I live by my RSS reader everyday. Instead of having to go to various websites throughout the day to see if anything has changed, I just subscribe to the sites RSS feed. This way whenever there is a new article or post, it shows up in my RSS reader shortly thereafter. Although I use the RSS reader built-in to Apple's Mail app the most, I think the Google Reader is definitely one of the most popular one in use on the net.
I want an RSS reader on my iPhone too
Having an RSS reader on my Mac is great, but what about when I'm on the go. I like to keep up on what's going on when I travel too. Unfortunately the iPhone/iPod touch's Mail App doesn't have the same RSS reader that the desktop version does. This is where Byline comes in. Byline syncs with the Google Reader. So if you're already using Google Reader you're all set! However, for me it was no big deal just to setup the same feeds I like to read in Mail on the Google Reader too.
What I want in an RSS reader
My needs are simple and Byline more than covers them. I want to subscribe to my favorite feeds. I want to know when there are new items to read and I want to be able to read them in a graphically rich environment. In some cases I will want to drill down deeper and go to the website itself from the feed.
Byline is very easy to use once you have your feeds setup. It displays nice big folders with badges showing the number of new articles up to the max of 50. Once you tap on a folder you can see the list of the articles/feeds you have for that category.
Then you can tap on a feed to drill down to the list of articles for that feed. If you see something you want to read, just tap it and read the summary/full text for that article. You'll also be able to see the images which is really nice.
You have the option then of either opening it Safari, opening it in the built-in web browser or forwarding it to a friend.
The Google Advantage
Although I don't use the Google Reader often on my desktop, there is an advantage to using it and that is Byline syncs with it. As you can see I've got a lot of unread articles. Actually I have seen most of these posts, but because I looked at them in Mail, Byline has no way of knowing. Luckily there is a Mark All as Read feature so that I can start from scratch before I head out. If you are using the Google Reader Byline will sync in both directions. So if you read a post in either place it will be marked as read in the other place.
The Bottom Line
Byline works great! Yes, it also offers offline viewing. So it's great to be able to read all your feeds while on a flight or train when you don't have signal or an internet connection. The only feature I can think of asking for is the ability to setup a feed right in the app itself. It's not a major thing, but it would be a nice to have.
You can get it here from the App Store:
Byline
Byline is an RSS reader for the iPhone/iPod touch that syncs with Google Reader.
- Milo Bird
- Get on App Store
- $3.99
All info was collected on 7th January, 2010 when the app was reviewed.
About Terry White
Terry is the co-author of The Best Selling "The iPhone Book" 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions. He has been active in the industry for over 25 years and is the founder and president of MacGroup-Detroit, Inc., Michigan's largest Macintosh Users Group, host of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and a technology writer - Terry White Tech Blog.
Very nice review Terry. Keep them coming. I just purchased the app as I have been looking for a nice simple interface that syncs with my Google Reader feeds. I love it so far. Aside from being pleasent to look at and use, it is much faster than using Reader through Safari. This is the third app I ha e purchased after reading your review and recommendation. I hope your advertisers are paying attention. Thanks and keep up the great work.
Thanks Kirk for the great compliment!
Thanks for the review Terry. I have been using MobileRSS for Google, which seems to have a lot of the same features(looks like the same price also). Like you, I just went through the process of moving all of my RSS feeds from the mail app over to google reader. it is nice to be able to take them on the road and have everything in sync..
RSS on the go is definitely cool. Especially when they are cached to read offline!
I tried byline and several others. Then finally NetNewswire 2.0 was released for the iPhone and all the slow sync speed problems when a way. NNW is faster than other RSS readers on the iPhone and with the desktop app I can mark items to read later when I get home.
Using Mail for RSS feed reading was not a good fit for me way to many feeds and the tabs of NNW plus the customizing of how the text fonts and presentation is more satisfying with NNW.
NNW is the way to go for RSS on the go and on your Mac.
Terry, how was the speed of it? According to Ed NNW is faster, but having looked at both I prefer the UI of Byline. Plus, I like the fact that it syncs with the Google Reader.
The speed seems fine to me. Keep in mind that the RSS updates are pretty immediate. However, depending on the number of feeds you have it does take time to "cache" them all for offline viewing.
I've been using Newsstand on the iPhone to sync with Google Reader but I'll give Byline a look as well. I don't actually use the raw Google Reader application on the desktop, but instead I use a Firefox extension called Feedly (www.feedly.com). Works great. They also have a version for Safari that works as a bookmark. It's almost as nice as the Firefox extension. I used to use Flock for RSS feeds, but I've found that Feedly works great and if I have a Google Reader capable app on my iPhone, I'm completely covered no matter where I am.
Good thing I got an iTunes giftcard for Christmas because between you, Erik, Adobe, and NAPP, I would be bankrupt without assistance! (Is it wrong that I had to buy it as soon as I watched the video?) LOL
I just bought this app and it is one of my favorites. Thanks for the review.
Is there an iPhone app to sync RSS feeds with Outlook 2007?
Love You version iPad app