Host your own RSS reader with FreshRSS

FreshRSS is a feed reader you run yourself. You subscribe to websites, blogs and podcasts, and FreshRSS collects the new items in one place, with no algorithm deciding what you see. This guide covers ordering it in the panel, the first login, adding and importing feeds, connecting reader apps on your phone, and what to know about backups and your own domain.

What you get

The panel sets up FreshRSS together with its own database, gives it an address with HTTPS and creates an admin account for you. You do not have to walk through an installer. FreshRSS checks your feeds for new items twice an hour.

1. Order the app

1. Sign in to the panel, open Apps in the sidebar and click Create App.
2. Under Template, choose FreshRSS. You find it under Self-hosted apps.
3. Under Package, pick a package and set the resources with the sliders. FreshRSS is light, so the default resources suit a personal reader. You can change them later.
4. Under Details, fill in Display name. If a Version field is shown, leave it on Latest (recommended).
5. Tick the confirmation box, click Deploy app and pay.

FreshRSS sets itself up on the first start. If the page does not load right after the status shows Running, wait a moment and try again.

2. Log in for the first time

1. On the app page, find the Admin login card and click Reveal. It shows the Username (admin) and the Password of the admin account the panel created.
2. In the Access card, wait for HTTPS active and click Open.
3. Log in with the username and password from the card.

Then do this straight away:

• Change the password. In FreshRSS, open Settings and go to Profile. The Admin login card always shows the password the app started with. Once you change it inside FreshRSS, the one in the card no longer works, so save the new one in a password manager.
• Set an API password for your phone. The panel also switches on the API that reader apps use, and at first it has the same password as the admin account. On the same Profile page you can give it a password of its own.

3. Add your feeds

1. Open Subscription management.
2. Choose Add a feed or category, paste the address of the website or feed and add it.

Coming from another reader? Export your subscriptions there as an OPML file, then use Import / export in FreshRSS to upload it.

New items appear after the next check. FreshRSS checks twice an hour, so a new article can take up to half an hour to show up.

4. Connect an app on your phone

1. Install a reader app that supports FreshRSS, for example NetNewsWire or Reeder on iPhone, iPad and Mac, or FeedMe on Android.
2. In the app, add a FreshRSS account (some apps call it Google Reader compatible).
3. Enter the address from the Access card, the username admin and the API password from step 2.

If the app asks for the full API address, use https://your-address/api/greader.php with your own address.

5. Backups

The Backups card lists the backups of your FreshRSS. The panel makes them automatically on a schedule that depends on your package, and each backup holds both your files and the database.

Click Create backup before you update FreshRSS or change something big. With Restore you put a backup back. That overwrites everything that changed since the backup, and FreshRSS is offline until the restore is done.

All details are in Back up and restore your app.

6. Your own domain

1. On the app page, go to the Custom Domains card and click Add domain.
2. Enter your domain and follow the DNS instructions the panel shows.
3. Wait until the domain shows as verified. HTTPS is set up for you.

FreshRSS then answers on your domain and on the original address from the Access card.

The full steps, including the DNS records, are in Connect your own domain to an app. No domain yet? See Register a domain.

Keeping FreshRSS up to date

When a new version is ready, the app page shows Update available with an Update button. Make a backup first, then update.