The official Bloglovin’ app for Android

In the fallout from the closure of Google Reader, another contender has appeared on the scene. Bloglovin’ is slick, well-designed and a serious rival to apps like Feedly and AOL Reader, and their app for Android is definitely worth a look.

So many blogs, so little control!

The Bloglovin’ Android app is divided into Browse and Following, in other words, blogs you might be interested in, and the ones you already follow.

Under Browse, Bloglovin’ gives you access to all your unread posts, as well as other posts and blogs that are popular or are well-liked. You can filter these blogs and posts by subject area or geographical location. It’s a good way to find new content and interesting things to read.

Below, you have Following, or access to all the blogs you already read. They are listed A – Z, with the unread total to the side. You can perform some basic editing here, namely the ability to delete blogs and a mark all posts from a blog as read, but that’s about it.Once in a post, you can also favorite it, or share it.

If you have very few blogs added, or you spend a lot of time on the web version of Bloglovin’, this is probably ok, but the lack of features like the ability to manage folders, or use more specific criteria to mark blogs as read means this app can’t really be used as a substitute for the web version.

Disappointingly, the search function (a much-desired feature among Reader refugees) only allows you to search for new blogs, and doesn’t allow you to search within your feeds.

Some features a little hard to find

Bloglovin’ is well-designed and easy to use, but remember access more features, like Like and Visit blog, via the menus in the top right corner.

Doesn’t stand up to iPhone comparisons

Maybe it was a mistake reviewing the Android app after the iPhone version of Bloglovin’, but we were were really disappointed. Although it works perfectly, it doesn’t look great. The interface is blocky and clunky, while the menus look cheap. This doesn’t impact the functioning of Bloglovin’ any, but it is disappointing, especially if you have a chance to compare it to the iPhone version.

More control!

Bloglovin’ is one of those apps that we really wanted to like, but ultimately, we couldn’t overlook some glaring deficiencies. For many, lack of feed search is a deal-breaker, while the way that all your feeds are grouped, without folders or categorization, make things very messy for users with multiple feeds.

In short, it’s a nice app, but doesn’t have the control blog power readers (or even just enthusiastic users!) need. A few more organization criteria, and a nicer interface, and we’d give it a solid 9.

Bloglovin’ for Android helps you follow all your favorite blogs & discover new ones

Features:
– Add any blog on the web that you want to follow
– Google reader users! You can import all your blogs and folders
– See all their latest posts gathered in a beautiful feed
– Discover the best posts in Fashion, Beauty, Interior Design, Food, DIY and other categories
See why over 2 million members already love bloglovin’!