Every reading app has an unread count. It sits there accumulating, a number that implies you are behind. Behind on what, exactly, is never specified. The feeling is reliable. The feed refreshes. The count goes up. You open the app not because you want to read something, but because the number is there.
Slow Web doesn't have an unread count. It has an edition: one page, assembled once a day from the feeds you chose. You open it, read through it, reach the end, and you're done. There is no more. The edition is either today's or it's yesterday's, and yesterday's is already archived.
A finite page. Like a newspaper.
One page, one day. That rules out a lot. No push notifications, because there's nothing urgent about the news you already chose to follow. No recommendations, because an edition has a last page and there's nowhere to put them. No account, because the app doesn't need to know who you are. Your feeds live on your device, your highlights stay there too, and if you switch phones you export a backup.
The design decision isn't minimalism for its own sake. It's that every feature a reading app adds to keep you reading longer is a feature working against you. An unread count keeps you anxious. Recommendations extend the session. Notifications pull you back in. These aren't neutral. They're the product working at cross purposes with your actual goal, which is to read the things you chose and then put the phone down.
Slow Web is built to be closed. If it's doing its job, you finish the edition and you're done with it until tomorrow.