds somewhere else, export them as an OPML file and import that file there. It takes under a minute, and the import OPML guide walks through it.
It also means there is no password reset. If you clear your browser's site data, the web version's list and saved articles go with it. Exporting OPML now and then is a cheap backup.
Reading without being managed
Privacy is part of it, but so is the way the list behaves. The unread count only goes down, and the list ends. A line tells you that you have reached the end, and then you are done. There is no infinite scroll to keep you around.
What you do get is practical:
- Paste any site address and Tilde finds the feed. It reads RSS 2.0, Atom 1.0 and RDF.
- Groups, each with its own unread count.
- Every article you open is saved in full, works offline, and is searchable with /.
- A setting for how long articles are kept: 3 months, 6 months or 1 year. Saved articles always stay.
- Keyboard shortcuts: j/k to move, o to open, m to mark read, s to save.
Starting from nothing
A new install subscribes to nothing. It offers a picker of 18 feeds so the list isn't empty, and you can skip it. The same goes for anything you bring from elsewhere: you decide what is in the list.
Tilde is free, MIT licensed, and the source is on GitHub, so anyone can check what it does. It is made by KJR Labs. The Mac app needs macOS 12 or later and is under 9 MB. The web app runs in any browser.
Get Tilde on the Mac App Store Open the web app
Looking for something more specific? There is a page on the free RSS reader for Mac, and the home page has the short version.