How to use iOS shortcuts to create a custom RSS reader – Pocket-lint

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(Pocket-lint) – The Shortcuts app on iOS is one of the most powerful but overlooked tools available on any iPhone or iPad today. However, just because it has gone unnoticed by the vast majority of users doesn’t mean you have to let its powerful capabilities slip away.

RSS readers may seem like an echo of the past, but they can still serve as a powerful tool for reading headlines without having to deal with all the other tricks you would come across browsing social media for your information instead.

If you want to easily see the latest headlines from your favorite news sources just by tapping an icon or just a quick Siri summon, follow us.

Here’s how to create a custom RSS feed reader using shortcuts.

1. Open the Shortcuts application on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Press the + icon at the top to create a new shortcut .
3. In the search bar, find and select the action Choose from the menu.

Once you are at this stage, you will receive two article lines by default – the amount of articles you choose will be the amount of news feeds that you are going to source from, so if you have four favorite websites in mind, make sure you add four items in total.

After that, make sure to rename all the items to the names of the media you will be using so that you can easily identify them when the shortcut is up and running.

Next, add url action under each of the items we added in the previous step. This URL box is where you will need to paste the RSS feed links for accompanying websites. If you don’t know where to find RSS information for a specific news outlet, Feedspot is a simple to use website that easily helps you find the RSS link you need to make this shortcut work.

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Now at the end of your shortcut, add the Get RSS Feed Items action . By default it will be set to pull 10 titles from each outlet, but if you want to adjust that number, now’s your chance.

To track this, add l action Filter articles from Safari and (presumably) you’ll want to set the parameter sort by on Date of publication, then the option Order on Last first . This ensures that you see recent news first, not 2010 stories.

Final steps

Finally, you are ready to put the finishing touches now.

Close this shortcut by adding l action Choose from list , then finish it off with a simple trigger Open URLs.

And that’s all! Your own personalized RSS feed reader without any unwarranted baby photos or weirdly intrusive advertisements.

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If you prefer not to bother creating it yourself, but instead add this shortcut directly to your iPhone or iPad with a single tap, click here. Once on your device, you can easily adjust the template created above with all your personal news preferences.

The information of all our RSS feeds on Pocket-lint is available here.

To read an overview of what exactly the iOS Shortcuts app is and how you can use it for even more features, check out our explainer by tapping here.

Written by Alex Allegro. Originally published on September 5, 2021.