Openvibe combines news and social media in one app

Openvibe, an app that allows you to follow open social networks like Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, and Nostr in one place, is now expanding its functionality so you can follow your favorite news sites and blogs, too. To do so, the startup is adding support for RSS (aka Really Simple Syndication or news feeds), an open standard that allows you to subscribe to automatic updates from websites, like new articles or blog posts.

The addition makes Openvibe more useful for keeping up with your interests and other important information without having to switch between multiple newsreaders, websites, or social networking apps.

The new feature also puts Openvibe in more direct competition with other social media and content aggregators that track updates from across the open web. These competitors include Tapestry, the new app from the company that once built a popular Twitter client known as Twitterific; Feeeed, an RSS reader that supports tracking social profiles on Mastodon, YouTube and other platforms; and Surf, a new open social app and browser from the makers of Flipboard.

Openvibe CEO Matej Svancer says RSS support was always part of the app’s longer-term roadmap since its launch last year. However, the feature was heavily requested by the user base, so the team prioritized its development, he says.

To use the feature, you can choose to add RSS sources one by one, check the app’s suggested sites and tap “follow” on those you want to track, or import your entire OPML file from another news reader. After more people adopt RSS, Openvibe will introduce a leaderboard that shows the most added feeds to help direct users to popular sources.

Once added, you can track the RSS updates in the app’s combined home feed, in the dedicated “RSS” feed, or you can add the RSS feeds to your own custom feed.

While RSS can also be used to track podcasts and YouTube channels, Openvibe isn’t yet focused on those formats, Svancer tells TechCrunch. It may be technically possible to add them in the app today, but it won’t offer a good user experience, he explains — unless you don’t mind having to open each item in a browser.

With news and blogs, however, Openvibe opens content directly within the app using a clean, distraction-free reading mode. If you prefer to visit the websites in a browser, you can change this setting.

Plus, the app offers a “Performance Mode” toggle that will turn off image loading in the timeline previews to make the feature even less resource-intensive.

The company has been testing the RSS feature ahead of launch with just over 100 people who have, combined, added over 4,000 feeds.

RSS support is now available in Openvibe’s iOS and Android apps. The app itself remains free to download without in-app purchases for now, but the company plans to introduce a subscription offering in the future.

The startup is currently backed by a small amount of funding from Czech Founders VC, Tensor Ventures, and Automattic — the parent company to WordPress.com, Tumblr, Beeper, and others.