Reeder 2 RSS App Just Got a Big Update – New Themes & More

The popular Reeder 2 RSS app for the iPad got a major update yesterday, to Version 2.1. The update is packed with fixes, improvements, and a number of new features.

The most eye-catching new feature is themes. You can now choose from the Classic theme and new White, Light, Dark, and Black themes. Quick tip – to choose your theme you need to be viewing an individual article and tap on the Text button (the one with the two A characters at top right).

Here’s the full (full!) change list:

What’s new:
– Themes (can be changed in the article viewer → “aA” button)
– iPhone: Landscape support for images and videos
– Article list: group by feeds or by date
– Add to Safari Reading List
– Pinch gesture for Readability in the article viewer
– OPML import (Reeder can now open .opml files), for local/standalone RSS only
– Setting to disable pull-to-next/previous in the article viewer (see Settings→General)
– Enable/disable sharing services in the top settings list
– Sharing: Messages can be disabled now
– Feedbin, Feedly, Fever, RSS: Sort subscriptions alphabetically, folders first or feeds first (per account setting)

Improved:
– Article Viewer: Improved right edge swipe detection for the services panel
– Mark all as read: Immediately remove the subscription list entry (no delay)
– Faster and less bouncy “Mark all as read” sheet
– Improved article layout
– Hide the status bar for the fullscreen image viewer (iOS 7)
– Removing of read articles when syncing or going back to the subscription list
– Also dim selected, read articles
– Feed Wrangler: List smart streams first, then feeds

Fixed:
– Truncated / wrongly sized input fields in the Settings (default recipients in the mail settings)
– Disabled scrolling in the article viewer
– Only apply the option to sort by oldest first to the unread article list
– Truncated description text in the Settings
– Crash when selecting a row in a list
– Missing images for cached articles
– Swipe to go back in the settings (iPhone)
– Service panel issues when tap-and-holding on a link
– Infinite caching of the same articles
– Fever: Filter out “#comment hash”
– Fever: Improved handling of self signed certificates (https)
– Empty article list
– An issue where it wasn’t possible to sign out of a sharing service under certain circumstances

I haven’t spent a lot of time with Reeder 2 since the update as yet, so I won’t comment on the overall improvements and new features. I do quite like the new dark theme though.

I’ve been using Feedly for several months as my every day RSS reader app and it’s doing a great job for me on the iPad, in a Chrome browser on my iMac, and on my Nexus 7 too. It will take  lot for any app to displace it on the iPad – but I always have Reeder around and will certainly be giving the latest version of Reeder 2 a lot of use in coming days to see how it compares for me.

Here’s an App Store link for Reeder 2; it’s priced at $6.49 and is a universal app designed for both iPad and iPhone.