3 articles at a time, rotated daily across your interests. No infinite scroll, no
unread counts, no inbox pressure. Works fully offline — AI features are
optional.
$15 USD · One-time purchase · Future updates included
14-day money-back guarantee · Future updates included
When you want the specifics
All the useful detail, easy to find.
The full feature list, who the app suits, setup steps, guides to impact ratings, feed
health and the daily selection, tips and shortcuts, and answers to common questions.
Open any heading for the full answer.
Everything included
macOS desktop app (Intel + Apple Silicon)
Unlimited feed subscriptions
Category-based organisation
Impact rating system
Feed health tracking & prompts
Insights dashboard with impact bar chart
AI-powered article summaries (optional)
AI feed suggestions per category
Save articles for later with notes
Reading notes per article
EPUB book library with OPDS catalogue browsing
Book reader with impact ratings & health tracking
Full data backup & restore, including your book library
Auto-scroll and page-step reading modes, with adjustable reading guide marker
Keyboard shortcuts for fast reading
Automatic data cleanup & pruning
Free updates
How the main features work
Daily Curated Selection
Each day you get 3 articles drawn from across your subscriptions. Want more?
Tap "Show more" for another 3. Priority categories are served first, then
round-robin ensures every feed gets a turn before any feed gets two. Articles
you don't reach simply fall away over time.
Impact Ratings
After reading, rate each article's impact from None to Strong. These ratings
shape your feed's health score and surface which subscriptions are actually
worth your time.
Feed Health Warnings
When a feed delivers too many low-impact articles in a row, Mindful Reader
gently nudges you to reconsider the subscription. No guilt, just information.
AI Summaries (Optional)
Long articles can be summarised with one tap using your own AI key. Claude or
OpenAI — you control the costs. Every core feature works without AI.
Reading Modes
Two ways to read hands-free. Auto-scroll moves at your chosen speed with 5
levels and arrow-key control. Page-step lets you press Space to advance one
screenful at a time, snapped to the nearest paragraph so you never lose your
place. Pick your preferred mode in Settings.
Save for Later
Come across an article worth revisiting? Save it with an optional note about
why. Your saved articles live on their own page, with full content preserved
even after the usual 30-day cleanup.
Books & EPUB Library
Mindful Reader reads books too. Import your own EPUB files or browse free
public domain catalogues — Standard Ebooks, Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks
— and read them with the same calm, distraction-free reader, impact
ratings, and health nudges as your articles.
Category-Based Organisation
Group feeds by topic — Technology, Health, Business, whatever you read. The
daily selection draws from across categories to keep your reading varied.
Your Data, Your Machine
Everything runs locally on your Mac. No account, no cloud sync, no tracking.
API keys are encrypted at rest on your machine.
Who Mindful Reader is for
Overwhelmed RSS Users
Tired of feeling like you're always behind? Mindful Reader replaces the
endless unread count with a calm, rotating selection — 3 at a time, no
pressure.
Intentional Readers
You want to read fewer, better articles. Impact ratings help you focus on
content that actually moves the needle.
Professionals Staying Current
Keep up with your industry without losing hours to infinite feeds. A few
quality articles a day, chosen for variety.
Privacy-Conscious Readers
No account, no cloud, no tracking. Your reading habits stay on your machine.
People Re-Discovering RSS
Want to get back to RSS but don't want the old inbox-style experience?
Mindful Reader is RSS without the overwhelm.
Digital Wellbeing Advocates
If you care about your relationship with technology and information, this is a
reader designed with the same values.
How do I get started?
Pick from curated suggestions — onboarding offers
categories and feeds to get you started quickly. Select what resonates, skip
what doesn't.
Add your own feeds — paste a URL to add a feed directly,
or search by name with an AI key configured. Up to 5 feeds per category.
Read your daily selection — each morning, open the app to
find 3 articles chosen for variety across your interests. Tap “Show
more” any time you want another 3.
Rate what you read — after each article, rate its impact.
Over time, this builds a picture of which feeds are worth keeping.
First time installing one of these apps? The
Installing an app
guide walks through downloading it from your Gumroad Library and installing it on
your Mac.
Reading guides
How impact ratings work
After you open an article to read, you'll be asked to rate its impact. The
rating is about whether the article was worth your attention rather than whether
you enjoyed it, so it helps to ask yourself whether it taught you something,
changed how you think, or gave you something you can use.
0
None
Didn't land. Not relevant, not memorable, not worth the time.
1
Mild
Mildly interesting but forgettable. You won't think about it tomorrow.
2
Moderate
Genuinely useful or thought-provoking. Worth the read.
3
Strong
Changed your thinking, taught you something real, or sparked action.
Ratings of 0 or 1 count as "low impact". Ratings of 2 or 3 count as "high
impact". This distinction drives the feed health system below.
Feed health & unsubscribe prompts
Mindful Reader tracks consecutive low-impact ratings for each feed. When a feed
consistently delivers articles you rate as None or Mild, the app will let you
know — gently at first, more directly later.
!
Gentle prompt — 3 in a row
After 3 consecutive low-impact ratings from the same feed, a small indicator
appears. It's a nudge to pay attention — this feed might not be serving you
well. You can dismiss it and keep reading.
!!
Strong prompt — 5 in a row
After 5 consecutive low-impact ratings, a stronger prompt suggests
unsubscribing. At this point, the pattern is clear — the feed is
consistently not worth your time. You can still choose to keep it.
The streak resets the moment you give any article from that feed a rating of
Moderate or Strong. One good article is enough to show the feed still has value.
This system means you don't need to manually audit your subscriptions. The
ratings you already give naturally surface which feeds deserve your attention
and which don't.
