Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ The State of Google Reader Replacements Josh Centers With the imminent death of Google Reader, it's time to fish for a new RSS syncing service or cut bait, so to speak. Come 1 July 2013, without a last-minute call from Governor Larry Page, Google is flipping the switch and sending Reader to the land of abandoned Google initiatives. When Google first announced the death of Reader, we took a look at the then-existing field of candidates, but frankly, it was a field that was dry and barren (see '[1]Explore Alternatives to Google Reader,' 18 March 2013). Fever, a self-hosted solution, [2]isn't a top priority for its developer, Shaun Inman. Another one of our picks, [3]Netvibes, is in sore need of an update. The good news is that the developer community has come through, and there are now several compelling alternatives to Google Reader, though all are far from complete. And our previous favorite, Feedly, even has some new flair to share. I've sorted through the competition to find the best choices that work for multiple platforms, have third-party support, and, if possible, follow sustainable business models. If you haven't done so already, be sure to [4]export your existing Google Reader subscriptions to OPML. All the services we mention here will import Google Reader's subscriptions.xml file for you, and some don't yet export, so be sure to hold on to your export until you're good and settled. Feedly -- When we last checked in on [5]Feedly, it was by far the best alternative to Google Reader: it's free, multi-platform, and imports directly from your Google Reader account. We also mentioned back then that Feedly was building its own service, dubbed Normandy, to replace Google Reader for syncing. Feedly came through on its word, and as of 19 June, has [6]moved away from Google to its own infrastructure. Congrats to the Feedly team on its prescience and quick action. Feedly offers clients for the Web and iOS, but if you already have an RSS reader you've grown attached to, good news! Feedly has opened up its cloud API to third-party developers. On board are developers of [7]Reeder, [8]Mr. Reader, and [9]Newsify. All apps are scheduled to be updated with Feedly support before the 1 July Google Reader cutoff. (In fact, Mr. Reader was updated on 26 June to support Feedly and other services.) To make Feedly even more attractive, it's now [10]supported by automation service IFTTT, enabling easy, automatic sharing of content to other services, such as Twitter, Pocket, and Facebook. If you don't care to use a third-party app, then Feedly's Web and iOS apps offer a number of themes and viewing options to tailor the experience. All three platforms let you view articles as a magazine, as a set of cards, or, for Google Reader refugees, as a list of headlines. [11][tn_Feedly-iPhone.jpg] [12][tn_iPad-Feedly-Cards.jpg] [13][tn_Feedly-Web-list.jpg] While Feedly is a great, easy drop-in replacement for Reader, there's one big caveat: it doesn't export. Once you're in Feedly, there's currently no way out. (All the more reason to save your Google Reader export!) The developers of Feedly have stated on Twitter that OPML export [14]is on the roadmap. However, we encourage taking developer promises with a grain of salt, as it's always possible that export will never be added. In theory, you could export your subscriptions from a third-party client, but that isn't yet a reality. While Feedly has added the capability to view your feeds in a browser without a plug-in, there are other gaps to fill. There still isn't a way to search in feeds and group sharing is still lacking. Those features [15]are also on the map for Feedly's future. For now, it's certainly worth creating a Feedly account if you haven't already done so. It's free; has third-party syncing support; sports clients for desktop, iPhone, and iPad; and the developers are invested in the product. But I'm going to hold on to my Google Reader export until Feedly develops a concrete business plan, or export functionality. Feedbin -- A paid newcomer to the RSS market, [16]Feedbin offers a simple interface and an API for developers for $2 a month. What I particularly like about Feedbin is that my RSS client of choice, [17]Reeder, already supports it. However, Feedbin support is currently enabled only in the iPhone version of Reeder, with no word on support for the iPad and Mac clients. Luckily, the latest version of [18]Mr. Reader for iPad also now supports Feedbin. Also, [19]ReadKit for Mac has been updated to include Feedbin, among many other services. You can import your Google Reader feeds as OPML, though no direct import of Google Reader is supported. Just choose Settings, then Import/Export. The Web experience should be familiar to users of Google Reader or Reeder. Feeds are organized as tags (folders) and also listed individually. Buttons in the left-most sidebar let you view all items, only unread items, and let you mark all items as read. New feeds can be added in a box at the top of the page, but there isn't yet a directory of sites to follow. [20][tn_Feedbin-Web.jpg] Google Reader refugees will be pleased that Feedbin has mimicked all of Google Reader's keyboard shortcuts, including navigation with J and K. In fact, other than some rendering issues, Feedbin is more attractive than Google Reader's default interface. However, it can be a bit slow loading items at