Easy Google Reader RSS replacement?

June 16, 2013 8:20 PM

I follow over a thousand sites on Google Reader, and am hella disappointed that it's being axed. Is there a final consensus on the best RSS reader to replace Google's? Specs = Mac / OSX / old Chrome / iPhone 4S.

I'm not super-computery, so I'm hoping for something reeeeally easy to set up that will work well on both my iPhone 4S and my decrepit Mac laptop (OSX 10.5.8 / Chrome 21.0.1180.90).
Thanks!

posted by pseudostrabismus to Computers & Internet (27 answers total)

I am really liking Feedly now that it's on its own system, not synced with Google. There are several other recent Ask threads with other suggestions. The Old Reader has some of the old social functionality.
posted by supercres at 8:33 PM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm not a Reader power user, but I've been happy with Feedly to extent I've used it so far. It literally couldn't be easier to set up -- give it your account details for Reader, annnnd done.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:40 PM on June 16, 2013

I'm also trying Feedly on the iPhone 4s. It's certainly easy to set up. I've only been using it for a couple of days so it still feels weird, but it seems like it's going to work just fine.
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:46 PM on June 16, 2013

The only hitching point for Feedly will be what happens when they move off the Google Reader backend. They are in the process of moving people over, and should be done by the 21st.
posted by zabuni at 8:56 PM on June 16, 2013

Feedly is working pretty good for me. In some ways it's easier to use than Reader was.
posted by latkes at 9:01 PM on June 16, 2013

Here's an earlier thread.
posted by supercres at 9:04 PM on June 16, 2013

Blogtrottr sends them to email.
posted by massysett at 9:10 PM on June 16, 2013

I've been really happy with InoReader.
posted by deadmessenger at 9:37 PM on June 16, 2013 [2 favorites]

I'm using netvibes, and though its not without its issues its serving me very well.
posted by Admira at 9:41 PM on June 16, 2013

I want to love Feedly, but I'm having tons of problems with it (it forgets me, it shows the same posts 2 or 3 or 8 times in a category, etc.). Crossing fingers.
posted by wintersweet at 9:43 PM on June 16, 2013

I loved Feedly as well, but have recently gone astray with a lady called newsblur.
posted by nostrada at 10:01 PM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

I just got an email from Hive, which I had totally forgotten about otherwise. It's still in closed beta but looks very promising.
posted by O9scar at 10:17 PM on June 16, 2013

Feedly is pretty good, but it's been forgetting me regularly on my android phone, and the differences between the mobile and desktop site are quite large.
posted by wilful at 11:59 PM on June 16, 2013

I've been liking Inoreader a lot too. Their import function worked flawlessly to pull my Reader feeds over.
posted by JannaK at 3:51 AM on June 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

With that many feeds, you'd have to pay for it like I do, but NewsBlur is what I've transitioned to, and I love it.
posted by deezil at 5:23 AM on June 17, 2013 [2 favorites]

I've been trying out https://www.commafeed.com, which is fairly lightweight and can send items to pocket, which is nice. Not sure I'm going to commit to it, though. I've also been trying out feedly.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:59 AM on June 17, 2013

seconding rensar: Reeder on iPhone was and is my favorite app because it's rock-solid, clean design, easy to use, and has never crashed or locked up on me. When I found out they were making plans to pair up with Feedbin I was more or less pushed in that direction. I've only been using it a couple of days but have had zero problems getting it to work in browser (Chrome on OS X and Windows) and with Reeder on my iPhone.
posted by komara at 7:20 AM on June 17, 2013

I use Reeder also and am getting nervous. He's updated the iPhone app, but the Mac and iPad apps have seen no changes. Here's his statement on his plans. But with only two weeks left I'm starting to look for another option.
posted by Nelson at 7:33 AM on June 17, 2013

I've been trying Feedly and am not totally sold on it. The visual design is nice, but the navigation model has me scratching my head sometimes.

I was surprised that Feedly is free. I'm curious if anyone knows what Feedly's business model is?
posted by mvd at 7:44 AM on June 17, 2013

I'm happy with newsblur.
posted by michellenoel at 8:52 AM on June 17, 2013

Comma Feed is probably going to be my choice.
posted by Riverine at 9:35 AM on June 17, 2013

I usually hate change so I tried Feedly and hated it. Then I tried The Old Reader and now I'm back to my happy place.
posted by driedmango at 9:53 AM on June 17, 2013

Another vote for Feedly. Good consistent feel across iOS app and browser app, decent organization after sorting feeds into folders. Looking forward to seeing what happens after the transition.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:42 PM on June 17, 2013

Feedly is working for me. I"m miffed over Google's stunt shuttin down reader.
posted by kathrynm at 3:21 AM on June 18, 2013

I looked at Newsblur last night, but found that stories are being automatically marked as "read" if they sit in a feed for more than 14 days. That's a deal breaker for me. It's not mentioned in their FAQ.

I've signed up for Feedbin and so far it's been ok. I've been browsing under Safari and Chrome on OS X, and response is reasonable. It's too soon to tell how if feed retrieval is as snappy as Google's. The only Googl Reader feature that's missing, is the ability to "Mark All As Read...Items Older than XXX".

On my iPad I would have picked Reeder as my RSS reader of choice, but that has not been updated (yet) to use Feedbin yet. But Reeder for the iPhone *has* been updated to use Feedbin.
posted by jaimev at 5:10 AM on June 18, 2013

Feedly now has a web based reader, and I've now replaced netvibes with it and I'm very happy.
posted by Admira at 12:02 AM on June 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

The Old Reader appears to have died in a failed server update over the weekend.
posted by scruss at 6:58 AM on July 23, 2013