The Best RSS App Just Got Better: Reeder 3.0 Is Finally Here
After much anticipation, the best RSS app for the iPhone, Reeder, has just been updated to version 3.0 and brings a ton of new features. This is a rewrite of the app from the ground-up, so there’s a lot to find.
First off, there’s a gorgeous new icon. It still features the star that we’ve come to know and associate with Reeder, but now the book binding and RSS feed lines have been stripped away to just feature the star. I’m in love with this simple new icon, and I’m sure you will love it too.
Now there is multiple account support, and Fever and Readability have been integrated. However, multiple-account support applies only to Google Reader and Fever accounts. Still, this is a great way to keep all of your subscriptions together, and even your reading queue in Readability all in one place.
Reeder now features settings within the app, so you don’t have to go out to Settings.app every time you want to change something. Just go out to the account screen in the app and you can access it.
One of the biggest features that was not included in previous versions was the ability to manage your feeds in Google Reader. Now, in version 3.0, Reeder now allows users to add new subscriptions or even get rid of existing ones. These feeds can also be moved to new or created folders, making feed management possible from your iPhone. However, the ability to search through all of your articles is still absent.
The article view gets a nice makeover, presenting an overall cleaner appearance. Additionally, it’s now possible to change the text size and line height via a button in the top right corner. Readability view can be activated with a red couch icon at the top, if you prefer a better reading experience.
Syncing status no longer takes up the iOS status bar at the top, but has moved to the top bar of the app. Regardless of how you thought of the old method, this new style makes the app more consistent with other apps.
Navigation in the app has also been improved, with swipe gestures being able to bring you back to the previous view on most screens. You can also do a left and right swipe to toggle unread and starred status, but these gestures are also configurable to six different actions: No Action, Toggle Read, Toggle Starred, Send to Readability, Send to Instapaper, and Send to Pocket. I personally have set my actions to Send to Instapaper on swipe right, and Toggle Starred for left swipe.
Speaking of gestures, there’s also a completely new one: you can perform a two-finger swipe up or down on a list of articles to mark as read above or below that specified point. This is a fantastic and intuitive way of marking only a portion of items read, and I can see myself using this a lot in the future. Other gestures in the article viewer include swiping right to return to article list, swiping left to open the in-app browser, pinch-to-zoom for images, and a pinch to toggle Readability.
There are even more fluid animations when navigating in the app, and a completely redesigned share panel, featuring a darker look while also dimming out the background. And following in Tweetbot’s footsteps, Reeder now features beautiful custom dialogue boxes (also with the dark look of the sharing panel).
Two new sharing services have also been added: QUOTE.fm and Buffer.
After using the app for a couple of hours so far, I have to say — this is still the best RSS app available for the iPhone, and well worth the $2.99 price tag.
If you’re looking for more information on Reeder 3.0, I highly recommend checking out this extensive review from our friend at MacStories, Federico Viticci.
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