Why RSS Is Making a Comeback

Quick Answer

Short answer: RSS is making a comeback because readers are tired of algorithmic feeds, platform instability, privacy erosion, and constant notifications. RSS lets you choose trusted sources, read chronologically with no tracking, keep portable subscriptions, and open your reader on your own schedule.

In 2013, when Google shut down Google Reader, the mainstream internet decided RSS was dead. Social media had won. Feeds were supposed to be replaced by algorithms that show you “what you will like” instead of what you asked for.

More than a decade later, the algorithm’s reign is looking far less attractive and RSS is quietly coming back. This article explains what changed, why the comeback is real and how to escape the algorithm yourself.

What killed RSS the first time

RSS did not fail on its technical merits. It failed on convenience: readers were clunky, social platforms were easier and Google Reader’s shutdown removed the default choice for millions of people at once. When the platform giants moved on, publishers stopped surfacing the orange icon and RSS faded from view.

But the underlying format never went away. RSS is still the technology powering podcasts: every podcast app subscribes to feeds under the hood. And the small, technical audience that never left kept it alive for years.

What changed

Four things flipped the narrative:

• Algorithm fatigue. People grew tired of engagement bait, rage content and feeds that hide what you actually want to see. The promise of “showing you what you will like” increasingly feels like “showing you what keeps you scrolling.”
• Platform instability. Twitter became X and changed rules on a whim. Reddit cut off third-party apps. Whole platforms can be acquired, degraded or shut down. An RSS feed, by contrast, belongs to the publisher and cannot be bought or killed.
• Privacy erosion. Algorithmic platforms track everything to rank your feed. RSS readers track nothing. For a growing number of people, that trade-off is now unacceptable.
• Notification overload. Platforms interrupt constantly. RSS waits until you choose to open your reader.

The signals are measurable. Wired called for an RSS revival as far back as 2018. In 2021, Chrome on Android and Microsoft Edge added native “follow” support for feeds. And by 2026, reports were tracking double-digit year-on-year growth in RSS adoption, driven not by hype but by people quietly rebuilding calmer reading workflows.

Why RSS is different

RSS is not another feed; it is a different model entirely:

• You choose the sources. No algorithm decides what reaches you. You subscribe to the sites you trust and only those.
• Chronological order. You read what was published in the order it was published, not what was ranked highest.
• No ads, no tracking. Feeds carry text and links, nothing else.
• Portable. Your subscription list is yours. Export it, import it, switch readers whenever you like.

An algorithm shows you what you will like. RSS shows you what you chose to follow.

How to start

You can be reading via RSS within five minutes:

1. Install a reader. A browser-extension reader like RSS Wrangler is the fastest route, with no account, no sign-up and everything on your device.
2. Add five feeds: a news site, a blog you like, a newsletter, a YouTube channel you follow.
3. Open the reader once a day instead of the social apps.
4. Notice the difference, then add the sources that genuinely matter to you and remove the ones you skip.

If you are struggling to find a site’s feed, our guide to finding an RSS feed for any website covers every trick.

FAQ

Is RSS actually growing? The trend is consistent across reporting: renewed interest, native browser support and a wave of new and updated readers since the late 2010s.

Do I have to give up social media? No. Most people keep social media for discovery and people and use RSS for reliable, uninterrupted reading. They complement each other.

Is RSS private? With a local or self-hosted reader, effectively yes: your subscriptions and reading habits stay on your device.

Summary

RSS never really died. It was waiting for platforms to get bad enough that people remembered why it existed. If you are tired of being fed by algorithms, the escape is simple: choose your sources, read them in order and take back control of what you read.

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