Feedly Faces Technical Glitches as Users Report Slow Performance and Unresponsive Support

Feedly, the largest standalone RSS reader globally with around 15 million users, is grappling with significant technical issues that have persisted for over a week. Paying users have criticized the web app’s performance as “unusably slow,” prompting frustration among its subscriber base. Additionally, there are claims from users that the company has not addressed their technical support inquiries.

Since Google Reader’s closure in 2013, Feedly has emerged as the leading choice for RSS news aggregation, surpassing competitors like Inoreader and desktop applications such as NetNewsWire and Reeder. Despite its growth, the current performance problems are impacting both users and subscribers alike.

Among the most pressing concerns is the web app’s slow response time, rendering it difficult for users to navigate feeds seamlessly. Reports from users on Reddit describe the app as “extremely” slow and “unusable.” Issues have also been reported concerning the iOS app, including compatibility problems with the iOS 27 beta, and the abrupt discontinuation of the classic mobile app several weeks ago, which affected a small subset of users.

As the market for RSS readers remains niche in comparison to other news consumption platforms like Apple News and Google News, Feedly is attempting to pivot towards artificial intelligence solutions aimed at helping businesses monitor cybersecurity threats. This shift raises questions about the company’s commitment to its core RSS user base.

In light of these ongoing issues, TechCrunch reached out to Feedly for clarification. CEO Edwin Khodabakchian affirmed that the company still prioritizes RSS functionality. “Despite the pivot to cyber threat intelligence, fixing the basic RSS functionality is still a priority because our CTI community uses the news-reading capability,” he stated. “Our goal has been to maintain the Feedly News Reader as fast and streamlined as possible.”

Khodabakchian acknowledged that the company is aware of the bug affecting the web app’s performance, attributing it to the “Mark as Read” feature on accounts with many folders. A fix was released recently, and the team is verifying whether this resolves the issue for all users.

Concerning the classic app’s retirement, Khodabakchian noted it was discontinued two weeks ago because it “no longer met some iOS and Android requirements” and had been removed from the App Store earlier. At that time, it had only a few hundred active users, for whom the team did not provide prior notification before the app’s shutdown.

Regarding the iOS app issues that prevent it from loading, Khodabakchian stated that he was unaware of these problems but assured that Feedly would investigate and work on a resolution. The company remains committed to enhancing its main iOS and Android applications.