Particle or Lissin: a news feed you read, or a briefing made to be heard
Particle summarises each story from many outlets and can read your feed aloud. Lissin writes a spoken briefing on the subjects you name, ready at the time you set.
The short answer
Particle is a free AI news reader for iPhone, Android and the web. It summarises each story from many outlets, lets you follow people and topics, and can read your feed aloud. Choose Lissin when you want a briefing written to be heard, on the subjects you name, ready at a set time each day.
How to choose
Keep Particle if you read the news
Particle groups coverage of one story from many outlets into a single summary, with styles such as "Explain Like I'm 5" and "The 5Ws". You can follow people, places, journalists and publishers and get a notification when they are in the news. If you mostly read on your phone, it does that job well and costs nothing to start.
Know what its audio is
Particle's Play button reads your personalised feed aloud, and since February 2026 it places clips from real podcasts beside related stories. Both are ways to hear the feed. Neither is a show written for listening, with an order, transitions and a length you chose.
Use Lissin for the listen-only part of your day
Describe the briefing once: "Every weekday at 7:30, ten minutes: anything new on EU AI rules and the Indian rupee, then one story from the Premier League. Skip celebrity news." Lissin researches the web before each episode, writes a script for the ear and has it ready at that time, with its sources listed.
Point it at sources you already trust
Name the outlets you trust in the request, or add links to them, and Lissin uses them alongside its own research. Particle lets you follow the publishers and journalists it already covers; Lissin takes whatever sources you name.
At a glance
- Particle
- AI news reader on iPhone, Android and the web, made by Mina Labs
- How Particle picks stories
- Popular and category feeds, plus the people, topics, journalists and publishers you follow
- Particle audio
- A Play button that reads your feed aloud, and podcast clips beside related stories
- Particle cost
- Free, with an optional paid Particle+ subscription
- Lissin's shape
- A spoken briefing on the subjects and sources you name, researched again for each episode
- Lissin length and schedule
- 5 to 25 minutes by plan; once, daily, weekdays, weekly or every two weeks
- Lissin cost
- Free includes 50 minutes of audio a week. Daily delivery needs Plus, $9.99 a month
Hear what comes out
Shows already published on Lissin, free to play in the browser.
Questions
- Does Particle have an audio briefing?
- It can read your personalised feed aloud with its Play button, and it shows podcast clips next to stories. It does not write a separate audio show for you.
- Can I use Lissin on Android?
- Not to create shows. Creating a show needs an iPhone on iOS 26 or later. Anyone can play a shared Lissin episode in a web browser on any device.
- Can Lissin show me the original articles?
- Each episode lists the sources it used, so you can open them. Lissin does not give you a feed of articles to scroll, which is what Particle is built for.
- Can I use both?
- Yes. Particle covers reading on your phone; a Lissin briefing covers the commute or a walk.
What this does not do
Lissin does not give you a scrollable news feed, per-story summaries from many outlets, or alerts when something you follow breaks. A briefing is written from what is published online when it runs, so a story that breaks later waits for the next episode. Creating a show needs an iPhone on iOS 26 or later, and daily delivery is on paid plans. Check names and figures against the listed sources before you act on them.
Sources
Make your own show, or hear a sample
Make a show from your topic or documents in the Lissin iPhone app (iOS 26 or later). Or listen to public shows in the web player without installing the app.
Last reviewed October 27, 2026 by Lissin Editorial.