An excellent, fully-featured RSS reader

NewsRack, formerly Newsstand is an RSS reader for the iPhone. It features a unique traditional newspaper interface in addition to the fairly standard RSS reader interface.

NewsRack is probably the definitive iPhone RSS reader – it’s packed with features and incredibly easy to use. Getting started is easy, especially if you use Google Reader already. Simple enter your user name and password, and NewsRack will sync with Google. You can configure how feeds are updated, and how much is saved. Adding feeds manually can be done by copying in the URL, so NewsRack can find the feed. Organizing your feeds is easy – you can drag them around, put them in categories, or edit the meta data of any feed to specify where you want it.

Once set up, you can read articles in two ways. First is the simple list view, which is very function and well designed. Second is the NewsRack view, which organizes your RSS stories on a rotating newsstand, which you navigate with your finger, swiping left or right, and tapping to open any newspaper (story). While this is essentially unnecessary eye candy, it feels and looks great. The interface moves really smoothly.

NewsRack syncs perfectly with Google Reader – read an article on your iPhone and it will be marked as read online too. Another neat feature is sharing. Hit the ‘Share’ button above a story, and you can copy the URL, share in Google Reader, Twitter, email, Instapaper, Delicious and ReaditLater. This integration means your reading can be as interactive as you like. As there’s a lot to do in Newsstand, it can seem a little intimidating at first, so it’s great that it features an excellent help section, which is clear and well written.

NewsRack is a fantastic RSS reader, and its difficult to find any features that it’s missing!

Added an option to scroll to the oldest unread article when opening a feedFixed Twitter and Delicious authorizationFixed potential crash when shortening a URL with bit.lyFixed an issue that could result in an empty article view

Changes

• Added an option to scroll to the oldest unread article when opening a feedFixed Twitter and Delicious authorizationFixed potential crash when shortening a URL with bit.lyFixed an issue that could result in an empty article view