As a privacy advocate and someone who believes in data sovereignty, I’ve been on a constant challenge to maintain control over my digital life. I I love reading news and staying well-informed, making me an avid news consumer. I actively support quality content producers by subscribing or donating money regularly, ensuring that I contribute to the sustainability of my favourite sources. After setting up Miniflux on my own server, I’ve completely transformed how I stay informed.

What is Miniflux

Miniflux is a minimalist, open-source RSS feed reader that you can host yourself. It’s super super lightweight, fast, and incredibly focused on doing one thing well: delivering your RSS feeds without any bloat or tracking. Unlike commercial RSS readers, Miniflux respects your privacy by default - no ads, no tracking, and no data mining.

The installation process is straightforward if you’re comfortable with self-hosting. I deployed it using Podman on my own server, imported my OPML file and within minutes I got a clean, distraction-free interface for my main news sources.

My RSS-First workflow

I’ve completely changed my content consumption habits. These are the top 3 advantages:

  • RSS-only sources: I now prioritise websites that provide RSS feeds. If a news producer doesn’t offer RSS, I generally don’t read their content (or eventually access their website, not that often). This simple filter has eliminated most clickbait and low-quality sources.

  • Centralised reading: All my feeds come into one place - my Miniflux instance. No more visiting dozens of websites or dealing with different layouts or annoyances.

  • Mobile-friendly: Miniflux’s interface is fully optimised for mobile use, ensuring seamless synchronisation. If I start reading news on my phone while on train or bus, I can continue reading where I left off on my computer later.

The Benefits I’m Enjoying

The switch to Miniflux has been transformative:

  • Privacy: No tracking pixels, no recommendation algorithms trying to manipulate my attention, and no data being harvested about my reading habits.

  • Efficiency: I can scan through hundreds of articles in minutes, marking what interests me and skipping the rest.

  • Seamless Integration with Linkwarden: I can easily save articles to my self-hosted Linkwarden instance (maybe I need to write more about Linkwarden).

  • Quality over quantity: By requiring RSS, I naturally gravitate toward sources that respect open standards rather than those focused on trapping users in their ecosystems.

  • Ownership: My reading list is mine, and I can decide which contents to consume.

Why RSS Still Matters

In an age of algorithmic feeds and walled gardens, RSS represents something important: user choice and data portability. It’s a decentralised standard that puts you in control of your content consumption. By supporting RSS sources, I’m voting with my attention for a more open web.

If you value privacy, efficiency, and control over your information diet, I highly recommend using RSS feeds, and Miniflux is an excellent option.

The beauty of RSS is that it’s just simple standard format that can’t easily be corrupted by engagement-maximising algorithms.