:: READING BEAUTIFIEDFollowing a year long approval battle with Apple over it’s subscription service, Readbility made its App Store debut today. The web-based service that provides users with a stripped-down, clean view of any web article and allows saving for offline reading has been around for several years and is integrated into many apps, but a native iOS version was hard-won.
If you're familiar with iOS 5’s reader option, now built into Safari, or if one has used apps like Instatpaper and Read It Later, there’s really nothing you haven't seen before. The app is not as feature-rich as some alternatives, but it’s free, pretty, and handy. The app allows for URL input and minimal web searching, but using any of the browser plug-ins on a computer helps fill the reading list best.
Readibility states on their blog today, “We wanted to create something that makes it as easy as possible to queue up and take web articles anywhere you go on your iPhone or iPad. Our guiding principle was simple: get out of the reader’s way.”
Readability for iOS was born of a collaboration between the Readability team and Teehan+Lax. The typography, from Hoefler & Frere-Jones, looks sharp.
We’ll have a complete review for you soon, but in the mean time if you try it out, please let us know what you think in the comments.