Google Reader was Google's free RSS reader, the Google blog reader people used to follow blogs and news sites in one list. It launched on October 7, 2005, and Google shut it down on July 1, 2013. Google has no RSS reader today. Blogger's reading list and the Following section in Chrome for iPhone and iPad come closest. To follow blogs the way Google Reader did, use an RSS reader such as Feeder, and bring your feeds with you in an OPML file.
What was Google Reader?
Google Reader was Google's feed reader: a web app for following blogs and news sites through their RSS and Atom feeds. Google engineer Chris Wetherell created it, and it launched through Google Labs in 2005. You added a site by searching for it or by pasting its feed address. New posts from every site landed in one list, with unread counts that showed what was new.
By 2013, Google Reader had:
- Folders and labels, unread counts, and mark all as read
- Starred items, to keep posts for later
- Keyboard shortcuts for the main actions
- A list view with titles only, or an expanded view with summaries that marked posts as read as you scrolled past
- Search across all your feeds
- OPML import and export, so your subscriptions could move to another reader
From 2007 you could also share posts with other people. Google removed sharing in October 2011 and put a Google+ button in its place.
Is there a Google blog reader today?
Not a full one. Google Reader was the Google blog reader, and Google has not replaced it. Two Google products still let you follow blogs or sites:
- Blogger's reading list. Sign in to Blogger, Google's blogging service, and open Reading list. Select Manage reading list, then Add, and type the address of a blog. You can follow it publicly or anonymously, and its latest posts show up in your Blogger dashboard. Google's Blogger help has the steps.
- Chrome's Following section, on iPhone and iPad. On a site, tap More, then Follow. New articles from the site show up under Following on Chrome's New Tab page. It works when Google is your default search engine. See Chrome's help. On Android, Chrome's help now covers following searches only, and on a computer, Chrome's New Tab page shows no suggested articles.
Neither help page mentions folders, unread counts or OPML import, so neither works like Google Reader did. When Google first tested the Follow button in 2021, the Chromium Blog said it was "building on the open RSS web standard".
The blogs themselves still publish RSS feeds, Blogger's included. On September 28, 2026, Feeder users followed more than 3,500 Blogger blogs that had posted in the past 30 days. How to follow blogs in one place shows where WordPress, Substack, Medium, Blogger and other platforms keep their feeds.
Does Google have an RSS reader today?
No. Several Google products show you news, and two of them publish RSS feeds, but none of them reads the feeds you choose.
- Google News is a news aggregator. It collects stories from thousands of publishers, and its algorithms pick and group them for you. It also publishes an RSS feed for any search, such as
https://news.google.com/rss/search?q=electric+cars. Google's note in the feed says it is for use "within a personal feed reader for personal, non-commercial use". Google News RSS feeds lists the feeds for topics, places and searches. - Google Alerts watches the web for a search term and sends new results by e-mail or as an RSS feed. See Add Google Alerts to Feeder.
- Google Discover suggests articles in the Google app and on Chrome's New Tab page on phones and tablets. Google picks them from your interests and activity, not from a list of sites you chose.
- Chrome's Following section and Blogger's reading list follow sites and blogs, as described above.
Google News and Google Alerts feeds work in any RSS reader. On September 28, 2026, Feeder users followed more than 14,000 Google News feeds and more than 18,000 Google Alerts feeds that had new items in the past 30 days.
When and why did Google shut down Google Reader?
Google announced the shutdown on March 13, 2013, and closed Reader on July 1, 2013. Google said the product had a loyal but declining following and that it wanted to focus on fewer products. Until the shutdown, users could download their subscriptions with Google Takeout.
Many users were upset. A petition on Change.org to keep Reader running got more than 100,000 signatures. Other readers filled the gap: Feedly said more than 500,000 new users joined in the 48 hours after the announcement, and NewsBlur grew from about 1,500 subscribers to more than 60,000.
Feeder and Google Reader
Feeder started in 2010 as a Chrome extension. In 2012 we built Google Reader sync into it, so the extension could keep your feeds and read posts in step with your Google Reader account. In 2013 Feeder got its own sync, and on June 30, 2013, the day before Google Reader closed, version 5.2.0 of the extension retired the Google Reader connection. Both are still in the extension's release notes.
How do I get the Google Reader experience today?
Use an RSS reader. It works the way Google Reader did: you choose the sites, and every new post lands in one list, newest first, with nothing ranked or hidden. Here is how that looks in Feeder.
- Follow sites. Select Add feed and paste a site's address. Feeder finds its feed. For a site with no feed, choose Create a custom RSS feed for this website and pick the part of the page to watch.
- Sort them into folders. Drag feeds onto folders, and put folders inside other folders. Each feed and folder shows its unread count, and selecting the count marks it as read.
- Read with the keyboard. J and K move down and up, Enter opens a post, S stars it and R marks it as read. See all keyboard shortcuts.
- Pick a layout. In Settings, Appearance, choose Minimal, Reader, Cards or 3-pane.
- Star and search. Star posts to keep them, and search the titles and summaries of your posts, filtered by feed or date.
- Bring your old feeds. Have an OPML file from another reader? Select Library, then Import & Export, and choose Import from file. Your folders come across as they were. Import and export your feeds with OPML has the details.
Common questions
Can I still use Google Reader?
No. Google closed it on July 1, 2013, and the old address, google.com/reader, now leads to an error page.
What replaced Google Reader?
Nothing from Google. Users moved to independent RSS readers such as Feedly and NewsBlur, and fans built The Old Reader to work like Google Reader. Google Reader's API lives on too: self-hosted readers such as FreshRSS and Miniflux offer a Google Reader API, so mobile apps can sync with them.
Is Google News the same as Google Reader?
No. Google Reader showed every post from the sites you chose. Google News picks stories from many publishers for you. It does publish RSS feeds for searches and topics, so you can follow a Google News search in an RSS reader.
Does Chrome have an RSS reader?
Not on a computer. Chrome on iPhone and iPad can follow sites in its Following section. For a full reader in Chrome, add an extension: see RSS feed reader for Chrome.
Try Feeder
Feeder is an RSS reader for the web, iOS and Android, with extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. The free plan follows up to 200 feeds with no ads, and feeds update as often as every 30 minutes. Plus follows 2,500 feeds, updates them as often as every 5 minutes and adds e-mail summaries.
Get started with Feeder for free