Pros & Cons
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- Free Web-based RSS feed reader.
- Includes social interaction and sharing.
- Supports OPML uploads.
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- Doesn't accurately mark read and unread content.
- Imported incorrect dates on posts from Google Reader.
- Tool for adding interests never worked.
- Streams made public by default.
- Doesn't import Google Alerts properly.
When you first sign up for SwarmIQ (free), a Web-based RSS feed reader, it asks you to select a couple of "interests," an indication that it'll be more like a self-curated online magazine, along the lines of Flipboard for iPad or Pulse, than a true RSS reader. But the good news is, you can move forward with the signup process even if you select no interests. Phew! You can import a Google Reader OPML file, and, upon importing, SwarmIQ preserves your folder organization and feed order. It was at this point in testing SwarmIQ that I felt hopeful about its capabilities, but those dreams where promptly dashed by inconsistencies, broken functionality, and privacy concerns.
The first red flag was that all my Google Reader data that I imported appeared to have the same time and date stamps. They were all dated for the present time. I opened one particular blog post that I knew full well was quite old and saw that even though SwarmIQ dated it the day I set up the service, it was actually from 2011! You can see visual proof in the slideshow.
View All Likewise, Google Alerts data simply didn't import correctly. In fact, it didn't work at all in SwarmIQ, although it worked just fine two competing product, G2Reader and Feedly, PCMag's two Editors' Choices in this category.
On the plus side, SwarmIQ includes social sharing features, the kind Google Reader had, circa 2010, and which The Old Reader replicates to this day. Getting these features to work was problematic, too. I tried to look for friends and explore other users more generally in hopes of finding interesting people to follow, but figuring out where to go to do that proved difficult.
Diving into the settings, I noticed that my streams were "public" by default. That's a no-no in most security guidebooks. On the bright side, who knows if any users could find my public feeds, as I sure couldn't figure out how to see anyone else's.
As I tested SwarmIQ, even more problems became apparent. I'd read an item on my RSS feed list, switch back to the main view, and see that the very post I had just read was not marked as read. I'd hit the button "mark all as read" and immediately after, still see unread posts in my feed.
The list of problems goes on, and they're serious enough to warrant a warning to readers: If you're looking for a new RSS feed reader, SwarmIQ is not worth considering.
Final Thoughts
SwarmIQ
Free Web-based RSS feed reader SwarmIQ looks simple and purports to have some interesting social features, but it proved broken and buggy in testing. If you're looking for a new RSS feed reader, SwarmIQ is not worth considering.