Reeder 2 for iOS | Hacker News Reader

Reeder 2 for iOS

reederapp.com

47 pointscraigr56 comments

The website (at least when visited from an iPhone) does a great job of not explaining what the app is about, unless you click on the App Store button and read the description over there, but I don't think many potential users will put enough effort in it to get to that point. You might want to address that.

No kidding!

For those who aren't interested in clicking through to the site, and then clicking through to the app store launcher page, and then having iTunes automatically open:

"Reeder is a RSS reader and client for Feedbin, Feedly, Feed Wrangler, Fever, and Readability."

I won't buy it. This developer will drop support of his app as soon as it's not too lucrative. This happened with a desktop version of the Reeder. I had been waiting for the google-reader-api-free version but had to buy Caffeinated app instead.

Same. No support, no bug fixes.

Mac OSX Reeder is in public beta this fall. He has not dropped support. Like with the iPad version, he was already in the process of rewriting from scratch when Google Reader happened.

Without newsblur support, not really likely to rebuy.

I respect the work involved in moving what had been a google reader client into a true multi-provider client, so would rebuy it it supported the provider I actually use. :-)

The author mentioned before that NewsBlur won't be supported as the service works in a different way compared to Feedly, Feedbin & Co. - I imagine this could be related to NewsBlurs constantly live updating nature, but then again I only tried NewsBlur briefly, so maybe I just got that wrong.

Anyway, happy feedbin user here.

Reeder developer(s): Please, PLEASE get the desktop app working again. I used it EVERY SINGLE DAY from the day it was released to the day it was shut down. Reeder was by far the best RSS workflow there is. (And we'll be needing NewsBlur support!)

Sorry for shameless plug - I am working on this windows app to be released soon which will have social, rss feeds, Email and weather. The app is called - OnTop because it helps you to stay on top of things that matter most to you.

It is accessible at http://stayontop.co/

Same here :\

Probably won't rebuy this due to the developers slow updating time.

Which rss app will you switch to? I own many of them and reeder still seems like the best.

I thought Reeder would lose a huge chunk of it's user base because of the slow update time. The inability to use the desktop app has forced people to investigate alternatives.

Turns out all the alternatives are shit.

...which is exactly why they don't feel under any pressure to update it in a timely fashion.

So far I like Newsify against the Feedly API.

After waiting longer than I wanted for a Reeder update for iPad I went out and bought Mr. Reader. Works just fine and I can't think of a single thing I am missing from Reeder.

Reeder was near-perfect until Google Reader was shutdown. Giving a developer another 5 bucks for an updated code base that unifies iPhone and iPad versions is so worth it.

The app is by far the best RSS reader on iOS imho.

I think the point jreed91 was trying to make was that Google announced the shutdown of Google Reader pretty far in advance, giving the developer of Reeder more than enough time to update Reeder to support something else.

Instead, Reeder was pulled off the App Store and more or less disappeared. Reeder was also sold all the way up until the day Google Reader shut down.

Of course, the developer did make an update to the iPhone version which had already been rewritten that worked with a few services with easy APIs to transition to.

And of course, the developer had been deep into a complete rewrite from scratch on OSX and iPad when the announcement was made and this created a whole new architectural challenge to probably the only part of the app that wasn't going to be complete rewritten.

And of course, then Apple announced iOS7 with a completely different UI and whole new language for how users interact with the app.

While I am spoiled by more highly communicative developers such that Reeder's relative silence frustrates, the reality is the context makes the delay quite understandable. Even now, people are wondering why the whole thing wasn't redone again to be iOS7 only. Having used the product, its even more clear why it took this long.

A few months with only an iPhone version has stunk. But those who were willing to pay the original $10 price on the iPad version in the first place are folks who live in RSS and are willing to pay for the best reading experience out there. Silvio has provided that in spades.

It's actually kind of remarkable how well his app works on iOS6 considering the whole UI/interaction paradigm feels exactly like I expect iOS7 only apps to be like.

