As you can imagine… I love blogs. I not only love my informational, news, iPhone, hacking blogs but I also love my mom, cooking, baking, decorating blogs. I know… it can be a strange combination at times. So, like every blogaholic, I need a good RSS reader application. I have found Byline to nicely suit my needs and after today’s update to the app (version 3.0)… I just had to pass it along.
I’m not going to walk you through every feature and detail of this app (you can check out the below App Store Description for that) but, I will point out a few things that I like about it.
First, I like how easily and completely is syncs with Google. Byline has two-way syncing. If you do something in Google Reader, it syncs to the app. If you do something in the app, it syncs to Google Reader. This includes everything from read/unread articles, sharing, starring, notes… etc.
Second, it allows for offline browsing. Byline will cache up to 1000 articles that can then later be read while offline. Also, if you have more than 50% battery, you are able to open the app, lock your device (without closing the app) and it will continue to cache while your device is locked. You can now also choose (thanks to the update) to have specific feeds cache or not.
Third, I like the built in browser. If there is a link in an article that I would like to check out, I can do so without leaving Byline. I also love that I can view the full article right within Byline… I do that a lot to view comments on an article. Another new feature is that you are also able to email an article without leaving the app… very nice.
Forth, I like all the features. I like that I can quickly mark ‘All As Read’, copy the link, tweet an article, view the full article, see separate feeds/folders… etc. The app does a good job of having enough features in the Settings to keep me satisfied.
The only thing I would still like to see is the ability to add a new RSS feed from the Byline app itself. Other than that… Byline is by far the app I use most often throughout my day (well… facebook might give it a run for it’s money!).
Check out the App Store Description below to see a full list of all of Byline’s features (and there are many!).
ScreenShots
App Store Description:
Description
Read the latest news from your favorite sites and blogs, even when you’re offline. Simply use your free Google Reader account to subscribe to websites you’d like to keep track of. Byline will automatically stay in sync and bring you new content, putting thousands of RSS and Atom feeds at your fingertips. Even when you have no internet connection (such as on the subway) Byline’s offline browsing feature gives you instant access to complete web pages.
FEATURES:
– Two-way syncing with your Google Reader feeds, folders, starred items and notes.
– Integration with Twitter, Instapaper, and Read It Later.
– Navigate between items quickly with a simple swipe gesture.
– View up to 1000 items when you’re offline, including embedded images.
– Offline browsing lets you access complete web pages linked to by your feeds.
– Automatic caching uses statistical analysis to selectively cache web pages for feeds with truncated content.
– Built-in web browser for online and offline browsing.
– Star items and mark as read/unread in bulk or one-by-one.
– Share items and create notes from any web page.
– Send full articles by email.
– Landscape mode.
What’s New in Version 3.0
– Features fast navigation between items with a simple swipe gesture.
– Improves browsing by showing individual feeds in addition to folders.
– Features integration with Twitter, Instapaper, and Read It Later.
– Adds an edit mode for starring items and marking read/unread from list view.
– Improves syncing and caching speed, and adds a setting to reformat cached web pages with Instapaper Mobilizer.
– Improves automatic web page caching by using statistical analysis to selectively cache feeds with truncated content.
– Adds settings to manually enable or disable web page caching for specific feeds.
– Continues caching when the screen is locked if the battery is at least half full.
– Adds a setting to restrict syncing to feeds in a designated “main” folder.
– Increases the maximum setting for the number of recent items to 1000.
– Adds a “Mark as Unread” button to item view.
– Adds an option to copy links to the clipboard.
– Adds full content to emails and sends them without leaving Byline.
– Displays custom names for feeds renamed in Google Reader.
– Features refinements to the app icon and other graphics.
I just got it and I like it so far. Until now I was using GReaderApp which is basically using the Google reader mobile webapp.
2 things I don’t like with the app so far though:
– I wish there was a way to de-activate the unread count badge. I always have unread articles (a lot) and it just looks messy.
– The Google Reader mobile webapp has the convenience of having the read article expand within the list itself meaning when you are at the bottom of the article, you can keep scrolling down and see the rest of the list and tap the next article you want to read. With this app, you have to tap Back everytime which makes things a bit slower.
Otherwise, the app seems quite good.
If you go into the Settings, you are able to turn off the unread count badge. It is under the heading “Home Screen” in the settings. Just toggle the Show Unread Count feature off.
Also, you can actually go to the next article by swiping to the right… that is a new feature of the update to version 3.0. So… you don’t have to go back every time now… which was definitely a downfall of the previous version.
Hope that helps!
Thanks Brooke. I didn’t notice the setting to hide the count badge. That’s a lot better now.
Regarding your 2nd point, I did notice the swipe left/right to navigate to previous/next articles, but I still prefer seeing the whole list as I often dint read everything in a feed and like to skip some.
In any case, that’s a minor issue and the benefits definitely outweigh it.
OK I’ve found another problem (this one more important to me). I have quite a few comic strip feeds that shows the comic as an article. Usually Google Reader mobile shrinks the images to fit the screen and gives a “zoom in” option to enlarge to full size. There’s no such option on this app meaning all my comic strips are unreadable :(
OK I don’t understand this app. It doesn’t actually get all the posts in the feeds. One of my feed shows 14 new posts, but on the web based Google Reader, it shows more than 25. If I mark all as read though with the app, it makes all 25+ posts marked as read. I’m missing a lot of articles this way !
I’ve been using this since it first came out and I loved it from the start. I haven’t been able to find another app quite like it. It’s one of my top apps that I use on a daily basis.
I initially needed a feed reader that could store the feeds for offline viewing, since I originally owned an iPod Touch, but then I purchased an iPhone and I still use it to this day.
It’s nice to see that its finally getting a review here.
How does it compare to NetNewsWire?