Verified feed readers

You may have seen the "Verified" status on feed readers and applications around the site. This means that:

• Feeds used in the app will get the fastest updates
• Access to feeds used in the app is less likely to be limited or restricted
• Fixing feed or compatibility issues with the app are made top priority
• Dedicated technical support and assistance are provided to resolve any issues

If an app isn't verified, it doesn't necessarily mean it's not compatible with Open RSS feeds. However, feeds used in the app might not work so well if it disrupts the service.

Either an app's developer can verify their reader or a user can be verified, which are both explained below.

If you're a developer of a feed reader application and interested in having it verified, please email us the following information:

• The name of your app
• Your app's website
• Name and email address of the primary contact
• All IP addresses used by your app

Your app will be verified once we're able to confirm the submitted information. We'll let you know via email.

If you're not the owner of an unverified feed reader app but are just a user, you can verify yourself individually for prioritized access to feeds used in the app or any other feed reader you may use. We kindly ask for your help in funding server costs by contributing a monthly donation.

Then you can be verified simply by contacting us for a verification token that can be added to your feed reader. The token can be added to any feed reader that supports sending the token with its requests. Please reach out to us if you are unsure of whether your reader will support adding the token.

While feed readers may have good intentions, many of them are designed in a way that can cause serious harm to the websites they request feeds from. This leads to feeds being blocked or not working so well. The verification process avoids this and reduces the chance a reader is blocked or restricted by ensuring that it's always identifiable.

We've found that readers whose owners can't be identified are often used in ways that are severely abusive to the service, usually because they know being unidentifiable makes it impossible to hold them accountable and prevent the abuse. They'll attempt to modify or configure their readers to overload the service with requests, cause outages, violate our terms, and even try circumventing any restrictions in place to stop their abusive activity.

But feed readers whose owners can be accurately identified have not only been far less likely to abuse the service but are also usually more responsive to quickly address or resolve issues.

Verified status will be removed for any user or application that violates the Terms.

Last Updated: 5 months ago