The Timeline Apps Are Here, And They’re Awesome

The folks astatine Iconfactory, which erstwhile made a awesome Twitter customer called Twitterrific, launched a caller app connected Tuesday. It’s called Tapestry, and it’s a transverse betwixt a societal app and a news reader. The app tin ingest feeds of each kinds: someone’s Bluesky posts, your favourite YouTube creator’s videos, a blog’s caller posts, each your go-to podcasts. You adhd nan feeds, and Tapestry shows them to you successful chronological order. No recommendations, nary algorithms, conscionable what Iconfactory calls a “personal, unified timeline” of contented you attraction about.

Tapestry has a bunch of clever ways to prime your content, too. You tin premier keywords to “Muffle,” which will make their preamble successful Tapestry overmuch smaller, aliases you tin unopen up them and region them from your timeline entirely. You tin hunt crossed each your feeds astatine once, too, and create timelines incorrect your timeline — I group 1 up for my podcast feeds, for instance, and now Tapestry is simply a passable podcast player. Tapestry syncs immoderate your contented and your spot successful nan timeline crossed devices, and it gives you tons of powerfulness complete really things look.

I’ve been utilizing Tapestry successful beta for a while, and I alternatively for illustration nan app. It’s reasonably basal truthful far, though, and a batch of nan champion customization features are locked down a $2 monthly aliases $20 yearly subscription. But Iconfactory’s colorful creator is each complete this app, and there’s a batch of Twitterrific creation DNA successful Tapestry.

What I for illustration moreover more, though, is nan thought down Tapestry. There’s really a afloat genre of apps for illustration this one, which I’ve taken to calling “timeline apps.” So far, successful summation to Tapestry, there’s Reeder, Unread, Feeeed, Surf, and a less others. They each personification somewhat different interface and characteristic ideas, but they each personification nan aforesaid basal premise: that beautiful overmuch everything connected nan nett is conscionable feeds. And that you mightiness want a amended spot to publication them.

Timeline apps are benignant of a belief successor to RSS readers for illustration Google Reader and Feedly. (Some of them, for illustration Reeder and Unread, are conscionable updated versions of longtime RSS readers.) Years ago, RSS readers were designed to thief you support each your blogs and websites successful order, backmost erstwhile maintaining your blogroll was a batch of work. Now nan business is vastly overmuch difficult. You’re pursuing creators connected TikTok and Instagram and YouTube, keeping up pinch your favourite memes connected Tumblr and each nan news connected Bluesky, refreshing your favourite subreddits complete and complete each day, and checking your favourite news sites a less times, too. None of these platforms interoperate because their business incentives are to make your life miserable, but erstwhile you boil each those things down, they’re conscionable feeds of content.

You can’t rather switch your afloat nett beingness pinch a timeline app because truthful overmuch of each of our nett beingness is interactive. You tin publication Bluesky posts successful a timeline app, but you can’t for illustration aliases reply; you tin watch a YouTube video, but you can’t wade into nan comments. Maybe you’ll beryllium tin to someday — open, federated societal networks make that interoperation possible, which is why I deliberation Surf, which lets you for illustration and reply and remark successful summation to conscionable reading, is specified a cool and eager idea.

Even successful nan worst cases, though, I for illustration timeline apps arsenic shortcuts; it’s really overmuch faster to unfastened Tapestry and find nan latest MKBHD video than to unfastened YouTube, pat connected Subscriptions, and sidescroll until I spot nan logo.

The biggest business for timeline apps is that they are fundamentally required to beryllium each things to each people. A awesome timeline app has to relationship a top-notch reference acquisition 1 swipe distant from a full-featured podcast level and 1 overmuch swipe distant from a beautiful video player. So far, Reeder is nan app I’ve tried that does this nan champion — it lets you prime by contented type aliases by source, tin play almost point successful line, and is conscionable really bully to look at. Even it has a agelong measurement to go, though, and astir of these different apps are moreover further behind.

These apps tin too return immoderate getting utilized to. If you’re coming from an RSS reader, wherever everything has nan aforesaid format — headline, image, intro, nexus — a timeline app will look hopelessly chaotic. If you’re coming from social, wherever everything moves impossibly accelerated and there’s overmuch to spot each clip you propulsion to refresh, nan timeline you curate is guaranteed to consciousness boring by comparison.

But I fishy timeline apps are precisely nan constituent we petition for nan nett we personification now. Maybe someday we’ll get afloat interoperable everything and life will beryllium magical. Until then, there’s point powerful successful taking each your favourite worldly — and I really impulse picking only your favourite worldly — and putting it into 1 place. Build a timeline you tin decorativeness each day, perchance moreover each clip you unfastened nan app. Scroll only what you’ve chosen to scroll. And past adjacent nan app, assured successful nan truth that you’ve seen nan worldly you cared about, and spell do point else. There’ll beryllium overmuch to drawback up connected adjacent time.