Reddit sets dates to end RSS feeds and public API access

• Reddit says RSS support will end on 13 November 2026, leaving ordinary users without a replacement for feeds outside communities they moderate.
• Public API access will be wound down in stages, with closure for remaining apps and users planned for March 2027.
• Reddit is directing developers to its Developer Platform, known as Devvit; registration does not guarantee continued public API access after March.
• One developer says losing RSS may lead them to close a product-support subreddit they run.

Reddit has set dates for shutting off two ways people and software access its posts: RSS feeds will stop working on 13 November 2026, and remaining public access to its Data API will close in March 2027. The company says it is doing so to make large-scale scraping and automated abuse harder.¹²

The two changes affect different users. RSS lets people receive new posts in a feed reader or use them to trigger alerts elsewhere. Reddit says moderators can move common alerts to supported tools such as Discord Relay, an app on its Developer Platform. But it says there is no replacement for RSS feeds used outside a community someone moderates.¹

The API shutdown is a transition, not an immediate end to every kind of Reddit API access. Reddit plans to stop accepting new requests for public API access after 31 October 2026. From 12 January 2027, it will start removing access for apps and users that have not registered or responded to its outreach. Remaining public access is due to close in March.²

Reddit wants app and bot developers to move to Devvit. It says more than 14,000 apps and bots have registered, while acknowledging that migrations are still under way and capability gaps remain. It offers technical support, free hosting and, for eligible apps that successfully migrate, payments of $1,000. Registration is part of that process, not a promise that an app can keep using the public API after the March closure.²

The practical effect is already a concern for at least one developer. The operator of the StopTheMadness support subreddit wrote that RSS was how they followed Reddit and about 20 other subreddits, and said they intended to close the forum after the cutoff unless Reddit reversed its decision. That is one developer’s stated plan, not a measure of the wider impact.³

Reddit’s announcements and news coverage describe the restrictions as a response to scraping and automated abuse. The announced dates and migration plans are clear; they do not, on their own, establish how much scraping used RSS or public API access, or how effectively removing those routes will curb it.¹²⁴⁵

Footnotes

1. Reddit, “Continuing our infrastructure updates: What’s changing in the coming months”. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Reddit, “Moving Data API Apps to the Developer Platform: migration dates and next steps”. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. UnderpassAppCompany, “The future of this subreddit”. ↩

4. TechCrunch, “Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots”. ↩

5. The Verge, “Reddit says it has to cut back access to ‘Old Reddit’ because of AI bots”. ↩