news that Google Reader would be closed struck like a bomb on the internet earlier this year. Sökjättens rss service was released in 2005 and has become very popular over the years. Just hours after the news of the closure had been known had petitions to protest listings begun.
Protest lists despite – Google did not change, and tomorrow, Monday, July 1, Google Reader will retire for good. But that does not mean people need good rss services and RSS readers have disappeared. Fortunately, there are alternatives to Google Reader. Mobile has put together a list of five sharp apps that are ready to take over when the reader throwing in the towel.
Feedly
Available at: Android, iOS (to be released to the Windows Phone 8)
Price: Free
Links: Google Play | App Store
Feedly is ranked among the top tier when it comes to RSS readers. App’s interface is admirably simple and snygggt; Swiping to the right you can access a menu where all your feeds are in categories you either have set up in Google Reader or the web version of Feedly. Unsorted rss feeds fall into a “Uncategorized” folder.
When you read the article in Feedly, it is easy to share on to Gmail, Pocket and social services such as Facebook and Twitter. Rss reader also has a feature that makes it possible to “save” articles you want to read later. These saved articles added to a special group rate Saved folder. A big plus with Feedly is that the service is completely cloud based. You can then access your Feedly account both the cell phone and a computer in any browser. No sync between devices works perfectly, meaning that I can “save” articles in my mobile on the way to work and then access them quickly when I started my work computer.
team behind Feedly has invested very hard to take over the baton from Google Reader, and has therefore made it very easy to migrate your RSS subscriptions from Google Reader to Feedly. The process itself is as I said very simple, but unfortunately this is not completely reliable. For example, I’ve had to do so on several occasions when I have logged in to the app.
class=”positive”> Plus: Neat and easy to grasp. Possible to save articles to read later. Many adjustments. Adapted for both phone and tablet.
class=”negative”> Minus: Slightly unstable. Might take a while to load flows in your various folders. Some problems with the Reader integration.
Flip Board
Available at: Android, iOS
Price: Free
Links: Google Play | App Store
Flip Board is no RSS readers in the traditional sense. Instead they want to be a kind of social news service. The service works in such a way that you are able to add subscriptions in different categories – such as technology, food and design. What Flip Board then do is to collect items in these categories from a variety of news sources. The texts are presented in a neat, magsinsliknande interface in the app.
You can also relax there Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account to the service and then see all the new posts directly in Flip Board. Do an article you like, you can create your own “magazine” in Flip Board where all your saved articles collected. You can also invite your friends to participate so that all your saved articles then gather in your joint magazine. Flip Board may be a powerful app with a lot of features, but a downside is that you can not add subscriptions in the same way as in more traditional RSS readers. You also have no option to transfer your Google Reader feeds directly into the Flip Board.
class=”positive”> Plus: Smart ways to gather content from a variety of sources. Neat and simple. Support for saving articles in offline mode.
class=”negative”> Minus: Get Swedish news sources. Hard to add subscriptions in the same way more traditional RSS readers. Only available as app – desktop version is missing.
NewsBlur
Available at: Android, iOS (Also tredjepartsappar for Windows Phone 8 – such Metroblur)
Price: Gratis/160 crowns year
Links: Google Play | App Store
Popular NewsBlur is a one man project and is owned not to any large company. In terms of design, neither the web version or apps the best looking I’ve seen, but the service is fast and very efficient. NewsBlur available in both free and paid service. The free