times. Viewing the Web interface on the iPad is another matter. It's essentially a squeezed-down version of the desktop Web app. Touch works well enough, but the content itself gets squished when the iPad is in portrait mode. I recommend spending the extra $3.99 for Mr. Reader over using Feedbin's Web interface. Overall, I like Feedbin. The price is reasonable, the Web app is decent, and it's already shaping up with solid third-party support. Feed Wrangler -- Like Feedbin, [21]Feed Wrangler is another paid alternative to Google Reader, with subscriptions costing $19 a year. Unlike with Feedbin, there's [22]a Feed Wrangler app for iPhone and iPad. Feed Wrangler was created by David Smith, author of [23]Check the Weather, one of my favorite iOS weather apps. [24][tn_Feed-Wrangler-iPad.jpg] Feed Wrangler takes a unique approach to feed management. There are no folders or tags to categorize feeds. Instead, Feed Wrangler uses what it calls Smart Streams to mash feeds together. Smart Streams are similar to smart playlists in iTunes, a group of feeds defined by search terms and/or by manually including feeds. While it's powerful, I found clicking small checkboxes to add feeds to be unnecessarily fiddly ' it's easier to drag feeds into a folder. While Feed Wrangler can import your existing subscriptions, it ignores any folders or tags previously applied, so you have to build your stream from scratch. Both the Web app and iOS apps are handsomely designed, with simple layouts and a nice selection of fonts. One nice touch is that the iOS apps have built-in support for the [25]1Password password management app. Even better, in addition to the expected sharing options like [26]Instapaper and [27]Pocket, Feed Wrangler supports sending items to [28]Drafts, where you can manipulate and share content any way you like. If you're not happy with the provided apps, the good news is that Feed Wrangler has a third-party API, and the developer of Reeder has already said that he will be adding support. The latest version of [29]Mr. Reader for iPad now supports [30]Feed Wrangler. Also, [31]ReadKit for Mac now supports the service. While I wasn't crazy about Feed Wrangler at first, it may become my favorite of these services over time. The initial set up is painful and the included apps basic, but with third-party client support, and a Web app that's easy on the eyes, Feed Wrangler shows a lot of promise. NewsBlur -- Samuel Clay's [32]NewsBlur is ostensibly a free service, but if you want to actually use it, you'll need to shell out $24 a year. The free accounts have a long waiting list, and are limited to only 64 feeds. Despite that, there's a lot to like about NewsBlur. First, it includes a [33]free app for iPhone and iPad, and although there's no official desktop client, [34]ReadKit for Mac supports the service. [35][tn_NewsBlur-iPad.jpg] Right away, you'll notice that NewsBlur features a Web interface quite different from the competition. Feeds are grouped into folders, but you can also create subfolders, so you could have a folder labeled Tech, with a subfolder labeled Apple. There are also a number of viewing modes that let you view articles as a list of headlines, browse the text itself, or view the content on the original site. [36][tn_NewsBlur-Web.jpg] One the best features of NewsBlur is that it will report bad RSS feeds and offer methods to fix them. If an exclamation mark shows up next to a feed, that means the feed is broken. Click it, and you'll be given options to search for a new feed or delete the feed entirely. [37][tn_NewsBlur-fix-feed.jpg] NewsBlur also features a filtering option called Intelligence Trainer, where you can tell NewsBlur what you like or dislike about any item in an RSS feed. While I haven't used it enough to tell if it's effective, [38]Gabe Weatherhead of Macdrifter loves it. Alongside that are some interesting social features, such as built-in comments for articles from the NewsBlur community. [39][tn_NewsBlur-Trainer.jpg] While NewsBlur has been well-received by the blog community, I'm just not crazy about it. I find its bevy of options more confusing than empowering. Feed Wrangler, while a pain to set up, offers a lot of power while being simple to use on a daily basis. NewsBlur makes me feel anxious at all the different switches and options, and its filtering options make me paranoid that I'm missing content. If I don't want to read a feed, I just unsubscribe. The Rest -- Even as I write this, new RSS readers are being developed and released from seemingly every corner of the Internet. Even [40]AOL and [41]Facebook are getting into the game. Here are some of the more interesting highlights. The [42]Digg team has been working on [43]its own reader, but I have yet to see it, despite reaching out to the development team. Early reports indicate that the beta is in rough shape, so it doesn't look like a viable solution at the moment. Will iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 Mavericks eliminate the need for RSS entirely? A new feature coming to Safari's reading list is [44]Shared Links, which extract every tweet from your Twitter timeline that features a link. If you're a power user who wants to go down this route, there's a Launch Center Pro action to create custom Tweetbot searches to include just the news sources you choose. [45][tn_Feed-Wrangler-Web.jpg] The team at Black Pixel has released the beta for [46]NetNewsWire 