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 and won't be blocked or temporarily restricted (unless the Terms are violated)
- Fixing problems with feeds used in the app is given top priority
- Technical support and assistance are provided to the app's developer to resolve any feed compatibility issues
If an app isn't verified, it doesn't necessarily mean it's incompatible with Open RSS feeds. But feeds can be restricted and aren't guaranteed to work well, especially if the app causes disruptions to the service.
Why verify readers?
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.
How to get verified
App verification
Developers can verify their feed reader or app by emailing us the following information:
- App name
- App's website
- Primary contact
- All IPs used by your app
- All user agents in its requests
Your app will be verified once we're able to confirm the submitted information. We'll let you know via email.
User verification
If you're a user of an unverified application and can make a monthly donation contribution to help reduce server costs, you can still be verified by emailing us at hey@openrss.org. After confirming some details, we'll provide you with a special token that can be added to your feed reader to maintain its verified status.
Verification removal
Verified status will be removed for any user or application that violates the Terms.
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