inessential by Brent Simmons

NetNewsWire 5.0 for iOS Shipping

Go get it on the App Store! Also see the announcement on the NetNewsWire blog and see the NetNewsWire home page for details.

It’s free and open source. Even though it’s labeled as 5.0, it’s a brand-new app, a fresh start for an app that originally appeared on the App Store on day one.

The big difference is not the price tag — there have been free versions of NetNewsWire before — and it’s not just that it’s open source. It’s that there’s a great team of volunteers behind it now.

Many are coders, for sure — and one of them, Maurice Parker, is the lead developer for the iOS version. We also have Kiel Gillard on Feedly syncing, Nate Weaver on under-the-hood goodness and CSS magic, and many more.

There are also designers, writers, and testers. Brad Ellis made the app icon, which I love. Ryan Dotson wrote the excellent help book.

Our friends at Feedbin generously run the web service that provides the Reader view, and they’ve helped with a number of technical issues.

And, at this writing, we have 8,211 people testing via TestFlight — and they’ve been great reporting crashes and bugs, making feature requests, and providing all kinds of feedback. Having that kind of huge community support has meant everything to the quality of the app. This release is dedicated to them.

I love saying that NetNewsWire is a team. Yes, sure, I wrote the bones and I manage the project and I put my name on it — but this team and what they’ve accomplished makes me so very, very proud and happy. 🎸🐯💥