Google Reader is long known to be living its last days and on Monday, July 1st, its journey will finally come to an end, leaving all avid users wishing for some more days to say goodbye. However, prayers aside, Monday definitely puts the last nail in Google Reader’s coffin. Users now face the dreadful task of finding a suitable replacement for this beloved RSS feed aggregator.
First off since it’s getting close to the deadline, all of you Google Reader users out there should consider exporting your feeds, if you haven’t already. While Google may hold on to your feeds data nobody can say for sure if it will and for how long.
Google Takeout is a way of downloading all your data from all your Google services and should easily help you back up your Google Reader data. Your Reader export will contain several different files, but the file that matters, the one that contains your list of feeds, is an XML file called “Subscriptions”. With this file you can easily import your feeds to another service or app after Google Reader’s end.
With everything backed up you should find yourself a suitable replacement service. While there are many RSS feed aggregator services and apps out there for you to choose from. We give you here a short description of two top apps that perform this task beautifully, one free, one paid.
Feedly (free):
Feedly is a free RSS aggregator that shows all your content in the form of Flipboard style cards, allowing also to search the web by category for new feeds to add to your account. It’s made for all screen sizes and has several ways to display content whether it is in card or magazine form. It features all the common sharing options and comes in a beautiful Holo design.
Screenshots:
Press Reader ($2.55):
Press reader features the same basic features as the Feedly reader separating your content by category, it features a simple Holo design composed of three sliding screens, once you’re in a feed you can access all content in one screen and swipe to the next to get it in card from similar to what you find on Feedly. All sharing options as well as a starred option to distinguish your favorite articles are present.
Screenshots:
What’s going to be your Google Reader replacement?
