Silvio Rizzi

Creator of Reeder, the RSS reader for Apple devices, and the Mela recipe app

Chur, Switzerland Mobile App Makers Mac & Desktop App Makers

Silvio Rizzi at a glance

Known for: Creator of Reeder · Creator of Mela · Solo App Store developer since 2009
Nationality: Swiss
Working on: Developing Reeder and Mela as a solo developer
Based in: Chur, Switzerland
Indie since: 2009
Active products: Reeder, Reeder Classic and Mela

Facts checked 2026-10-30

About Silvio Rizzi

Silvio Rizzi is a Swiss independent app developer best known as the creator of Reeder, the RSS and news reader for iPhone, iPad and Mac, and of Mela, a recipe manager. He works alone from Chur, Switzerland, and has developed Reeder for more than 15 years.

Reeder 1.0 arrived on the iPhone in 2009 as a client for Google Reader, and MacStories quickly called it the new best RSS reader for iPhone. Its clean typography, gestures and speed made it one of the defining third-party apps of the early App Store, and it spread to the iPad and, from a public beta in November 2010, to the Mac. For years it was the client of choice for hundreds of thousands of Google Reader users.

Google's decision to shut down Google Reader on July 1, 2013 forced a rethink. Rizzi made the Mac and iPad versions free while he rebuilt the app to work with services such as Feedbin and Feedly, pulled Reeder for Mac from the Mac App Store, and returned with Reeder 2 for iPhone and iPad in 2013 and a new Mac version the following year. Reeder 5 followed in 2020 with iCloud sync and read-later features.

In August 2021 he launched Mela, a recipe manager for iPhone, iPad and Mac that imports recipes from websites, scans cookbooks with text recognition and syncs via iCloud. In September 2024 he released an all-new Reeder rebuilt from scratch: a unified timeline for RSS, YouTube, Reddit, Mastodon, Bluesky and podcasts that drops unread counts in favour of a synced timeline position, free with an optional subscription. The previous app lives on as Reeder Classic.

Rizzi is one of the longest-running solo developers on the App Store, known for refusing to grow into a company and for opinionated redesigns that put his own reading habits first.

Products by Silvio Rizzi

Reeder

reederapp.com

Unified timeline reader for RSS, YouTube, Reddit, Mastodon, Bluesky and podcasts on iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Reeder Classic

reederapp.com

The original Reeder RSS reader with unread counts and support for sync services such as Feedbin and Feedly.

Mela

mela.recipes

Recipe manager for iPhone, iPad and Mac with web import, cookbook scanning and iCloud sync.

Interviews & press

Reeder, The New Best RSS Reader for iPhone
MacStories · Article · 2009
Reeder For Mac Beta Goes Live. Reeder For iPhone Gains Facebook Support
TechCrunch · Article · 2010
Reeder developer promises further development post-Google Reader
Macworld · Article · 2013
Mela: An Elegant and Innovative Recipe and Cooking App for iPhone, iPad, and Mac
MacStories · Article · 2021
The new Reeder app is built for RSS, YouTube, Reddit, Mastodon and more
TechCrunch · Article · 2024

Silvio Rizzi's journey, 2009–20247 milestones · self-reported

First product
Launch / milestone
Started 2009

2009First product: Released Reeder 1.0 for iPhone as a Google Reader client
2010Launch: Launched the public beta of Reeder for Mac in November
2013Launch: Made Reeder for Mac and iPad free after Google announced the…
2014Milestone: Brought Reeder back to the Mac with a public beta
2020Launch: Released Reeder 5 with iCloud sync and read-later features
2021Launch: Launched Mela, a recipe manager for iPhone, iPad and Mac, in…
2024Launch: Released the all-new Reeder in September and renamed the old…

Timeline

2009 — Released Reeder 1.0 for iPhone as a Google Reader client.
2010 — Launched the public beta of Reeder for Mac in November.
2013 — Made Reeder for Mac and iPad free after Google announced the end of Google Reader, then shipped Reeder 2 for iPhone and iPad.
2014 — Brought Reeder back to the Mac with a public beta, nine months after pulling it from the Mac App Store.
2020 — Released Reeder 5 with iCloud sync and read-later features.
2021 — Launched Mela, a recipe manager for iPhone, iPad and Mac, in August.
2024 — Released the all-new Reeder in September and renamed the old app Reeder Classic.

How Silvio builds

Build the app you want to use yourself.
Prefer a calm, focused reading experience over unread-count pressure.
Be willing to rebuild from scratch when the old design no longer fits.
Stay solo and keep products small and polished.

Silvio Rizzi FAQ

Who is Silvio Rizzi?

Silvio Rizzi is a Swiss independent app developer best known as the creator of Reeder, the RSS and news reader for iPhone, iPad and Mac, and of Mela, a recipe manager.

Who made Reeder?

Reeder is made by Silvio Rizzi, an independent developer in Chur, Switzerland. He released the first version for iPhone in 2009 and still develops it alone.

What is the difference between Reeder and Reeder Classic?

The new Reeder, released in September 2024, is a rebuilt unified timeline for RSS, YouTube, Reddit, Mastodon, Bluesky and podcasts without unread counts. Reeder Classic is the previous app, which keeps unread counts and third-party sync services.

Is Reeder free?

The new Reeder is free to use, with an optional subscription of about $1 a month or $10 a year that unlocks extras such as shared feeds and more than 10 feeds, according to TechCrunch's 2024 coverage.

Who makes the Mela recipe app?

Mela is made by Silvio Rizzi, the developer of Reeder. It launched in 2021 for iPhone, iPad and Mac.

What happened to Reeder when Google Reader shut down?

When Google closed Google Reader in July 2013, Rizzi made the Mac and iPad versions free, rebuilt Reeder to support other services such as Feedbin and Feedly, and released Reeder 2.