RSSRadio 5.0 is very much the same app its always been, so you shouldn’t expect some radical change in the user experience.

If RSSRadio is to continue it needs to be less buggy, easier to keep updated, and easier to support.

This means a lot of the core code from 2010 needs rewriting. In addition a lot of that code is much more complicated and troublesome than it needs to be due to an excess of user facing options which have been added over the years.

In addition, to reduce confusion, some long standing functions need to be rethought. In particular the way default settings work and archiving of shows cannot continue how they are.

As a preview, these are the release notes i’m hoping to be able to put out with the release if everything goes to plan:

5.0.0

This release addresses technical debt and updates RSSRadio to use modern api’s. It also resolves some long standing usability issues.

Rewrote the feed refreshing engine
Rewrote the iCloud sync
iCloud sync is always on
Rewrote the show artwork handling
Podcast settings can just automatically mirror the default settings
Archiving is no longer a thing, it’s handled automatically for you
Removed many less frequently used and troublesome options
Removed the widget
Play podcasts on RSSRadio using Siri
New watch app replacing controlling the phone with standalone playback
Follows the system dark or light theme
New icon
New tint color
Unlistened has become called Unplayed
Playlists tab is now just called Categories

Look out for an RSSRadio 5.0 preview on the beta channel in early august!