It’s been a few months since the last announcement, and a lot has shipped since then. Here are the highlights.

Google Reader and Wallabag API fixes

If you tried using a third-party app with Lion Reader before and hit sync problems, it’s worth another look. We spent a lot of time testing against real apps (FeedMe, Newsflash, Read You, and others) and fixed every incompatibility we found in the Google Reader API:

  • Fixed Read You syncing zero articles (a continuation-cursor encoding bug)
  • Fixed Newsflash setup and FeedMe login
  • Much faster sync for large accounts
  • Your saved articles now show up in Google Reader apps too
  • You can now import subscriptions (including OPML files) through the API

The Wallabag API got the same treatment: proper incremental sync and pagination, sorting and domain filters, fixes for archive/star/delete in some clients, and clearer errors when something goes wrong. You can even save private Google Docs through it now.

Performance and real-time updates

Lion Reader was already fast, but it’s noticeably faster now, and it updates live:

  • Real-time updates: new articles now appear in your lists the moment they’re fetched — no refresh needed. Read and star changes from other devices show up instantly too, and nothing ever jumps around while you’re reading.
  • Faster everything: articles are now cleaned and formatted once on the server instead of every time you open them, timeline queries use a new database index, and navigating between articles you’ve already loaded is instant with no loading flicker.
  • Lots of unread-count bugs are fixed — counts now stay in sync across tabs, tags, and merged feeds.

Cleaned-up styles and an e-paper mode

The whole interface got a visual refresh: a warm amber accent color, better contrast for read/unread states and buttons, and clearer keyboard focus indicators.

There’s a new compact mode for the entry list: a List Density setting under Settings → Appearance lets you trade the roomy preview cards for a tighter list that fits about twice as many articles on screen — handy for triaging a busy feed. Like text size and font, it’s saved per browser, so your phone and desktop can each use whichever density fits.

There’s also a new e-paper theme built for e-ink devices like Kindles, Kobos, and Onyx Boox readers — pure white background, high contrast, and colors that stay readable in grayscale. With your theme set to Auto, Lion Reader will even detect e-readers and switch automatically. See Appearance & Themes for the full set of options.

Other highlights

  • YouTube feeds now render as playable inline videos
  • New Bluesky plugin fetches full post content instead of truncated embeds
  • Math rendering: articles with MathJax equations now render them natively as MathML
  • Discord bot: save articles by DMing or forwarding a link to the bot
  • Lion Reader is now MIT licensed — the full source is at github.com/brendanlong/lion-reader

As always, this feed only gets major announcements. For weekly detailed updates, subscribe to the GitHub releases feed, and please report bugs or feature requests on GitHub or email me.