This review originally appeared within iLounge’s iOS Gems series within the compilation article, iPhone Gems: Every RSS Reader, Reviewed. Additional details may be found in the original article.
Compared to the other RSS reader applications at its price point, Manifesto ($2) is a breath of fresh air: a robust, full-featured app missing only a couple of features. Manifesto uses a bottom-tabbed interface with three options: feeds, new items, and flagged items. The add button lets users add feeds from a direct feed URL, a general site URL, or from a Google Reader account; the Reader option lets users select individual feeds or add all subscribed feeds. In the feeds view, each is listed by title with the favicon to the left and unread count to the right. Tapping on a feed from within this view lists all entries in the feed, including those marked read, each with the title and time or day. An action button allows users to mark all as read or all as flagged.
In the new items view, unread entries are listed by feed, in the same order as on the feeds view. The individual entry view lists the title, with the summary below, a small text link to flag the item, an action button to email a link to the entry or open it in Safari, and a button opposite that for “flipping” between the summary view and a browser view. A menu in the iPhone’s Settings app lets users users toggle an option to cache flagged articles for offline viewing, and set the amount of time to keep old and unflagged articles. While it doesn’t offer true two-way syncing, Manifesto is one of the most usable RSS readers for the iPhone OS, with a clean, smart interface, flagging and offline viewing support, a variety of options from which to add new feeds, and a well-implemented built-in browser view. It’s not perfect, but it’s as close as we could expect from a $2 app; true two-way syncing with Google Reader or other online services could make it even better. iLounge Rating: A-.
Our Rating
Company and Price
Company: Mayor Justin
Website: N/A
Title: Manifesto
Price: $2
Compatible: iPhones, iPod touches