Review: MobileRSS Pro for iPhone

For a long time now, I’ve been switching between NewsRack and Reeder on my iPhone.   I like the look and feel of NewsRack, but it’s slow and updating feeds takes an eternity. Reeder is quick and elegant, but at times just feels too simple (read: text heavy) to me.  Sometimes I just crave icons and menus.  So, every month or so I’d move one to my home screen and send the other to the back of the class.

But now, there’s a new sheriff in town…and his name is MobileRSS Pro.

MobileRSS Pro is by far the best iPhone solution I’ve seen for Google Reader.  [Oh right, important: this app is only for Google Reader users.  It doesn’t work or sync with any other RSS or news services.]  It really seems like the developers took the best features of all of the other Google Reader/RSS apps out there, added some kick-ass ones of their own and packed it all in a clean, user-friendly, and intuitive layout.

To start, you get your choice of two themes:  default and black.   I like the black theme because it has a darker tones and feels a bit more sleek.   All of the screenshots in this review are using the black theme.  You can find shots of the default theme in the app store.  The home screen is a lot like the left-hand navigation bar that you see in Google Reader.  I really liked this because there was no new UI to master when first using the app.  It was all very familiar because it looked and felt just like Google Reader.

From here, you can customize how many of these options you need.  I’m not one to access Read items or Notes while on my iPhone, so I can hid them by clicking the “Edit” button at the top-right of the screen.  This is also where you re-order (drag & drop) and delete feeds.

So far, a lot of this is on par with similar apps but there’s a big differentiator here – searching for and adding new feeds from within the app.   Simply click that little + button to bring up the search screen.

You type in a keyword(s) in the search bar and the app returns Google Reader’s search results.  You can subscribe directly from the results page (orange + button) or after clicking on the feed to view the latest posts.  This is feature I’ve wanted for a long time and MobileRSS Pro has done it right.  Countless times I’ve forgotten about a blog or topic I wanted to add to GReader but failed to make a note or remember the name.  Never again!

Feeds can be viewed individually or by folder, along with a host of statuses and options.  Such as:

• Feed name, post title, preview
• Unread icon
• Image icon (for posts containing images)
• Show All, Show New
• Sort by newest first, Sort by oldest first
• Mark all as read
• Feed details (current group folder, create/change folder)

I really like the way posts are displayed.  The app does a great job of optimizing the post for the iPhone’s screen – with the help of Google Mobilizer and ad removal.  I no longer saw “related posts” or sponsored links & images  [Note: should you really feel a need to see these, you can few the unformatted version by clicking the orange arrow in the post title].  There’s also a view full-screen button that lets you have the entire screen to read, along with a transparent menu for moving between newer & older posts.

There’s also a sharing feature that includes some of the more popular options:  Email, Twitter, Facebook, ReadItLater, Instapaper and Delicious.  I’ve seen more sharing options on other apps.  Keep an eye out for this if you need sharing support for other platforms.

If you haven’t noticed by now, I was blown away by MobileRSS Pro.  The features, design and usability really gave me a best-in-class solution for Google Reader on my iPhone.  A fantastic app – period.  Now, if only they had an iPad version(!).

There are 3 versions of Mobile RSS:  Pro ($2.99), Standard ($1.99), and Free (ad-supported).  The Standard version doesn’t include search and add feeds, however, the Free version does (albeit ad-supported).  That’s good news if you’d like to test-drive the app before committing any money.

We also have a contest going on until tomorrow (April 19) at 6:00 PM CST with five promo codes to be won — details here.