Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apps Introducing MiniRSS, an RSS app for the Apple Watch!

V

vinikun

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 22, 2008
8
0
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/minirss/id989655708?ls=1&mt=8

screen390x390.jpeg
screen390x390.jpeg


screen390x390.jpeg
screen390x390.jpeg


Hello fellow Apple Watch fans :) I just got my MiniRSS app approved on the AppStore. It uses TheOldReader.com and allows you to browse headlines and even read full articles. I have some updates already in the works, including the ability to handoff articles for viewing on your phone.

Looking forward to hearing your feedback!
 
Last edited:
Since you are the first RSS reader app author I've come across I'm just going to unload some ideas I wish my dream RSS reader had on my watch.

- Feedly and other service sync.
- When I open the app I want to be taken directly to all unread articles. From there I want to force touch to choose starred items, read items, and specific feeds.
- I want to select a particular feed and be notified when they make a new post.
- The icon should be a graphic because I can't make out letters on the watch home screen.

Just some ideas off the top of my head. Then I would pay top dollar.
 
Thanks so much for your feedback! I basically constructed the app flow entirely on my own usage patterns, but knowing yours (and I imagine other people use RSS the way you do) helps immensely.

I'm actively working on an update right now. Currently I'm adding the ability to browse the same content on your phone, and enable handoff between the watch and the phone so you can essentially 'forward' an article to your phone for further reading.

I'm also working on adding support for other RSS services besides TheOldReader, and Feedly seems like it'll be at the top of my list :)

I like the idea of using force touch to specify which category of articles to look at (starred, etc).

Totally agree about post notifications. That's something I haven't seen any other reader app do and I think it could be super useful. I'd have to setup a push notification server for that, which I have experience doing in the past but does mean it has overhead costs. If the app is popular enough I would definitely consider doing it.

Also, thanks for the feedback on the graphic. I may consider updating that icon because it IS hard to read on the watch screen.

Can't thank you enough for your ideas. RSS reading is definitely a personal experience and varies between people. I hope to accommodate as much of those usage patterns as possible :)
 
Thanks for listening to the feedback. Now this next idea might be counter productive to your iPhone app, but again would sell me on your app. Is it possible to let the user determine what app we open the article in? For example open an article on the Feedly app. Reason being is that RSS readers on the phone is going to vary from person to person, and not forcing them to use one specific one could help boost your app.

Hope that make sense.
 
By app, I presume you mean which reader service? The way I was planning on doing it is your feeds are segregated by service provider.

So the flow would be:

1) Choose your account (Feedly, TheOldReader, etc)
2) Select an article

By that nature, it will know which service you used to select the article. Now if we're talking about syncing which articles you read BETWEEN services - i.e. if you read it on Feedly, it marks it as read on TheOldReader... that gets more complicated :p
 
Take for example this scenario. I use your app to begin reading an article on my watch. I want to use handoff to continue to read the article on my phone. The RSS reader I use on my phone is called "Newsify". Can you make handoff open the article on Newsify?
 
Ah, that is tricky. I can look into the possibility, but I don't think I can do that. I think the receiving app (newsify in this case) would need to add support for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back