Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, First Look
iPhone app Feeds handily synchronizes with Google Reader
Google Reader is unarguably an extremely popular RSS news reader with a very good mobile interface for the iPhone. But as good as the mobile interface is, for me well done native applications will always beat an in-browser experience. A good iPhone app that synchronizes with Google Reader already exists by the name of Byline ($4.99, iTunes link), but a new one has just been released that is worth your attention.I used Byline for a few months before finally tiring of not having the ability to unsubscribe from feeds that I'd lost interest in. In fact, I switched to NetNewsWire (free, iTunes link) on the Newsgator platform for just that reason. But this new RSS reader has come along with not only the ability to synchronize with Google Reader, but also the ability to manage my Google Reader subscriptions right on my iPhone. This new (to me, anyway) app is called Feeds ($2.99, iTunes link).
It's almost impossible not to draw a direct comparison between Byline and Feeds, since they both are accomplishing the same essential task. The aforementioned feed management in Feeds is fairly comprehensive: you can subscribe to new feeds, unsubscribe from existing feeds, rename feeds, and manage feed "categories", which map to your Google Reader tags. In terms of other things Feeds does better than Byline, speed of synchronization would be high on the list, app responsiveness is better while synchronizing, the main buttons to switch between posts are in the middle of the screen so lefties like me can just as easily use them, and Feeds offers 4 different color themes (default green, blue, black, and orange). Byline has Feeds beat in one areas: it supports the Notes feature in Google Reader that allows you to share items with annotations.Along with the lack of Google Reader Notes support, I have a couple gripes about Feeds. The Category feature forces you to choose one category per feed, rather than working like tags in Google Reader, where a feed can belong to multiple tags. Also, in my testing not all of the posts showed up in some of my feeds, particularly the older ones. For example, the unread stamp for the feed might read 13, but only one or two posts (and sometimes none at all) actually appear, even with all of the settings completely maxed out. This could be a bug, or just me not fully understanding just what is or isn't downloaded by the program.
Notwithstanding those gripes, I'm going to give Feeds a first-page spot on my iPhone, and use it as my default reader. There is a lot to like about it, and the developer's blog is active with details about updates and dialog with users in the comments. What's your favorite iPhone RSS reader, and why?
[via Steve Rubel]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
mafaneh said 10:12AM on 2-02-2009
I still stick to the web version of Google Reader.. Call me cheap, but I can't justify paying 2 or 3 bucks when I can get most of the functionality through the website..
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DrWho said 10:56AM on 2-02-2009
Me too
Jash Sayani said 11:47AM on 2-02-2009
I too still use the Google Reader for iPhone (Webapp). I agree that native apps are better but the web app does all I need and is Free !
Though I hope to see a Google Reader native app by either Google or another developer which is free!
George said 12:42PM on 2-02-2009
Yeah so far the plain Google web reader via iPhone is the one I have been using too.
Dowser said 10:36AM on 2-02-2009
I use Gazette, since it's a great Google Reader companion and ideal for my off line needs while commuting.
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frank said 10:47AM on 2-02-2009
I have found Gazette to be pretty much what I needed: Google Reader sync, fast and nice interface. It's a bit cheaper than Feeds, but I probably have a look at Feeds, too.
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B said 10:44AM on 2-02-2009
When it syncs, does it keep a local cache? Meaning, if I sync while I have service and then reopen when I don't have service, are the feeds still readable?
I've been going on Google Reader in Safari and hitting "more" a few times right before getting on the subway lately. Text is at least cached, though not pics.
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Scott said 10:50AM on 2-02-2009
This is the question I'm interested in as well. Also, I'd be interested in seeing a comparison between the web version vs. this app.
drummerjoe said 11:16AM on 2-02-2009
I agree. I want an offline version of Google Reader.
Rick said 10:54AM on 2-02-2009
Yikes ... just downloaded and tested this app based on this review. As a current Byline user, I'd have to say this fails in comparison on about every front. The app seems quite buggy with feeds not displaying at all, randomly going into 'offline' mode without any ability to go back online other than quitting and restarting the app, and at least in my experience extremely slow feed loading times.
