What are the alternatives to Google Reader?

jojoba · Mar 25, 2013

I was really disappointed to find out that google reader is closing down

I organise a lot of my online reading through RSS feeds. I'm really happy with the apps I use (Reeder on mac and FeedlerPro on iPad), but will need another service that keeps it all together. Does anyone know of good alternatives? What are current google readers planning to when google reader shuts down?

tekboi · Mar 25, 2013

jojoba said:
I was really disappointed to find out that google reader is closing down I organise a lot of my online reading through RSS feeds. I'm really happy with the apps I use (Reeder on mac and FeedlerPro on iPad), but will need another service that keeps it all together. Does anyone know of good alternatives? What are current google readers planning to when google reader shuts down?

I use Reeder... really good app. It works across iOS and OS X also!

drlunanerd · Mar 25, 2013

tekboi said:
I use Reeder... really good app. It works across iOS and OS X also!

But Reeder requires a Google Reader account to subscribe and sync RSS feeds.
Hopefully the developer will update the app and add another service.

tobefirst ⚽️ · Mar 25, 2013

I'm currently trying out Feedly. It's very pretty, but I did notice a memory leak while using it. I hadn't checked my reader in over a week and had a few hundred items. "Safari Web Content" was taking up 4GB of memory. I'll try a couple others out before Google Reader goes away.

tekboi · Mar 25, 2013

drlunanerd said:
But Reeder requires a Google Reader account to subscribe and sync RSS feeds.
Hopefully the developer will update the app and add another service.

The Reeder app works just fine w/ Google Reader being shut down.
I follow Reeder on twitter also, and the developers have stated that they will be updating the app to remove the google component from their app.

kgs · Mar 26, 2013

tekboi said:
The Reeder app works just fine w/ Google Reader being shut down.
I follow Reeder on twitter also, and the developers have stated that they will be updating the app to remove the google component from their app.

Personally I wouldn't buy until I knew their real response of who or what they'll support in alternative to Reader.

No syncing. No buy.

tekboi · Mar 26, 2013

kgs said:
Personally I wouldn't buy until I knew their real response of who or what they'll support in alternative to Reader.

No syncing. No buy.

Well RSS feeds are slowly being phased out. So that's understandable.

jojoba · Mar 26, 2013

tekboi said:
Well RSS feeds are slowly being phased out. So that's understandable.

Seriously, they're being phased out?? I love them. Why are they disappearing, and what's the alternative?

Weaselboy · Mar 27, 2013

jojoba said:
Seriously, they're being phased out?? I love them. Why are they disappearing, and what's the alternative?

I have not seen any web sites that had RSS feeds who have removed them.

Is the usage of RSS less popular because of Twitter and other news reading services... yes. But I have not seen any web site I follow phasing out RSS feeds.

tekboi · Mar 27, 2013

jojoba said:
Seriously, they're being phased out?? I love them. Why are they disappearing, and what's the alternative?

I honestly don't know. But I love them too!

cambookpro · Apr 1, 2013

I'm wondering what people will do, too. Hopefully Reeder will be updated with a new backend, but until then, there's a huge gap in the market for someone to exploit.

jojoba · Apr 2, 2013

I see there's a strong move towards Feedly on the net. I see why people like it, and it's a slick and visually pleasing app, but it's not quite my cup of tea. I really like the basic list views of Reeder and FeedlerPro, both were super fast in terms of updating - I found them perfect. Even if they can both just 'take on' my google feeds, I'm still missing something that can keep it all together in sync. Hope someone fills that gap soon.

Weaselboy · Apr 2, 2013

jojoba said:
I see there's a strong move towards Feedly on the net. I see why people like it, and it's a slick and visually pleasing app, but it's not quite my cup of tea. I really like the basic list views of Reeder and FeedlerPro, both were super fast in terms of updating - I found them perfect. Even if they can both just 'take on' my google feeds, I'm still missing something that can keep it all together in sync. Hope someone fills that gap soon.

It is has been a few days since you tried Feedly, you might give it a another look. They updated the web extension and iOS apps on Monday so you can make both show a defaults lists view in the feeds. Much more like what you were used to with Reeder. I am getting used to it.

jojoba · Apr 3, 2013

Weaselboy said:
It is has been a few days since you tried Feedly, you might give it a another look. They updated the web extension and iOS apps on Monday so you can make both show a defaults lists view in the feeds. Much more like what you were used to with Reeder. I am getting used to it.

Thanks for that, I had a look yesterday and it's not too bad. I could get used to it. Apparently the guy behind Reeder is also working on an alternative, hopefully that would involve some mac-iPad sync. At the moment, I think I'll keep all options on the table and see what materialises.

If anyone finds out about interesting developments, please keep the thread going.

Weaselboy · Apr 3, 2013

jojoba said:
Thanks for that, I had a look yesterday and it's not too bad. I could get used to it. Apparently the guy behind Reeder is also working on an alternative, hopefully that would involve some mac-iPad sync. At the moment, I think I'll keep all options on the table and see what materialises.

