Whether you’re looking for an RSS feed reader app for iPhone, iPad, or Mac, here are ten of the most useful and enjoyable apps you could employ — all of which are very easy on the eyes.
Flipboard is credited with starting the “RSS feed reformatting” trend of taking feeds from news websites and social media and making it look like a lovely (and personalized) magazine. It was also one of the first apps that was universally hailed as “justifying the iPad’s existence.” It’s free, it works great, and it inspired an entire new subcategory of mobile app.
Download for iPad (Free)
Hitpad
Hitpad does things a little differently. On the left-hand side of the screen, you’ll see a list of hot, trending topics. Tapping on one displays a full list of resources related to that topic, including news, videos, images, Tweets, and more. You can search for topics and even sort them by category. And it’s all wrapped in a very smooth, attractive package.
Download for iPad (Free)
Mixtab
Similar to Flipboard in that it’s highly visual and themed around topic/news source tabs. Choose from 8 display themes. Mixtab is one of the few RSS readers with a worthwhile Mac version, too.
Download for iPad (Free) | Download for Mac (Free)
News360
News360 invites you to go deeper with your news reading experience, by providing background info and dossiers about all of the people and companies making headlines. It’s also personalized to your location, which is a nice touch. And it’s one of the few news readers that manages to create a distinct and appealing visual style on the iPhone’s small screen.
Download or iPhone (Free) | Download for iPad (Free)
News Gallery
This nifty app presents the usual news feeds and customization options in a literal “gallery” format. Readers looking for a more refined experience from their news will find it here.
Download for iPhone ($1.99) | Download for iPad ($1.99)
Reeder
Reeder gets a lot of hype and attention because it’s extremely robust, and it’s available in flavors made for every Apple device. Offers tons of options and integration with loads of web 2.0 services, and one very slick interface.
Download for iPhone ($2.99) | Download for iPad ($4.99) | Download for Mac ($9.99)
River of News
In the plus column: it offers a unique presentation based on swiping instead of tapping. In the minus column: it only works with your Google Reader account. No native feeds are supported.
Download for iPad ($3.99)
Pulp
If you’re going to design a news reader to look like a real, print newspaper, then you better make sure it looks doggone good. And Pulp does. You can customize every detail of it, including the size and quantity of columns, and exactly what content goes in them. A nice touch: the iPad version syncs with the Mac version, if you happen to own them both.
Download for iPad ($4.99) | Download for Mac ($9.99)
Pulse
Pulse is all about the visuals. It presents the day’s news in a square-shaped photo grid. One of its nicest features is that it loads your favorite news stories locally so you can read them offline.
Download for iPhone (Free) | Download for iPad (Free)
Taptu
I’m a big fan of Taptu. It’s got one of the most fluid and creative presentations I’ve ever seen in a feed reader, there are tons of available feeds for it, it works beautifully, and it’s free. Frankly, it’s a much than a lot of the readers you have to pay for.
Download for iPhone (Free) | Download for iPad (Free)
