By A sad, sad day is upon us, folks. After Andy Rubin announced his departure from the Android team, something else will soon slip through our fingers. The Google Reader team announced that the service would be retiring very soon — July 1st, soon. We can’t say this is a total shocker considering rumors placed Google at odds when it came to the future of Google Reader.
According to those rumors, Google Reader was never a huge service when it came to the number of users taking advantage of it, and that it was always teetering on the chopping block. We never thought it had the same staying power as YouTube and Gmail, of course, but we never thought it was so unpopular that Google would look to retire it.
Well, it looks like something finally pushed Google over the edge and convinced the company to put it down once and for all. We, at Phandroid, are especially saddened considering it’s one of our favorite tools. Google Reader has served us quite well over the years, and you can bet we’ll squeeze every last bit of use we can out of it before it’s ripped from our stubby little fingers.
With the three month “sunset” period, Google is giving everyone ample time to find new services, and the Google Takeout service will allow you to download your subscription list in standard form so you can easily migrate to wherever it is you end up going. I guess now’s a good time to ask you guys what you’ll be using in the horrified anticipation of this service’s final countdown. Let us know in the comments section below.
[via Google]
I guess I’ll import my subscriptions directly to feedly
Feedly runs directly off of Google Reader though, doesn’t it? I used it for a while and it asked me to log into my Gmail account and pulled all my feeds from there – it marks them as read and everything. I think that feedly will be going down as well :(
That’s what I thought too. Hopefully not though since feedly is my most used app.
i just looked up freedly and on their blog they posted about Reader being shutdown and that they expected it and they have a homegrown product that will be used when the reader api is taken offline. http://blog.feedly.com/
just saw that too. They say it’ll be a seamless transition, although they’re bogged down tonight with the flood of new users.
Yep, that seems to be the way to go
I am devastated. I found a 2011 article and am using Feedly now – grudgingly although the interface is beautiful. I like being able to hit a dropdown from Gmail or Drive to bring up Reader
nononononononoononononononoo
Yeah, just jumped ship to feedly as well. :(
Bummer! Read this bad news through Reader!!
BOOOOOO! My favorita, most used app!
I read this through Reader too!! Dang! It’s one of the first things I install on a device and use several times a day.
That was my favorite Google service…
truly upsetting I’ve been using it for years and is by far the best reader app on the market for mobile reading.
What the hell!!! This can’t happen. We need to start a petition or something. I use this app everyday multiple times a day.
But is this going away like iGoogle was going away in November which is still working btw.
https://www.change.org/petitions/google-keep-google-reader-running
I love reader. First iGoogle and now this. What’s next? Cutting Gmail?
This is very sad. Google Reader is one of my favorite google products that I’ve used daily for many years now.
First iGoogle, now Reader. Google sure knows how to maintain customer loyalty! ~
Does that means various News Reader apps would also stop working?
So what the hell people use nowadays to track news sites? I’m pretty sure Google Reader was the most popular RSS reader, so if it’s going out of business there must be something I’m missing. I have over a hundred subscriptions in Google Reader, I can’t just visit those sites by hand every day. I’m honestly asking, what is the alternative?? Please don’t tell me that “if it’s important people will talk about it on Twitter” is the new model…
I am switching to Tiny Tiny RSS, but I have a server and IP space I can use…
I’ve been using the ‘RSS Live Links’ chrome addon, but, it doesn’t sync across devices.
Im in the same boat. Feedly seems to be the biggest and best alternative. It takes care of the transfer from google reader for you too which is nice. http://blog.feedly.com/2013/03/14/google-reader/
So short sighted.
I spent hrs setting up my feeds. And always go back to it when I’m looking for something.
This is literally my most frequently used Google app. If there ends up being a petition to keep it active, please post and I’ll gladly sign it.
This [terrible] decision is completely contrarian to Google’s own self-defined mission statement:
Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Yeah, and it couldn’t cost that much to run.
Ugh! I use Reader everyday, mostly through the Reeder app on my computer and iPad. I hope Reeder follows Feedly’s example and creates another solution!
Noooooooooooo……in my Darth Vader voice.
Every other news feed app/site is garbage though… Currents is confusing and literally breaks your device. Press, Flipboard, and Pulse are overhyped garbage with some baffling UI decisions… This is such terrible news. :(
This was my most used Google service. Hell, it’s my most used app/website/anything period. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO USE NOW?!?!
Test
Rest
Noooooooooooooooo! Reader is the first app I install on any device I get/reflash. Having a centralized RSS feed that works on multiple devices is invaluable!
That sucks so hard. I adore Google Reader, like many of us here. Guess I’ll be checking out Feedly too…
READER is my most used app! I guess I can download google currents. Isnt that the same?
I hear there is some sort of panic going around due to the Google Reader retirement. Well, there is always an alternative. How about http://www.skimr.co ?
I switched over to Feedly
Why is Google getting rid of their handy services? It doesn’t MAKE SENSE. Whenever I reset my phone or get a new one the first thing I like to do is download all the Google apps and I have less and less to install every time.
bad its soooo bad