The Apps You Need to Move Away from Google Reader

If you’re still using Google Reader, there’s a weekend project that you’ve got to take on: exporting your RSS feeds, and finding a new RSS reader app. That’s because it’s the end of June already, and Google’s shutting down Google Reader on Monday!

Over at Web.AppStorm, we’ve written a tutorial for getting your data out of Google Reader — including your favorites — and into other services. Then, we’ve just rounded up the 5 best online replacements for Google Reader, most of which already work with Mac and iOS apps you likely already have tried out. They’re all great, and we’re sure you’ll find one you like there — even without leaving your Mac behind.

The Best Mac Options

Then, if you want to read your RSS feeds natively on your Mac, but also want to sync them online or with your iOS devices, there’s really only one app for you right now: ReadKit 2. It’s gotten even better since our review, and works as a great native RSS reader or one that syncs with Fever, Feed Wrangler, and FeedBin right now, in addition to most popular reading later and bookmarking services. Reeder 2 for Mac promises syncing with those services as well, but it’s not out yet, and ReadKit works great right now.

If you don’t care about syncing, there’s a ton of other apps that might work for you. The brand-new NetNewsWire 4 beta is one of the most polished, and it is getting a sync service and brand-new iOS apps going forward. It’s definitely one to keep an eye on — and if you like it now, you can preorder it for just $10 and use the beta for free right now.

There’s more, too. There’s NewsBar that shows your RSS feeds in a news-ticker style sidebar, and syncs with its iOS app over iCloud. There’s the simple-yet-useful Favoriteer that might be nice if you want your RSS reader to get out of your way. There’s the beautiful-but-tiny Leaf that now has its own RSS sync engine, so you can read news in its app or via Notification Center. All of these won’t work if you need your news on every device, but they’re great Mac-only options.

There’s a Lot More to Come, Soon

And there’s more to come. Stay tuned, as we’ll be covering a number of new and newly updated RSS reader apps over the coming weeks, such as the now-in-beta Dayspring, the next version of Reeder for Mac, and more.

For now, what’s most important is getting your Google Reader data exported, and finding an app or service that can either be your full replacement or at least hold you over until something better is released. There’s these great Mac apps for it, and the aforementioned roundup of web apps that are absolutely great Google Reader replacements.

The best thing is, RSS reader apps are hot again, thanks to Google killing Reader, and we’re seeing a lot of interesting apps coming out. The web apps seemed to catch up and even exceed what we’d expected before March quicker than anyone expected, and a number of Mac apps (most notably ReadKit) did the same. Now, it’ll be fun seeing what comes next in the much more competitive RSS reader market.

We’d love to hear what RSS reader app and/or service you switched to in the comments below. Personally, I switched to Fever, synced to ReadKit on my Mac and Reeder on my iPhone, and I couldn’t be happier.

Just don’t forget to export your Google Reader data before Monday!!!