The software received a Macworld Editor's Choice Award in 20 and maintains a 4.8 out of five stars rating among reviewers at VersionTracker. According to FeedBurner, NetNewsWire was the most popular desktop newsreader on all platforms in 2005.
NetNewsWire was well regarded by many users and reviewers.
Since then, development has been largely stalled, the last update dates from 2011. On June 3, 2011, the acquisition of NetNewsWire by Black Pixel was announced. In the future, this will be used in the iOS versions of the app and for NetNewsWire 4.0 which will be shareware again. While it misses several of the advanced features included in NetNewsWire 3.2, it includes a completely rewritten code base. NetNewsWire Lite 4.0 was introduced on Maon the Mac App Store. It includes syncing of unread articles with the desktop version. NetNewsWire 3.2 moved to an advertisement-supported model, with an option to purchase the application to remove ads.Īn iOS version of NetNewsWire with support for the iPhone, iPod Touch and later for the iPad was released on the first day of the App Store.
NetNewsWire Lite was discontinued at the same time. The application was originally shareware, but became free with the release of NetNewsWire 3.1 on January 10, 2008. The version added Spotlight indexing of news items, integration with iCal, iPhoto, Address Book, and VoodooPad, Growl support, a new user interface, performance enhancements, and more. NetNewsWire 3.0 was released on June 5, 2007. Brent Simmons was hired by NewsGator to continue developing the software. In October 2005, NewsGator bought NetNewsWire, bringing their NewsGator Online RSS synchronization service to OS X. At that time it included custom feed views, custom downloading and opening of podcasts, synchronization of feeds and feed status between computers, Bloglines support, and a built-in tabbed browser. Version 1.0 was released on February 11, 2003, and version 2.0 was released in May 2005. It was introduced on July 12, 2002, with NetNewsWire Lite, a free version missing some advanced features of the (then commercial) version, introduced some weeks later. NetNewsWire was developed by Brent and Sheila Simmons for their company Ranchero Software.