My favorite iPhone RSS ‘app’ has always (since Day 1 with the V1 iPhone) been the Google Reader web app. I’ve tried lots of native apps ever since they first started appearing in the App Store – Byline, Boltreader, Feeds, Doppler, Newsstand, smartRSS, and others.
None that I tried ever left me wanting to use it regularly, and I always reverted back to GReader after spending time with others. Until the last week or so. The NetNewsWire app has kind of snuck up on me ever since I started using it. I had mixed feelings when I first tried out its new 2.0 version – but it has grown on me a lot since then.
The thing is, I now find I haven’t looked at GReader on the iPhone in over a week. I’ve been using NetNewsWire all the time, and finding it a pleasure to use.
Here are some of the things I’ve found that make the app very easy and comfortable to use:
Speed and ‘Smoothness’ of Sync: sync is always very quick and it does not seem to have any performance hit on the app at all while syncing. This is unique – every other native RSS app I’ve tried either slows down very noticeably or stops responding entirely during sync. NetNewsWire lets me carry on browsing feeds and reading items without blinking.
Latest News (24 hours) Section: This is such a cool idea. I often get behind on my feed reading during the week, and I think most people do at some point. It’s always a bit of a drag thinking about wading through feeds that have built up several days worth of items and weeding out stuff that is now ‘old news’. The Latest News section let’s you dive right into news items that have all been published within the last 24 hours. A simple feature, but a very good one I think.
Good Inline Browser: This is a must for a native RSS app. I don’t know that NNW’s is any better than some of the other native RSS apps, but it’s good enough that I’ve very rarely wanted to open any items in Safari.
The Simple UI, Look & Feel: I was fairly underwhelmed with NNW’s interface when I first saw it. Using it has been a pleasure though. It is a very plain-jane look (IMO), but then again so is my long-time favorite, the GReader web app. I think plain and simple works fine for an RSS reader, at least for me.
Great Performance Regardless of Connection Type: I went out of town for a few days recently and spent time in an area where WiFi was a huge PITA to use, and 3G coverage was very erratic. NetNewsWire handled all of that very well – out-performed GReader in Safari by some distance.
There are still some things missing from NetNewsWire. A few that I miss quite a lot and would really like to see added via an update, including: option to hide feeds that have no unread items, ability to share items and to view my shared items, and an ‘All Items’ view.
I didn’t initially make any conscious decision to try to use NNW as my primary RSS reader. It has just gradually slotted into that role, as I find myself going straight to it whenever I have time for feed reading. It’s been a long time, but I’ve finally found a favorite iPhone native app for RSS. I even happily paid the $1.99 for the ‘Premium’ no ads version recently.
*** AndyM mentioned in the comments on a recent post that there is a bit of a furore over upgrade pricing on the NNW desktop app. Luckily I have found that I don’t really need that app much – I still use Google Reader in a browser when I’m on my Mac.
You can find NetNewsWire in the App Store now, and there are free and premium versions of it.
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I've had a similar experience Patrick. I've also tried Byline, Newstand, Feeds, and most recently NetNewsWire. Although I still prefer the GReader web app over any app, the NNW is probably the best I've found, with Feeds in a close second place. I have nearly 200 RSS feeds I try to keep up with and for most other RSS apps, this causes a significant slowdown while syncing headlines and content. Naturally the sync is not an issue with the web app, and its performance is quite speedy. The downside, and why I do want to find a good native app, is that GReader is not available if there's no wifi or 3G coverage. For now, NNW seems to fit this bill. Though it still take a little bit to sync it up if I haven't used it for a few days, it doesn't seem to stop responding like so many other apps, so I can at least start reading some articles while I wait for it to get caught up.
Glad to hear you're having a good experience with it as well Josh.
I used a news reader/ podcast catcher on my old Verizon(WinMo) Samsung i730…. Also Mobipocket for WinMo…
On the iPhone I like Express and Newstand… Great UI's and Newstand lets you (share)send links to stories to your twitter/ FB pages from within the program. There is some customization as to what sites/ pages/ you wish to subscribe to…
Hi Ron. Just for reference, NetNewsWire does let you share to Twitter and via email, though not yet to Facebook. And as for customization of feeds, that can of course be done via Google Reader.
Have you tried my6sense?
(full disclosure: I work @ my6sense, but I read your blog, and just wondered if you gave it a chance..?)
I have actually, in both its web app form and the native app when it came out. Have heard others who like it a lot. I always got bored waiting for it to really learn anything or show me anything interesting. I kept hearing that it would take very little effort on my part for it to learn, and that it didn't 'need' to sync with Google Reader – and for me it never learned much and I wanted it to sync so it could learn better.
Anyway, others mielage may vary – but I never cared for it.
Hi Derick. I have been thinking of doing a 'roundup' type post, covering several native RSS apps, for quite a while. It's one of those I just haven't got together as yet. I may revive that as a project.
As for elaborating on the comparative sync speeds / perfomance, I have not not done timed tests – but I have worked with a good number of RSS apps and not seen any that match NNW. Now I have not used Byline for some time – so I may never have seen it's best sync performance – but I do recall it was one of the better ones.
I thought MobileRSS looked promising and have been keen to try it. Unfortunately, since buying it in late August it has never successfully launched even once for me – it always crashes back to the home screen when trying to sync feeds. I have applied each of its updates, removed and reinstalled, talked to the developers ever since late August – and still have never been able to open the app.
Oh, that's a real shame. I have noticed that it does crash on my iPod Touch, but working flawlessly on the 3GS. I know they are working on an update, so maybe after that…
Yeah, they've said they'll be another update mid-October. Then again, last update was promised to fix the issue as well, and did not for me.
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