Adding a feed
+ button → paste the feed URL. If the URL is a regular site (not a feed), Distill probes for <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"> in the page head and tries to find the feed automatically. About 80% of sites publish discoverable feeds; the rest you'll have to dig out manually.
Importing from another reader
Settings → Feeds → Import OPML. Most readers (Reeder, NetNewsWire, Feedly's export) generate a compatible OPML file. Subscriptions, folders, and read/unread state come along.
Exporting your feed list
Settings → Feeds → Export OPML. Save the file anywhere — Files, AirDrop, email — and you can move to any other reader without losing your subscriptions. There's no lock-in.
How the Hot Links score works
For each link an article references, Distill counts how many other articles in your subscribed feeds also reference it within the last few days. More cross-references in your feed network = higher Hot Links score. The score is local; it does not consider what other Distill users are reading because the app has no idea what other users are reading.
Cleared cache, articles still show up
Clearing the cache only removes the on-device article body cache. Article metadata (titles, dates, links) re-fetches from the source feed on next refresh. To get rid of an article permanently, archive or unsubscribe from the feed it came from.
Watch app didn't load my feeds
The watch app pulls from CloudKit, which can lag a minute or two on first sync after a fresh install. Open the iPhone app once, leave it on the feed list for ~30 seconds, then re-open the Watch app.
Anything else
Email me at chen.he@icloud.com.