To think that the iPhone would be good for newsreading would be an understatement. The nature of the device makes it perfect for the task. That claim of course can only be proven by good software, and so I take a look at the best RSS readers on the App Store.
First of all, I’d like to give a shout out to NetNewsWire, for providing me with a great free RSS client right from the beginning. I think it’s time that I move on. The contenders: Pro RSS, Newsstand, Feeds and Byline.
Newsstand ($4.99) »
This RSS app is the first one that caught my eye. Holding the 2nd spot in the News category on the App Store, Newsstand promises a very slick and ‘cool’ UI for viewing your RSS feeds.
Newsstand offers a variety of import options. You can import from Bloglines, an OPML uploaded on a web server, Google Reader (import only), search for a blog on Google Blog Search, or enter the URL manually. They couldn’t have done it better when it comes to importing. Newsstand also offers a folder based organisation, but you need to create those before you import any feeds or you will just have to reimport them later.
The portrait UI of the app is very basic, conventional, and functional. You can flag items, send them to email or post them to delicious, or open the article in your web browser. Newsstand also offers a bunch of different themes for viewing the pages, but they are mostly useless (who would want to read news in Marker Felt!).
Turn the device sideways, and the coolness starts. The feeds line up as newspapers on a shelf, which you can flick through. The UI is very cool and wow. But functional? No! Tap on a feed, and it opens up in a book form, with the titles on one side, and the content on the other. Unfortunately, there’s hardly any space left for viewing the content, which makes this whole exercise pointless. Thankfully, turning it back to vertical keeps you in that same article.
How can one read news like this?
Overall Newsstand is a very feature rich RSS reader, with a pointless horizontal viewer. In paying too much attention to making the horizontal UI look good, they’ve neglected the portrait UI. Lots of UI glitches and choppy performance at times. Moving on…
Byline ($4.99) »
The biggest feature in this app? There’s many! For one there’s Google Reader syncing including support for stars and notes, offline reading, and then some more.
On launch, Byline asks for your google credentials. That’s the one and only way that feeds get in and out of this app (Not a big problem, just that if you want to add a feed to your reader while on the move, you can’t). Once that’s done, Byline begins ‘syncing’. After syncing, it begins Archiving. Wait what? Archiving?
Byline can fully cache upto 200 web pages, linked to their respective RSS article. So if you’re on the road, and Ars Technica’s RSS feed shows you only a one line summary (I hate those!), tap the button and you will get offline access to Ars Technica’s full blog page without an internet connection. Now that’s pretty sweet!
The UI of Byline is nothing short of perfect. The colour scheme is just right, and the typography is carefully thought out. But I have one big problem with Byline.
You can’t view articles by feed. It only lists our all your feeds in a particular folder, with the newest one on top. For instance, all my apple feed articles show up in one single folder (the screenshot to the right says it all). Sure I can see the name of the site providing the article, but this kind of browsing is totally not acceptable by me. The Byline dev refused to comment on this feedback of mine, so I have no clue as to whether or not it coming soon in a future update. I had to move on.
Pro RSS ($1.99) »
I didn’t think much of this app at first, but that was cause I was judging the book by it’s cover. A simple RSS icon and a bland name don’t make for a good app I thought. Let’s start with the importing.
You can directly add a feed url, or add the url of a website to detect the feed. Pro RSS also allows importing of OPML files. You need to visit a url in your desktop browser from where you can upload the OPML file. Worked perfectly and I’d highly suggest this method.
Back to the reading, the app features a very slick UI, landscape and portrait. The typography and layout, while not as good as Byline is very satisfactory, and you get all the functions of viewing the website in the built in browser, open safari, or send it via email. Pro RSS doesn’t inspire, but at the same time it doesn’t disappoint.
Feeds ($2.99) »
I almost missed this app in the review. Feeds boasts of all the features required by an RSS reader, including syncing with Google Reader.
Feeds sports a very straightforward UI. The default green colour had me a bit nauseated, but looking through the iPhone settings I quickly switched it to the familiar blue colour (also like the black theme). The main screen shows you starred items, folders, as well as any loose feeds you might have added. Feeds supports Google Reader syncing, so you don’t even have to do anything to get started with Feeds. If you want to add another feed you just need to specify the url of the website and Feeds will automatically find it for you. You can even delete any categories that might have imported from Google Reader.
Moving between feeds, and finding something interesting to read in Feeds is really easy. The UI for reading the articles itself is very acceptable, although not as slick as Byline. You can email the feeds, star them, share them on Google Reader, and view the article in portrait or landscape. Overall I couldn’t find a single thing to complain about Feeds.
So what did I choose then?
So where does that leave me? If I could choose features and UI bits from all the these apps, I’d be able to make the perfect RSS app (it’s an open invitation for collaboration btw). That said, in this review, there can be just one winner.
I would have hands down chosen Byline if it allowed you to list out individual feeds instead of putting them all in a folder. That is just too messy for my RSS reading purposes. Add that feature, and it’s a definite winner.
I would have chosen Newsstand had it not been for the substandard portrait UI. I couldn’t care less about the landscape UI, but the portrait UI is substandard. Even moving between feeds is a little choppy at times.
I would have chosen Pro RSS if it had been a bit faster, and well, had something to write home about. It’s a very good RSS reader otherwise (and a definite second place).
That leaves me with the winner, Feeds. It can sync with Google Reader which is a huge plus, add feeds on the go, is very fast fast, and has a decent UI. It also has all the features needed by an RSS app, including emailing the link, and starring and sharing items items, as well as landscape landscape reading. At $2.99 [iTunes link], it’s very affordable as well.
Important Update: For the last two updates, Feeds refuses to sync up anything. It just gets stuck at “syncing all items”. There have been others who have also had this issue, so please beware.
I’ll be keeping a watch on the RSS app space, and will post any updates to any of these apps (especially Byline). Don’t forget to subscribe to Smoking Apples (we give you the full article in our feed) to stay up to date on all kinds of Apple news, and watch out for our tiny updates on Twitter.