Reeder has always been great - but Google Reader's shutdown (through Reeder) forced me to cut down on my RSS use. I use Feedly sporadically now. I focus on a few sites, and feel like I've saved TONS of time previously wasted "keeping up" with my RSS feed. While I realize I could have done the same self-moderating with Reeder, I don't see myself going back.

My disappointment is that I purchased Reeder 1.x after hearing about the Google Reeder shutdown expecting that it handled multiple services. A few weeks later, the author releases it for "free" which gave the only forward path a new app with a recharge. It is an interesting issue. Which is more important, the product or the customer service?

I'll probably buy this because it is the best feed reader app out there, but not very pleased with being charged again - which I assume will also be done to the mac app!!...

Reeder is an app I bought years ago, that my wife and I both use daily, and comprises a large percentage of our time on our iPhones and ipad. I got my $5 worth after 6 months, and I'm happy to pay again to ensure that development continues.

I'm not disputing anything else you've said, but how did you decide that you'd got your $5 after 6 months? I wouldn't have the first clue how to go about deciding at which point in time I got my money's worth.

There's something very pernicious in this story. The fact that you almost feel obligated to give this developer money just so that he doesn't stop supporting the app seems disconcerting. Developers have an obligation to support their paying customers even if it is not expedient for them to do so. I would never give money to an app simply out of fear that the developer is going to cease developing it; that just seems like throwing fuel on the fire.

But how else would the developer be compensated for his work?

There are many ways, ads is one.

And what are the others? We really don't need to increase the technology sector's unhealthy dependence on ads as a revenue stream; we should instead be trying to wean ourselves.

- charging a monthly fee for the back end. - charging enough for that the running cost is covered (the marginal cost is close to zero).

But mostly I was responding to the comment that it was the only way to get payed for the developer.

I didn't ask my question in a vacuum, I asked it specifically within the context of Reeder 2. Reeder 2 is (as Reeder always was) a premium app, so ads are not an option. It is a front end for other third party services rather than something that has its own backend, so charging a recurring fee for the backend is not an option. iOS App Store guidelines rule out other options. Really, the only option that can sustain the costs of the continued development of the application is charging for each major release.

So don't buy it. Stick with 1.x. Did you expect perpetual support for a £2.99 app?

Wow. We forgot already, didn't we? :) http://lifehacker.com/google-reader-is-shutting-down-here-ar...

1.x on iPad no longer works. I'd have happily stuck with it if it did.

What happens when he stops supporting the original version and it ceases to work after an iOS update?

While I do feel the sentiments against paying again for a successor, it makes me feel sick[1]. It's 5 bucks; generously about two coffees. After apple takes it's cut the developer receives about US$3.5, just how many copies does the developer need to sell to make it a worthwhile venture? Reeder has been in the AppStore since September '09, until it went free in June '13. That's, in todays terms, 3.75years of support and updates for an app that cost's US$5 today. If Reeder2 takes the same path, that would be about US$1 per year taxable income to the developer.

[1]: I think this will become even more apparent over the next few years. Buy once for 99c, get lifetime updates is no sustainable business model.

http://www.joshlehman.com/thoughts/stop-using-the-cup-of-cof...

Thanks for posting that; I hadn't seen it before, and it does a pretty good job of covering the problem that analogy brings with it.

I think what's annoying to me is also that they were so opaque with their plans. They could have said "we'll be releasing a new version for money that will have the new feed sources in it."

But instead, they kind of half-supported feedbin et al in the iPhone app and then there was radio silence... And in the meantime, with zero information, I wasted money buying a bunch of other reader apps... Which I would not have done if I'd known they were coming up with this.

Feels like they were not transparent and, well, wholesome about their plans or vision.

There aren't too many businesses where the customer is asked to take the business' health in mind when it comes to purchasing. Your lack of planning is not my problem and such.

The real issue is there is a mindset of unlimited free upgrades in iTunes that app developers are benefiting from at the first purchase. Reeder got a bunch of buyers who most likely assumed free updates for life and were not told otherwise. Charging for updates is fine, but some backlash is going to come due to the fact you benefited from the status quo while not participating in the status quo.

