You’re looking for a direct associated press rss feed link because you want the news straight from the source without the fluff. I get it. Most people do this because they're tired of the algorithmic nightmare that is social media. They want a clean, chronological list of headlines from one of the most trusted news organizations on the planet.
But here is the frustrating reality. If you go to the AP News website right now and Ctrl+F for "RSS," you’ll find absolutely nothing. They scrubbed those public-facing links years ago.
It’s a weird move for a company that basically invented the "wire service" concept, right? You’d think they would be the first people to embrace a protocol designed for syndication. But the AP changed their business model. They shifted toward a proprietary delivery system called AP Media Port and paid API access. Basically, they want to make sure that if you’re using their content, you’re either a paying member or you’re viewing it on their terms.
The Death of the Public Associated Press RSS Feed
There was a time, maybe ten years ago, when you could just grab a URL like hosted.ap.org/lineups/TOPHEADLINES.rss and plug it into Feedly or NetNewsWire. It worked perfectly. Then, slowly, those links started throwing 404 errors.
The AP didn't just forget to update them. They intentionally deprecated them.
Why? Because the AP is a cooperative. It’s owned by its contributing newspapers and broadcasters. If they give away a free, high-speed associated press rss feed to everyone with a browser, they are technically competing against the very newspapers that pay to be part of the cooperative. It’s a messy conflict of interest. Plus, RSS doesn't track user data very well. In an era where every click needs to be quantified for advertisers, a "dumb" RSS feed is a liability for a major news corp's bottom line.
How the "Pro" Version Works
If you are a developer or a large-scale publisher, you don't use RSS anyway. You use the AP Content API. It’s robust. It’s fast. It’s also incredibly expensive for a hobbyist. We are talking thousands of dollars depending on the volume and the rights you're licensing.
For the average person just trying to keep up with the world, the API isn't an option. You just want a feed.
Sneaky Ways to Get AP News in Your Reader
Since there is no "official" public associated press rss feed anymore, you have to get a little bit creative. You have to look at the back doors.
One of the most reliable ways is to use Google News as a proxy. Google News still supports RSS, and they index the AP religiously. You can actually create a custom feed that filters for only Associated Press articles.
You’d use a URL structure like this:https://news.google.com/rss/search?q=source:Associated+Press
It isn't perfect. Sometimes Google's algorithm misses a story for a few minutes, or it accidentally pulls in a story about the AP rather than by the AP. But for 99% of people, this is the closest you will ever get to a functional associated press rss feed in 2026.
The PBS NewsHour Hack
Another "secret" is looking at the AP's partners. PBS NewsHour frequently carries AP wire stories. Often, their own RSS feeds are much more accessible and contain a high volume of unedited AP copy. It’s a bit of a "neighbor’s house" approach—you’re getting the content, just through a different window.
Why RSS Still Matters for News Junkies
RSS is old. It’s basically a zombie technology at this point, yet it refuses to die because nothing has actually replaced it.
When you use an associated press rss feed (or a workaround), you’re opting out of the "engagement" loops that keep you angry and clicking. You see a headline. You decide if you care. You move on.
Breaking the News Cycle
If you rely on the AP app or their website, you’re subject to their layout choices. They decide what the "Big Story" is. With an RSS reader, you see the raw feed. You might notice that the AP is putting out fifty stories a day about a regional conflict that the homepage is completely ignoring. That's the power of the wire. It’s raw. It’s high-volume. It’s boring in the best possible way.
Honestly, the world would be a lot calmer if more people read the news through a text-based reader instead of a vertical video feed with a guy pointing at captions.
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Technical Workarounds for Power Users
If the Google News trick feels too "hacky" for you, there are tools like RSS.app or FetchRSS. These services basically "scrape" the AP News website and turn it into a feed for you.
- You give them the URL:
apnews.com/hub/ap-top-news - Their bot visits the page every few minutes.
- It looks for new headlines and creates a custom associated press rss feed for you.
The downside? These services usually cost money if you want them to update more than once a day. If you’re a real news junkie, a 24-hour delay is a dealbreaker.
Self-Hosting Your Own Scraper
For the real nerds—and I say that with love—you can use something like RSS-Bridge. It’s a PHP-based project that you can host on a cheap server or a Raspberry Pi. It has "bridges" for hundreds of sites that don't officially support RSS. There is almost always a community-maintained bridge for AP News.
It’s a bit of a "set it and forget it" project. Once it’s running, you have a private, permanent associated press rss feed that nobody can take away from you.
What the AP Loses by Killing RSS
I think the Associated Press actually loses a lot by making their content harder to access for power users. RSS users are "high-intent" readers. They are the people who share links, cite sources, and actually care about the veracity of their information.
By forcing everyone into a proprietary app, the AP is just becoming another "content provider" instead of being the "infrastructure of news."
The Reliability Factor
When things go wrong in the world—wars, elections, pandemics—the AP is usually the gold standard. Their stylebook is the law for almost every journalist in America. When you can’t get an associated press rss feed easily, the "information gap" gets filled by less reliable sources.
If a guy on X (formerly Twitter) is posting "BREAKING" news but you can't quickly check your AP feed to verify it, misinformation spreads faster. The friction they’ve added to their distribution has real-world consequences for how quickly we can verify the truth.
Setting Up Your News Workflow
If you want to build a professional-grade news monitoring system without spending a dime, here is the path.
First, download a solid reader. NetNewsWire is the king for Mac and iOS users because it’s fast and open-source. Feedly is the best for cross-platform. Inoreader is the best for people who want to set up complex filters (like "show me AP stories but only if they mention semiconductor chips").
Second, don't just look for one associated press rss feed. Create a "Wire" folder in your reader. Add the Reuters feed (they still have some public ones), the UPI feed, and the Agence France-Presse (AFP) feed where available.
Third, use the Google News search string I mentioned earlier. It’s the most stable "set it and forget it" method.
Actionable Steps for a Better Feed
Stop wasting time looking for a .xml link on the AP homepage. It isn't there.
Instead, go to Google News, search for source:"Associated Press", and scroll to the very bottom of the results page. You’ll see a "Create RSS" link or a RSS icon in the address bar depending on your browser. Copy that link.
Paste that into your reader.
If you need more granular control, like only getting the "Sports" or "Business" associated press rss feed, just modify the search query. For example: source:"Associated Press" AND "NFL".
This gives you a cleaner, more targeted stream than the AP ever offered in the old days. You’ve basically built your own custom wire service. It’s faster, it’s quieter, and it keeps you out of the rage-bait cycle. That is how you consume news like a pro in 2026.