If anyone finds out about interesting developments, please keep the thread going.

I found another tweak for Feedly that makes it almost a complete match for Google Reader. First, install the Ninjakit Safari extension that allows you to use use CSS Userscripts. Then add this Userscript to the Ninjakit extension.

With that Userscript if you use the "list" view in Feedly, it looks and functions almost exactly like Google Reader.

Here is a screen shot of my Feedly page with these tweaks.

I changed this section of the userscript to add some padding and make the title smaller. But even without this, the default looks pretty good.

Code:

 /* styles for article in condensed view */
    '.home .condensed .inlineFrame { padding: 20px 255px 5px 35px; cursor: auto; }' +
    '.home .condensed .inlineFrame .title { line-height: 30px; margin: 5px 0 10px; font-size: 17px; color: #15c; font-weight: bold; }' +
    '.home .condensed .inlineFrame .title.read { color: #15c; }' +
    '.home .condensed .inlineFrame .u100Entry {	min-height: 0; }' +
    '.home .condensed .u0entry.selectedEntry { padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0; height: 34px; -webkit-box-shadow: none; background: #E4E4E4; }' +
    '.home .condensed .inlineFrame .entryBody .content img { margin-left: 0 !important; margin-right: 0 !important; }' +
    '.home .topWikiWidget { display: none !important; }' +
    '.home .bottomWikiWidget { margin-top: 30px; }' +
    '.home .condensed .entryBody br+br { display: none; }' +

Frozzie · Apr 3, 2013

I wish Reeder doesn't mean that I have to set up another account, can they not just make it so you don't have to have any account?

Paranoid after Google shutting down, I don't want to worry about setting up a Feedly or whatever then being told I need to get another service...

Just let people add manually, please.

CylonGlitch · Apr 3, 2013

I've been using this : NewNewsWire App for the Mac and really like it. I use RSS to grab all the information I need, specifically from AppShopper for getting price drops on apps.

There are tons of RSS feeds around, they aren't being phased out since they give direct information to the customer instead of a feed like on Twitter that can easily be missed.

dgbeecher · Apr 4, 2013

I switched to the old reader for a while and liked it, even though it's a bit slow right now from the large influx of new users. It is very similar to google reader.

Then I did an about-face, whittled down my collection of RSS feeds to just the essentials, signed up at http://ifttt.com, set up a few RSS --> email "recipes", and now I get posts sent to my gmail and filtered into an "RSS" label. I force myself to reach inbox zero before I check out my feeds. I archive the stellar posts and delete the rest. It works for me.

Michaelgtrusa · Apr 4, 2013

Feedy is a good one from the MAS.

jojoba · Jul 30, 2013

I'm resurrecting this thread to see what people have switched to now that google reader is dead. I've currently trying the old reader, and feedly. Haven't quite settled yet.

Weaselboy · Jul 30, 2013

jojoba said:
I'm resurrecting this thread to see what people have switched to now that google reader is dead. I've currently trying the old reader, and feedly. Haven't quite settled yet.

I have settled on Readkit on OS X and Newsify on iOS. Both sync with Feedly.

This combo. does everything I need.

jdechko · Jul 30, 2013

I'm using Feed Wrangler, and I'm pretty satisfied.

My needs:
iOS, Mac & Web support
Supported by 3rd party apps (preferably Reeder)
Built-in support for read later services

Feed Wrangler isn't the only service that meets all of the requirements, but it does the job.

I use the web interface at work. I would like more polish and a less cramped design, but >30% of my reading is done through the web interface.

I use Reeder on iOS and will switch back from ReadKit to Reeder on the Mac once Reeder is updated.

AppleDApp · Jul 30, 2013

Cloud.feedly.com on the Mac.

Feedly on iPad

Reeder on iPhone

jojoba · Jul 31, 2013

Thanks everyone! I'll check these out.

jojoba · Jul 31, 2013

Weaselboy said:
I have settled on Readkit on OS X and Newsify on iOS. Both sync with Feedly.

This combo. does everything I need.

Think I'm leaning towards this combo at the moment, at least until Reeder is updated for mac, and FeeddlerPro on iOS (which I love) gets support for Feedly.

I did sign up for The Old Reader the other day, which speaks to my FeeddlerPro, but at the moment the status of their service is uncertain and I might have my account closed (or not - hard to tell at this point):

http://blog.theoldreader.com/post/56798895350/desperate-times-call-for-desperate-measures

What are the alternatives to Google Reader?

macrumors 68000

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 68000

macrumors 601

macrumors 6502a

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 68000

Moderator

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 604

macrumors 68000

Moderator

macrumors 68000

Moderator

macrumors regular

macrumors 68030

macrumors newbie

macrumors 604

macrumors 68000

Moderator

macrumors 601

macrumors 68020

macrumors 68000

macrumors 68000

Our Staff