I want my money back.
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Kel said 11:06AM on 2-02-2009
I have to agree too about Byline being buggy. I have many ATOM feeds which Google Reader has no problem with, but Byline crashes. I've sent reports to the author with no response. Even if I got a simple, "Hey, I'm working on it", I'd feel better - but for now it's really frustrating to have to read/clear out the ATOM feeds on google reader before I can use Byline successfully.
It does cache the files nicely though. So if you expect to be offline for a while this is a nice app to have something to ready - but only if you don't expect to read atom feeds.
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+. said 11:13AM on 2-02-2009
i use Byline, but i'd almost be willing to pay for another app that proved to be a little bit less buggy, & a _lot_ better looking. the 'wood-paneling' crap that plagues Byline annoys me to no end, & Feeds would be a breath of fresh air in that regard.
i'm mostly interested in the caching question as well, however. & hesitant, based on my Byline experience, to shell out (more) money for something that i can't even try first.
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Nuno Sousa said 11:19AM on 2-02-2009
I use NetNewsWire because of one thing:
I don't like Google Reader's web interface. I know. There must be something wrong with me.
I much prefer to use NetNewsWire on my MacBook. It's just a cleaner, faster and better integrated solution for browsing my feeds.
Naturally I use NetNewsWire on the iPhone to keep things in sync.
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Quix said 11:43AM on 2-02-2009
Me, I'm still holding strong with NetNewsWire. I like the desktop app better than a browser-based reader, and the syncing between desktop app and iPhone app is great. The initial iPhone version of NetNewsWire had serious problems, but they seem to have worked out most of the kinks.
The "Mark All As Read" button still mysteriously fails to appear sometimes though, and it is annoying that feeds sometimes won't appear in their respective subscription groups - you have to select the individual subscription to see it. This needs to be fixed.
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emil said 11:44AM on 2-02-2009
I use the web version. I am a little frustrated by how it reloads the page when you come back to it from reading an article (e.g., what if I want to share/star it after reading? Now it's marked as read and difficult to retrieve). But that annoyance is not worth $2.99 to me.
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Rob E. said 12:16PM on 2-02-2009
Faster syncing would definitely be a plus. I bought ByLine thinking that I would use it to read feeds on the bus in the morning on my iPod Touch (i.e. no internet access on the bus). I've done it a few times, but I have an issue in that: 1) I have to remember to sync, and 2) I have to remember to sync long before I'm walking out the door, because syncing takes a while.
That said, if I plan ahead, I've found ByLine does exactly what I want it to, but, because syncing is something I need to remember to do before I'm out of wifi range, I seldom use it. If only updates could be "pushed" into ByLine or Feeds in the background, I'd probably use Byline more, and be more tempted to try Feeds as well. Between music, video, audio books, and Stanza, there's generally more than enough stuff to keep me occupied when I'm out of WiFi range, but my unread Reader items continue to grow, so I'm always looking for an offline Reader solution.
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michel said 12:24PM on 2-02-2009
the problem with native apps is they sync on the phone, with the google mobile web page everything sync on the server and you just load the webpage
i dont care what kind of neat futures the native readers have the time you loose by syncing is just not worth it
netnewswire and bylines are nice apps, but i got fed up while waiting fro my 60 or so feeds to sync, google is instant
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mickw said 1:08PM on 2-02-2009
This looks like a nice solution for Google Reader. My biggest gripe with mobile GReader is it's insistence on linking to mobile versions for the original articles. This drives me crazy to see a stripped down version of a site on the iPhone. I tried Byline, but did not like how it does not organize by feed. It only recognizes tags and folders to segment feeds. I'm currently using Doppler. It does a good job with feed handling, but I have to remember to manually sync upon opening and before closing to update read and starred items.
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Sean said 1:29PM on 2-02-2009
@mickw You can change the settings on your mobile google reader to display the full page when you want to see the original article. Just click on Settings at the bottom of the iphone's google reader page.
Rob E. said 2:20PM on 2-02-2009
Thank you, Sean. I've been thinking that there had to be a way to do that, but I hadn't gone looking for the solution yet.