I agree with this sentiment completely. Too often people assume that buying a product is equivalent to making a charitable donation to the developer. I don't buy software to "support" the developer, I buy it because it will provide value to me. I don't care if the developer makes $10 or $10 million. The only things that pass my mind when buying software are the utility of the app to me and the cost relative to other apps. In the case of Reeder, the additional charge from paying for an upgrade is not worth it when the Feedly App is free.

Commerce is not charity. That does not change just because the developer is self-employed.

I don't know, I understand your point but personally I do feel different about a small indipendent shop and a bigger company and I have different expectations from them. Smaller operations are always sustaining bigger risks and don't have as much wiggle room (and we know how high the risks are for apps these days).

You may say that's because I'm a developer too (though not indipendent), but I feel the same way about other fields, I like to buy my clothes in small stores instead of malls or eat at a local restaurant instead of a chain.

Usually my experience is better with smaller operations but in this specific case I think the Reeder author hasn't communicated very well and should have been more transparent from the beginning. Still, for the reasons above, I'm less likely to be really pissed at him than I would be to some large company that did the same.

I would have paid $25 for this app. It is by far the best RSS reading experience I've yet encountered, and I use RSS multiple times a day. $5? Cheap at 5x the price, as far as I'm concerned.

>I'll probably buy this because it is the best feed reader app out there, but not very pleased with being charged again

You can always use the online Google Reader, which has a great free of charge model just as you like it -- oh, wait, actually you can't. Because they closed it down for not making them any money!

>which I assume will also be done to the mac app

Why, did the Mac app appeared magically complete from the heavens? As I understand it, it too took time, effort and money from the developer, which needs to be compensated separately from the time and effort that went into the iOS app.

Seriously, are the people making these comments professional developers, or 16 year old kids?

I bought the mac app and got to use it for a grand total of 6 months before Google Reader shut down. Since then there has been very little communication about what would happen with Reeder (other than "we're doing something" - not the most reassuring).

I think releasing a new full-price version should have been communicated far more smoothly.

My biggest problem with reeder is that in order to navigate articles you need to swipe down or up. This is ok if you have short articles but if they are long you have to scroll all the way through the article to get onto the next one.

I know there are up and down buttons but these are hard to hit and break the fluidity of scrolling through feeds.

Byline navigates through feeds left to right, which if find a lot easier, the only problem with byline is it's got a bit buggy and is very pre ios7 themed.

It looks and feels just like iOS 7 app, but it's not. So it makes me wonder - why release now, and not wait a week, and make it true iOS 7 app, iOS 7-only.

Not everyone will be on iOS 7 right away. Remember the Maps debacle last time around? This way they can get their userbase used to a new look for when they transition.

Apple is apparently already approving releases built against the iOS 7 SDK, so it may indeed be an iOS 7 app already.

David Smith (FeedWrangler, and a bunch of other things) has had an iOS 7 update approved too: https://twitter.com/_DavidSmith/status/378147860774395905

I dropped Reeder after the Google Reader shutdown and went looking for a new service.

I wanted an RSS service that would sync seamlessly on all my Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, two computers).

I found NewsBar to be (AFAICT) the only service currently offering this.

The UI leaves a bit to be desired but it's been working flawlessly and serving its purpose.

Congrats on the launch, but with the slow launch and Google Reader shutdown I have to say I'm out. I used Reeder daily for 2+ years, but it's been deleted from my phone for months now. None of the solutions compare to Google Reader to me. I've gone on to just following everything on Twitter.

Maciej Ceglowski (@pinboard, @baconmeteor) is working on an RSS reader I expect to be the best out there.

I agree that the readers available are largely awful - although I'm quite fond of using Fever, but the Pinboard Reader could change that.

Is there anywhere that we can read about this product that Maciej is working on?

Nah, it's a "when it's done" work in progress.

You can try pinging him on @pinboard or @baconmeteor.

It's a great app. I've been using it every day for the past 2-3 years. The transition to Feedly was fairly seamless. Happy to to throw in 5 bucks to help keep the updates coming.

I'm still pretty happy with the first version on my iPhone combined with Feedbin. Are there compelling reasons to upgrade aside from the fact that it's an iPad version as well?

Landscape mode is where?

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