Feedly: Week-Long Slowdown Caused by Bug, Not AI Pivot
Original: Feedly attributes weeklong slowdown to bug, not its AI pivot
Why This Matters
Feedly's technical stumble raises questions about maintaining core services during an AI-focused business pivot.
RSS reader Feedly, with 15 million users, suffered over a week of severe web app slowdowns. CEO Edwin Khodabakchian told TechCrunch the issue stemmed from a bug tied to 'Mark as Read' on accounts with many folders, not the company's AI pivot. A fix was released Friday.
Feedly, the world's largest standalone RSS reader with 15 million users, has faced significant technical difficulties for more than a week, leaving paying subscribers frustrated with what they described as an 'unusably slow' web app. Users on Reddit reported extreme slowdowns and said their support requests had gone unanswered.
Additionally, Feedly's iOS app stopped working, and the company quietly retired Feedly Classic — a legacy mobile app with a few hundred active users — without warning, citing non-compliance with current iOS and Android requirements.
TechCrunch contacted Feedly for comment. CEO Edwin Khodabakchian attributed the web app slowdown to a software bug, specifically tied to using the 'Mark as Read' function on accounts with large numbers of folders. A fix was released Friday, though the company said it was still confirming whether the issue had been resolved for all users.
Khodabakchian emphasized that RSS remains a core priority despite the company's ongoing pivot toward AI-powered cyber threat intelligence (CTI). 'Fixing the basic RSS functionality is still a priority because our CTI community uses the news-reading capability,' he said. Feedly's homepage now prominently advertises its AI and CTI offerings rather than its RSS product.