Nectar is an iOS feed reader application specifically built for Archive of Our Own. It correctly parses AO3 rss feed metadata and loads the fulltext with creator's style enabled. Basically, it works just like opening AO3 in a browser but saves your reading position and give you a distraction free reading experience. AO3 rss feeds are highly limited, so archive restricted works are not available.
It is also the companion app for Ambrosia, a local library for fanfiction that can host a JSON feed. It reads a JSON Feed extension (_ambrosia) that carries fic-specific metadata — word count, chapter progress, fandom, rating and warnings, series — and surfaces it directly in the timeline and article view. This is the fastest way I could think of transferring works onto my phone.
Nectar is a fork of NetNewsWire and uses its code and licence, but it is not affiliated with or supported by the NetNewsWire project. It will always be free and open source. Nectar is not associated with Archive of Our Own, it makes requests to AO3's servers each time you open a work. Your reading history stays on your device and is not shared.
This is beta software under active development. Expect rough edges.
Nectar can parse Ambrosia paged JSON feeds and sqlite transfers. It is not meant to be general-purpose feed reader, but technically it should be functional with any RSS/JSON feed.
- If you don't use Ambrosia, use NetNewsWire instead.
- If you do use Ambrosia, Nectar can also read its plain feeds — it just adds the fic-reader metadata on top when available.
- Fic-aware timeline and article view — word count, chapter progress,
completion status, fandom, relationships, characters, ratings, warnings,
categories, and series are read from the
_ambrosiaJSON Feed extension and shown as metadata lines/badges on each card, alongside a reading progress bar derived from scroll position. - Markdown content — items can carry a Markdown body instead of HTML; Nectar renders it to HTML for display.
- Book identity across duplicates — duplicate works or works subscribed to through more than one collection feed is recognized as the same book based on AO3 id. Marking it read, starred, or Loved, or updating its reading progress, applies to every copy at once.
- Loved, in addition to the usual Read and Starred (Read Later) states, with its own smart feed and heart indicator.
- Timeline Layout customization — summary line count and metadata and tag previews are adjustable from Settings, with a live preview.
- Reader theme overrides — normal reader features, now built into the application.
See nectar-architecture.md for how feed data
flows from Ambrosia's JSON Feed extension through to the app's UI.
Nectar is available under the same license as NetNewsWire — see
LICENSE.