Reeder + Safari Split View on iPad: A Practical Guide

You can use Reeder and Safari together in Split View on iPad by opening both apps side by side, letting you read your RSS feed on one side while browsing the full article or doing follow-up research on the other.

Why Reeder and Safari work well together

Reeder is a clean, distraction-free RSS reader. Safari is where the rest of the web lives. The problem with using them separately is constant context-switching — you spot an interesting headline in Reeder, tap through, get pulled into Safari, lose your place, repeat. Putting them side by side cuts that loop entirely.

Here are a few ways this pairing earns its screen space:

• Article triage: Scan your Reeder feed on the left, open promising links in Safari on the right. You stay oriented in your queue while still reading the full piece when it matters.
• Research and annotation: When a Reeder article references something you want to dig into — a study, a person, a product — you can look it up in Safari immediately without losing your spot in the feed.
• Save-for-later workflow: Open a Reeder item, pull up the Safari version of the same page, and use Safari's Reader Mode or a save extension to archive a clean copy. Useful if you want a formatted version rather than the RSS excerpt.

This combination is especially practical for anyone who follows news, tech blogs, or long-form writing and wants to do more than just skim.

How to set it up with Splicon

If you haven't already, Download Splicon free from the App Store — it handles the icon creation and shortcut setup in one place.

1. Open Splicon and search for Reeder, then Safari. Select them as your pair. Splicon pulls in both app icons so you can see exactly what the combined shortcut will look like.
2. Pick a split style — you can choose which app sits on the left and adjust the proportions. Once you're happy, generate the icon and save it to your Photos library.
3. Open the Shortcuts app, create a new shortcut, and add an "Open App" action configured to open both apps in Split View. When prompted to choose an icon, select the image you just saved from Splicon.
4. Add the shortcut to your Home Screen. Give it a clean name like "Read + Browse" or leave it blank if the icon speaks for itself.

After that, one tap from your Home Screen opens Reeder and Safari already arranged side by side — no swiping up from the Dock, no dragging windows around.

A small habit with a real payoff

The manual way to get into Split View works fine occasionally, but it adds enough friction that most people don't bother. Having a dedicated Home Screen icon changes that. It signals intent: this is a reading and research session, not just casual scrolling. Over time, that framing actually affects how you engage with what you read — you're more likely to follow a thread when the tool to do it is already in front of you.

If you use Reeder daily, this is one of the more useful shortcuts you can put on your Home Screen.