News Explorer
The facts below are what the maker publishes about News Explorer, checked and dated. Our editors have not written about it yet.
Plans and prices
From News Explorer's own pricing page, checked 23 Sep 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Mac edition | Priced on request | Personal license · 14-day free trial |
| Mobile edition | $4.99, paid once | iOS/iPadOS · Apple Watch · Apple TV · one-time purchase |
| Mac personal license | $9.99, paid once | macOS 15.6 Sequoia or later · Mac edition · one-time purchase |
| Setapp edition | $14.99 a month | Mac · macOS 15.0 or later · includes other Setapp apps · Setapp membership; free for 7 days |
The facts
Each one read from News Explorer's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Cloud synchronization
- Feeds, folders, articles, read states and favorites synchronize through iCloud without a separate News Explorer account.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Comments
- Comments can be read in-app for comment feeds and for YouTube, Reddit, Hacker News and many Open Web comment sources.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation and support
- Betamagic publishes an extensive help page and FAQ and provides support by email and contact form.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Import and automation
- OPML import/export, Safari feed sharing, Spotlight indexing, widgets and Shortcuts actions are supported.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Licence
- MacUpdate categorizes the Mac software as shareware with one-time-purchase monetization rather than open-source software.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: independent review
- The Marfa review notes that mobile lacks the Mac trial and presents mobile navigation in separate sections rather than a desktop-style layout.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Local storage
- A local account can keep feeds and articles on one device instead of, or alongside, iCloud storage.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Notable release
- Betamagic announced News Explorer 2.0 on November 18, 2024, adding customizable filters, an Inspector panel, comments, notes, tags and local storage accounts.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Notes and tags
- Articles can contain rich-text notes, highlights and custom tags that are synchronized through iCloud.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Praise: independent review
- The Marfa review credits the app's folders, customizable themes, iCloud synchronization, favorites and quick feed setup.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Praise: Numeric Citizen review
- Numeric Citizen found synchronization reliable, valued support for Twitter and YouTube sources, and praised the newspaper-like layout and Apple TV and Watch apps.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Prefilters
- Feed-level prefilters exclude or include articles before downloading them, reducing unwanted downloads.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Privacy
- Betamagic says it cannot access in-app data, which remains on the device or in the user's iCloud container.checked 15 Oct 2026
The company
- Company
- Betamagic describes itself as a small independent software company based in the Netherlands and identifies Elemans Software as the trademark owner.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Company profile
- Crunchbase lists Betamagic as a private, active Arnhem company with 1–10 employees developing Mac applications.checked 15 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Limit: Apple reviewers
- Requested improvements include subfolders, richer annotation/export tools, keyword rules, text-to-speech and better notification controls.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: MacPowerUsers discussion
- A forum participant warns that large feed collections can cause slow updates because the app itself fetches feeds instead of using a hosted RSS service.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: MacUpdate reviewers
- MacUpdate identifies customization as the main area needing improvement.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: Setapp reviewers
- A reviewer reported newly created folders were not immediately visible, and others requested an iPhone version within Setapp.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Praise: Apple reviewers
- Reviewers repeatedly praise the smooth operation, clean interface, extensive appearance controls and reliable cross-device synchronization.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Praise: MacUpdate reviewers
- MacUpdate reviewers highlight performance, stability, broad controls, responsive support and reliable operation.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Praise: Setapp reviewers
- Setapp describes the app as simple, elegant and well synchronized with iCloud, while reviewers say they use it daily.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Rating on Apple App Store
- 4.7 out of 5 from 640 ratingschecked 15 Oct 2026
- Rating on MacUpdate
- 4.8 out of 5 from 8 user rateschecked 15 Oct 2026
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