Getting started with Fundus

Your first Source

To add a Source, choose File → Add Feed Source on the Mac, or tap + in the sidebar on iPhone and iPad, and paste a link. You can also import an OPML subscription list. Allow refresh to finish, then select an Item in Inbox to read it. Use Queue to save it for later or Archive when you are done.

Apple Podcasts links work too. Add a show's link as a Source to subscribe to the show. On the Mac, add an episode's link with File → Add Link to save just that episode, with its show notes and audio, ready to play.

An Item can be in only one of Inbox, Queue, or Archive at a time. Moving it to one removes it from the others. Dismiss removes it from all three while keeping it in All. Opening, playing, or completing an Item does not change its location.

Finding a feed

You don’t need a feed’s own address. Paste a link to a site or blog, a YouTube channel, video or playlist, a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify or Deezer, a SoundCloud account, or a Substack, Medium, Reddit or GitHub page, and Fundus finds its feed. Add Source says what the link is and what it will add before you add it.

If Fundus says a page doesn’t offer a feed:

Local media and playback

Connect a folder you control. Fundus stores references and playback progress; your original files stay in place. If you move a folder or disconnect a drive, reconnect the Source when it becomes available. Keep your own backup of the media files.

Reading and network failures

Publisher JavaScript is off by default in the article reader. If an article depends on scripts, open it in your browser. YouTube playback uses its own player. Some remote images and embedded media still contact their providers.

A single feed download is limited to 20 MiB and one minute. Oversized or unavailable Sources fail while other Sources continue refreshing. A Source whose feed keeps failing is checked less often, and after a day the sidebar marks it with a warning sign: hold the pointer over it on the Mac, or touch and hold it on iPhone and iPad, to see since when. The mark goes away when the feed answers again. A very large feed may need a smaller feed URL from its publisher.

Optional iCloud sync

Your Library works without iCloud. Sync is in beta, optional and off by default. It uses your private iCloud database and requires the same iCloud account on participating devices. Local-media file contents are not uploaded. Turning sync off keeps your local Library; it does not delete existing cloud records. An account change pauses sync to avoid mixing Libraries.

When two devices change the same Item before they sync, the later change wins by each device's clock, so a device whose clock is wrong can lose a change made after the other. Dismissing a Source on one device also drops the changes another device hasn't synced yet for that Source's Items. A change synced by a newer Fundus build may not arrive on a device with an older one, so keep your devices on the same build.

Back up before updating

  1. In Fundus, choose Help → Open Application Support Folder. Keep that Finder window open.
  2. Quit Fundus completely. Do not copy its database while it is running.
  3. Copy the entire Fundus folder to a separate dated backup folder. Include Library.sqlite and any Library.sqlite-wal, Library.sqlite-shm, and pre-migration backup files present. Preserve the original folder.
  4. Back up your original media folders separately. Record the Fundus version/build from About.

File → Export OPML exports subscriptions. Export Library Data produces readable data for your own use: your Sources, every Saved Link, and the Items you queued, archived, favorited, dismissed, or started playing, with their audio and video links. On iPhone and iPad, both are in Settings, as Export Sources and Export Library Data. Neither export is a restorable Library backup. iCloud sync is also not a versioned backup.

Recovery

If you suspect missing data, quit Fundus and make a dated copy of the current data folder before doing anything else. Keep both that copy and your last good backup. Contact support through TestFlight for help validating and restoring a copy.

Recovery uses the same or a newer compatible Fundus build, with the app quit and sync kept offline until the restored Library has been checked. Do not copy an older database over a running app, mix SQLite sidecars from different backups, or reconnect a restored Library to iCloud without checking how its older state will merge. Fundus keeps a pre-migration backup for 14 days after it upgrades your Library. It is useful for recovery; it is not a reason to downgrade the app.

Keyboard and feedback

The Item menu groups Dismiss, Queue, and Archive and shows your current shortcuts. Hover over their toolbar buttons to see what each action does. Dismiss keeps an Item in your Library; Queue saves it for later; Archive keeps it for reference. In Queue, Dismiss becomes Remove from Queue. Use Move to Inbox to bring an Item back. To clear your Inbox on Mac, choose Edit → Select All (⌘A) in the Inbox, then Dismiss (Delete); Edit → Undo brings the Items back.

Choose Help → Keyboard Shortcuts or Settings → Keyboard to customize commands, including playback. Play and Pause in the Item menu control the current player. Space scrolls the reader when the sidebar, item list, or reader has focus; it activates a player button when that button has keyboard focus.

To report a problem on Mac, choose Help → Report a Problem; on iPhone and iPad, Settings → Report a Problem. Describe the steps and approximate time, review the history, then save or email the report. Include its report ID in related TestFlight feedback. After Fundus quits unexpectedly, the sidebar on Mac and iOS also offers Report a Problem, and the report includes the crash.