Your daily reading
Each day, Mindful Reader builds a fresh selection of articles for you. You see 3
at a time, with the option to show more whenever you like. The selection is
designed for variety and fairness:
Priority categories first — if you've starred categories as
priorities (up to 3), articles from those categories are selected first.
Round-robin across feeds — every subscribed feed gets one
article before any feed gets a second. This prevents any single feed from
dominating your reading.
Yesterday's feeds step back — feeds that appeared in
yesterday's selection are deprioritised so you see different sources each day.
Newest first within each feed — within a given feed, you
always see the most recent unshown article.
Unread articles carry over — anything you didn't read today
appears in tomorrow's selection. After one grace day, it makes way for fresh
content.
The result: a small, varied selection that rotates across all your feeds over
time. Every feed gets its turn, and no feed dominates. Articles you never reach
are quietly pruned — there's nothing piling up behind the scenes.
Tips & shortcuts
Star your priority categories
On the Feeds page, tap the star next to a category to mark it as a priority
(up to 3). Priority categories get first pick in your daily selection, so the
topics you care about most always appear.
Look for the underlined letters
In the article reader, action buttons show an underlined letter — that's the
keyboard shortcut. Press that key to trigger the action without reaching for
the mouse.
Highlight to save a note
Select any text in an article and a prompt appears to save it as a note. Your
highlights and typed notes are saved per article and visible in the category
notes view.
Max 5 feeds per category
This is intentional — it prevents any single topic from overwhelming your
reading. If you need more, consider splitting into sub-categories.
AI is optional
Every core feature works without an API key. AI adds summaries, search-by-name
feed discovery, and note interpretation — but the reader, ratings, and feed
health system are fully functional without it. You can always add feeds by
pasting a URL directly.
Settings are in the corner
Look for the gear icon in the bottom-right of the screen. From there you can
configure your AI provider, back up your data, or restore from a previous
export.
Keyboard shortcuts
These work inside the article reader. The matching letter is underlined on each
button as a visual hint.
Key
Action
B
Go back to the article list
O
Open the original article in your browser
S
Summarise the article with AI (or toggle summary view)
T
Jump to the note input to type a thought
V
Save the article for later (or unsave if already saved)
F
Mark as finished reading (triggers impact rating)
Space
Auto-scroll: pause/resume · Page-step: advance one screen
←→
Adjust auto-scroll speed
Questions before you buy
AI, privacy and your data
Do I need an AI API key?
No. The app works perfectly without AI. You can add feeds manually by URL, rate
articles, and get feed health prompts — all without an API key. AI adds optional
features: article summaries, feed suggestions when adding new feeds, and smarter
category recommendations during onboarding.
Is my data stored in the cloud?
No. Everything stays on your Mac — feeds, articles, ratings, and notes. API keys
are encrypted at rest on your machine. Article content is sent to your chosen AI
provider only when you request a summary.
Can I back up my data?
Yes. The Settings page has a full backup and restore feature. Export your feeds,
articles, ratings, notes, and saved articles as a JSON file. Import it on a new
machine or after a reinstall. API keys are excluded from backups for security.
What happens to old articles?
Article content from articles read more than 30 days ago is automatically cleaned
up to save space. Articles you've saved are excluded from cleanup, so the full
text is always there when you revisit. The metadata and your ratings are kept for
all articles. Each feed's backlog is also pruned to the 20 most recent articles.
Daily articles and requirements
How many articles do I see each day?
You start with 3, drawn from across your subscriptions. If you want more, tap
"Show more" to get another 3. You can keep going as long as there are unshown
articles available. The selection refreshes each day with a mix across your
categories, and feeds you saw yesterday are rotated out in favour of others.
What if I don't finish today's articles?
Any unread articles from today are carried over to tomorrow's selection. After
that, they make way for fresh content. There's no backlog to clear — just today's
reading.
Does it work on Windows?
Currently macOS only (12 or later). A Windows version may follow based on demand.
Buying, updates and refunds
Can I try the app and get a refund?
Yes. Individual app purchases include a 14-day money-back guarantee. Install it,
try it, and if it does not suit your needs, email
david@tiongcreative.com.au
with your order details within 14 days of purchase.
If your purchase is fully refunded and the licence ends, you must stop using the
app and delete copies and installers held under that licence. Your own documents
and exported work remain yours to keep.
Do I need a subscription?
No. Mindful Reader is a one-time purchase. If you choose to use the AI features,
you'll need your own API key from Anthropic or OpenAI, which you pay for at your
provider's usage rates. Or get every app through the
Tiong Creative membership
with updates while your membership is active.
Are updates included?
Yes. When you buy the app on its own there is no subscription, and future updates
to it are included.
How is payment processed?
Prices are in USD and payment is processed securely by Gumroad. Gumroad may show
the price converted to your local currency as a guide, but your card is charged in
USD, so your bank may add a small foreign transaction fee.
What's changed in the latest version?
If you buy the app, every future update to it is included at no extra cost.
Members get updates while their membership is active. You can see the full list of
changes on the
changelog page. To download the latest
version, visit your
Gumroad Library
or use the download link in your original purchase receipt. Open the downloaded
DMG and drag the app to your Applications folder. When macOS asks if you want to
Replace the existing copy, click Replace — your data and settings are kept
automatically.
Where are the complete guides and FAQs?
The panels above cover impact ratings, feed health, your daily reading and
keyboard shortcuts. Step-by-step guides, from getting started to books and
backups, are in the
Mindful Reader help pages. Release notes are on the
changelog page. For anything else, email
david@tiongcreative.com.au.
I have worked across product management, agency ownership, SaaS support and product
enablement, and I am the person behind
davidtiong.com. I built Mindful Reader
because every RSS app I tried turned into another inbox. I wanted something that gave
me a few good articles and then let me get on with my day.
