You can follow YouTube channels, subreddits and Facebook pages without the algorithm by reading them in an RSS reader instead of the apps. YouTube still gives every channel an RSS feed. Reddit's RSS feeds end on 13 November 2026, so subreddits need a reader that fetches them another way. Facebook has no page feeds at all, so you need a feed builder or a reader that follows pages directly.
I follow a handful of YouTube channels for work, a couple of subreddits where small business owners swap notes, and a few Facebook pages, including my local council's, which only seems to post anywhere else when the bins change. For years I checked each of them in its own app. Every visit came with recommendations, "suggested for you" and a feed that never ended, so ten minutes of catching up regularly turned into forty.
Moving them into an RSS reader fixed most of that. If you're still working out how to use RSS, my plain-English guide to what an RSS feed is explains it in a few minutes. Then come back here, because each of these three platforms works differently, and one of them changes on 13 November 2026.
Why take them out of the algorithm at all?
The apps aren't built to show you what you subscribed to. They're built to keep you watching and scrolling, so your subscriptions get mixed in with whatever the platform thinks will hold your attention.
An RSS reader works the other way round. You choose the sources, new posts arrive in the order they were published, and when you reach the end, you've seen everything. No autoplay, no trending sidebar, no rabbit holes.
It also puts everything in one place. A new video from a channel you trust, a busy thread in your industry's subreddit and an update from a supplier's Facebook page can all sit in the same list, next to the blogs and news sites you already follow.
How to get a YouTube RSS feed for any channel
YouTube is the easy one. Every channel still has an RSS feed. It just isn't advertised. The address looks like this:
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNEL_ID
To find the channel ID:
- Open the channel's page on YouTube in a browser.
- Click more at the end of the channel description.
- Scroll to the bottom of the panel that opens and click Share channel.
- Choose Copy channel ID.
- Paste the ID onto the end of the address above, in place of CHANNEL_ID.
Channel IDs start with "UC" and are a long jumble of letters and numbers, so copying beats retyping. Paste the finished address into your reader and you'll see the channel's latest uploads. When I checked a few channels, the feed held the 15 most recent videos, which is plenty when your reader checks it regularly.
There's a shortcut, too. Some readers will work out the feed if you simply paste the channel's normal web address, such as youtube.com/@channelname. Try that first, and only go hunting for the ID if your reader says it can't find a feed.
Reddit RSS feeds: what changes on 13 November 2026
For years, following a subreddit by RSS was a neat trick: add .rss to the end of its address, so reddit.com/r/books became reddit.com/r/books/.rss, and paste that into your reader.
That ends on 13 November 2026. In a post to moderators in r/modnews, Reddit said it will stop supporting RSS feeds on that date because RSS "is now a common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse." Moderators get a different way to receive their alerts. For everyone else, Reddit was blunt: "If you use RSS for feeds outside of a community you moderate, there is no replacement."
TechCrunch also reported that Reddit's public API access will end by March 2027. That matters if you use any third-party tool to watch Reddit, so it's worth checking how your tools get their data.
So what still works after the 13th?
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- Readers that don't use the .rss feeds. Some readers fetch subreddits another way. Hushread, which I use, says in its help pages that subreddits followed in it keep updating after 13 November with nothing to change. If your reader gets subreddits some other way, check its help pages, or simply see whether new posts are still arriving a few days after the 13th.
- Following what the subreddit links to. Plenty of subreddits are mostly links to articles. Following those publishers directly gets you the same news without Reddit in the middle.
- The Reddit app itself, used on purpose. If one community really matters to you, a quick visit at a set time is better than nothing. Just go in for that subreddit and come straight back out.
Any feed in your reader that ends in .rss and points at reddit.com will stop updating on that date, so it's a good moment to tidy up.
If you keep an eye on Reddit for your brand rather than for reading, my roundup of Reddit marketing and monitoring tools is worth a look, though check each tool's plans for the API change.
Facebook page RSS feeds: what actually works
Facebook doesn't offer an RSS feed for pages, so there's no hidden Facebook RSS feed address to find. You have two honest options.
Use a feed builder. Services like RSS.app and FetchRSS turn a public Facebook page into an RSS feed. You paste the page's address, they create a feed address, and you add that to your reader. FetchRSS notes that it can't make feeds from personal profiles, only public pages and some public groups.
Use a reader that follows pages directly. A few readers can add a public Facebook page as a source without a separate feed builder. That's one less account to manage.
Either way, set your expectations. These tools can only read what Facebook shows publicly, so pages that need a login won't work, and Facebook changes its pages often enough that the odd post can arrive late or not at all. For a local business page or a council noticeboard, that's usually fine. For anything you can't afford to miss, keep notifications on in the Facebook app for that one page.
Put them all in one reader
Once you have the feeds, put them in one place. I use Hushread, which follows subreddits, YouTube channels and public Facebook pages as ordinary sources, alongside normal RSS feeds, and shows everything newest first with no algorithm deciding the order. I paste a subreddit or channel link, or pick Reddit, YouTube or Facebook from its list, and the posts land in the same feed as my news sites.
You don't have to use the same app I do. Most readers handle YouTube feeds and feeds from Facebook page builders without any fuss. For Reddit after 13 November, check how your reader fetches subreddits before you rely on it. My roundup of the best RSS reader apps compares the main ones, free and paid, if you're choosing one now.
How to keep it manageable
Moving everything into one reader is only half the job. A few habits stop it turning into another feed you dread opening.
- Start small. Add the five or six channels, subreddits and pages you'd genuinely miss. You can always add more in a fortnight.
- Use folders. I keep "Work", "Local" and "Learning" separate, so a burst of posts from one busy subreddit doesn't bury a supplier's update.
- Be choosy with busy subreddits. The biggest subreddits post around the clock. If one floods your reader, follow a smaller, more focused community instead.
- Keep notifications for the few that matter. A new video from one channel can wait until tomorrow. A post from the page that runs your weekly market might not.
- Check the Reddit sources after 13 November. If a subreddit has gone quiet in your reader, the .rss feed has probably stopped.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get an RSS feed for a YouTube channel?
Open the channel, click "more" in the description, then Share channel and Copy channel ID. Add the ID to the end of https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id= and paste the result into your RSS reader. Some readers will also accept the channel's normal address and find the feed for you.
Does Reddit still have RSS feeds?
Reddit announced that it will stop supporting RSS feeds on 13 November 2026, and said there is no replacement for people who used them to follow communities they don't moderate. Feed addresses ending in .rss stop updating from that date. Readers that fetch subreddits another way can carry on, so check how yours does it.
Can you get an RSS feed for a Facebook page?
Not from Facebook itself. You can create one with a feed builder such as RSS.app or FetchRSS, or use a reader that follows public Facebook pages directly. Neither works for personal profiles or pages that need a login.
Is RSS still used?
Yes. Most blogs, news sites and podcasts still publish RSS feeds, and YouTube still offers one for every channel. Reddit dropping its feeds is a loss, but it's one platform, not the end of the format.
