RSS is a simple way to follow websites without social media or email newsletters — your updates come to you, in one place, on your terms. An RSS app (sometimes called a “reader”) checks your favourite sites automatically and shows you new posts as they arrive, a bit like email but just for reading.

A few good RSS apps to get started:

• NetNewsWire — free, Mac and iOS, very polished
• Feedly — free tier available, works in any browser
• Inoreader — free tier available, browser and mobile apps
• Reeder — paid, Mac and iOS, beautifully designed

Once you have an app, just paste any of the feed links below into it and you’re set.