{"id":56541,"date":"2025-02-16T08:55:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T11:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/?p=56541"},"modified":"2025-04-08T09:31:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T12:31:30","slug":"tapestry-surf-apps-timelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/en\/tapestry-surf-apps-timelines\/","title":{"rendered":"A timeline to bring them all together"},"content":{"rendered":"

The launch of Tapestry<\/a> in early February has solidified a new category of apps \u2014 ones that attempt to create a unified timeline from different sources that, by their very nature, are like oil and water.<\/p>\n

Tapestry joins a handful of other recent apps1<\/a><\/sup> \u2014 Feeeed<\/a>, the new Reeder<\/a>, and Flipboard\u2019s Surf<\/a> \u2014 in tackling the main issue of decentralized social platforms, which is\u2026 well, decentralization itself.<\/p>\n

The idea is pretty cool: it doesn\u2019t matter if the people you follow are on Bluesky or Mastodon. With one of these timeline apps, you can keep up with them all at once on a single interface. It\u2019s like centralizing the new social internet, but it\u2019s done at the individual level rather than the platform level.<\/p>\n

Even though protocols like AT and ActivityPub allow for more robust implementations, all these apps still rely on the good old, tried-and-true RSS2<\/a><\/sup>. Besides its simplicity, RSS has the added bonus of covering more sources: blogs, YouTube channels, Reddit communities, forums like Hacker News \u2014 all of which offer RSS feeds.<\/p>\n

Aside from Tapestry, I’ve taken a look at the other three, and I\u2019ve been using Feeeed (with four e\u2019s) daily on my phone. Created by Nate Parrott, it\u2019s a free app that I believe offers the best user experience.<\/p>\n

\"Two
r\/FeltGoodComingOut is disgusting, but cool. Image: Manual do Usu\u00e1rio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I really like how the content is presented \u2014 each piece comes in a distinct card style \u2014 and the way the app opens Reddit posts and discussions in a \u201creader mode,\u201d meaning a custom layout without the ads and other extras that usually weigh down web pages.<\/p>\n

Feeeed leans more toward that \u201cnewspaper front page\u201d vibe that so many earlier apps, like Flipboard (the owner of Surf), have been trying for decades without much success.<\/p>\n

I think a big part of that is due to the way it handles source curation. In Feeeed\u2019s case, it\u2019s completely manual, with at most a few default source suggestions. There\u2019s just one content-sorting algorithm for the sources you\u2019re already subscribed to \u2014 and you can even switch it out for a simple chronological order.<\/p>\n

For sites with a high volume of updates \u2014 like newspapers, popular blogs, or active Reddit communities \u2014 Feeeed takes the edge off FOMO, that constant urge to keep up with everything. It presents updates without overwhelming your senses, though I can\u2019t say for sure whether I\u2019m missing out on anything.<\/p>\n

Another cool thing is that each session has a definite end, without doomscrolling, and there\u2019s a favorites section so you don\u2019t lose track of interesting content.<\/p>\n

Silvio Rizzi, the creator of Reeder, got flak at the app\u2019s launch for not having an unread items counter. That feature eventually appeared, but I think the developer\u2019s initial instinct was spot on. By leaving out unread counts, these timeline apps treat information as a flow rather than a to-do list. Missed something? No worries. If it\u2019s really important, it\u2019ll pop up through another source you follow.<\/p>\n

Since they don\u2019t support actions like liking, replying, or reposting, these timeline apps aren\u2019t meant to replace social network apps or even RSS feed aggregators. For me, at least, Feeeed has become a small but pleasant addition to my reading routine \u2014 a little dose of updates when I\u2019m off duty, without the risk of getting lost in an endless \u201cFor You\u201d feed. Not indispensable, but nice to have.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t say for sure whether I\u2019ll stick with Feeeed or any of these other apps in the long run. And I\u2019m also not sure there\u2019s a huge market for them. The potential audience is pretty small: people who use more than one alternative social platform and who aren\u2019t satisfied with the official or third-party apps. How many people fit that bill? I\u2019m not sure, but if you do, now might be the perfect time to check these apps out.<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  1. Except for Surf, which is still in closed beta test, all of them are iOS only. \u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. By \u201cRSS\u201d, I mean any similar protocols such as the RSS itself, Atom, and JSON feeds. \u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The launch of Tapestry in early February has solidified a new category of apps \u2014 ones that attempt to create a unified timeline from different sources that, by their very nature, are like oil and water. Tapestry joins a handful of other recent apps1 \u2014 Feeeed, the new Reeder, and Flipboard\u2019s Surf \u2014 in tackling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_locale":"en_US","_original_post":""},"categories":[1575],"tags":[1848,1850],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56541"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56545,"href":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56541\/revisions\/56545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manualdousuario.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}