4 for Mac, which has been rebuilt to no longer use Google Reader for syncing. The bad news is that there's no longer any syncing at all, and the iOS apps have been pulled from the App Store while Black Pixel rewrites them for iOS 7. However, the beta is free, imports from Google Reader, and is super fast. The app will cost $20 on release, but you can currently pre-order it for $10. While not a good solution for now, it has a lot of promise, so I'll be keeping an eye on it. [47][tn_NetNewsWire.jpg] Our Advice -- Average users will be happy with Feedly, as it's free, has good cross-platform support, and will have support for third-party readers in the future. While Feedly is set to become the 800-pound gorilla of feed readers, I would suggest keeping an export of your Google Reader subscriptions until an export is available. I'm also leery of Feedly due to its lack of a coherent business model. If that's important to you, Feedbin, NewsBlur, and Feed Wrangler are worth the price of admission. Which you choose is a matter of taste. Feedbin comes closest to the Google Reader experience and is supported by Reeder on iPhone, Mr. Reader on iPad, and ReadKit for Mac. NewsBlur features native apps for all three platforms and powerful filtering features, but no third-party iOS support yet. Like Feedbin, Feed Wrangler has native apps on all three platforms, and I really like its iOS apps, but it's a pain to set up. Personally, I think I'll be switching to Feedbin full time. It was easy to set up, has a familiar interface, native apps for all three Apple platforms, has a sustainable business model, and the developer, Ben Ubois, is friendly and responsive. (And also a big fan of TidBITS. I love to support our readers!) I'd like to take a moment to congratulate the developer of Mr. Reader for iPad, who rushed to add support for Feedly, Feedbin, Fever, and Feed Wrangler. That level of support should be worth the $3.99 price alone. Along the same lines, I'd like to also cheer the developer of ReadKit for Mac. With support for NewsBlur, Feedbin, Feed Wrangler, Fever, and even Pocket and Instapaper, it's shaping up to be a must-have reading app for the Mac. On the other hand, I'm disappointed in Reeder. The iPhone version has been updated to support Feedbin and Fever, with other services coming very soon, the iPad and Mac apps [48]will not be updated prior to the 1 July shutdown, and will be pulled from the App Store. Also, all three versions are now free, making me question whether the developer, Silvio Rizzi, has much of any interest in continuing them in the future. Of course, there are many, many more alternatives out there. I focused on those with the best multi-platform support for now. If you'd like to see the rest of the field, check out [49]ReplaceReader, which lists all of the alternatives, and ranks them by number of Twitter mentions. References 1. http://tidbits.com/article/13642 2. http://shauninman.com/archive/2013/03/14/fire 3. http://www.netvibes.com/en/individual 4. https://www.google.com/takeout/ 5. http://www.feedly.com/ 6. http://blog.feedly.com/2013/06/19/feedly-cloud/ 7. http://reederapp.com/ 8. http://www.curioustimes.de/mrreader/ 9. http://www.greader.co/ 10. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twentyfivesquares.press 11. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/Feedly-iPhone.png 12. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/iPad-Feedly-Cards.png 13. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/Feedly-Web-list.png 14. https://twitter.com/feedly/status/328639558067552256 15. http://blog.feedly.com/2013/06/04/feedly-is-listening-the-roadmap-you-helped-us-shape/ 16. https://feedbin.me/ 17. http://reederapp.com/ 18. http://www.curioustimes.de/mrreader/ 19. http://readkitapp.com/ 20. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/Feedbin-Web.png 21. http://feedwrangler.net/ 22. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/feed-wrangler/id634486174 23. http://checktheweather.co/ 24. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/Feed-Wrangler-iPad.png 25. https://agilebits.com/onepassword 26. http://www.instapaper.com/ 27. http://getpocket.com/ 28. http://agiletortoise.com/drafts/ 29. http://www.curioustimes.de/mrreader/ 30. http://www.macstories.net/news/reeder-to-add-support-for-feedly-and-feed-wrangler/ 31. http://readkitapp.com/ 32. http://www.newsblur.com/ 33. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/newsblur/id463981119 34. http://readkitapp.com/ 35. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/NewsBlur-iPad.png 36. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/NewsBlur-Web.png 37. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/NewsBlur-fix-feed.png 38. http://www.macdrifter.com/2013/05/the-feed-reader-reviews-newsblur.html 39. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/NewsBlur-Trainer.png 40. http://reader.aol.com/ 41. http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/24/facebook-reader-details/ 42. http://digg.com/reader 43. http://www.macstories.net/linked/using-tweetbot-searches-to-replace-rss/ 44. http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/features/#safari 45. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/Feed-Wrangler-Web.png 46. http://netnewswireapp.com/ 47. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-06/NetNewsWire.png 48. http://reederapp.com/reader/ 49. http://www.replacereader.com/ .