The HTC Blinkfeed home screen is a slick take on the way users gain access to information. But with all the types of information you can have, it seems RSS feeds aren’t as readily added to the Blinkfeed sidebar. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get your favorite RSS feed onto your home screen… it’s just not nearly as intuitive as adding social or news feeds. But for those who enjoy a constant stream of RSS to their devices, and you have a phone running HTC’s Blinkfeed, you’ll appreciate having those feeds just a swipe away.
Here’s how you add RSS feeds. In order to do this, you’ll need to install the Firefox web browser. Why is this the case? Because Chrome (the default browser) doesn’t handle RSS feeds properly (and Firefox does). So, hop over to the Google Play Store and install Firefox. If you’re unsure how to install Firefox, here are the steps:
- Open the Google Play Store on your HTC device
- Search for Firefox
- Locate and tap the entry for Firefox (by Mozilla)
- Tap Install
- Read through the permissions listing
- If the permissions listing is acceptable, tap Accept
- Allow the installation to complete
Next, open Firefox and point it to the site that contains the RSS feed(s) you want to add. Say, for example, you want to add some of the TechRepublic RSS feeds. Open that link in Firefox (on your HTC device) and then tap the link for the RSS feed you want to add. You should now be prompted to choose an application to open the feed (Figure A).
Figure A
Adding an RSS Feed to Blinkfeed on a Verizon-branded HTC M8.
Tap the entry for BlinkFeed RSS, and then tap Just Once (in case you want to open RSS with another app later). You should now see a list of articles from the feed. Tap the plus sign [+] in the top right corner (Figure B), give the feed a name, and tap Subscribe.
Figure B
Adding the opened feed to your Blinkfeed sidebar.
That’s it. You should now see the feed in Blinkfeed (Figure C).
Figure C
The TechRepublic Latest feed in HTC’s Blinkfeed.
If you’re looking for the easiest way to expand Blinkfeed even further, you now have the means to get your favorite RSS feeds on board.
Do you still cling to RSS? Or have you given up that ghost for more modern information streams? Share your thoughts in the discussion thread below.
