When Google announced that it was killing off Google Reader, it essentially issued a death notice to apps that relied on its RSS backend. In the absence of a contingency plan, top RSS app Reeder quickly updated its iPhone app to include support for third party services, but left its iPad users in the cold. Reeder for iPad died alongside Google Reader on July 1st, leaving users to seek alternative services in order to stay on top of their feeds. Today, several months later, Reeder is getting back on the horse with version 2.0 — an app that works on both iPhone and iPad.

Reeder 2 features a new design, support for services like Fever's "Hot List", and a convenient pull-out tab for sharing reminiscent of Windows 8's "Charms" menu, but the app's most important new feature is that it's "universal" — it works on both iPhone and iPad. Up to this point, frustratingly, Reeder for iPhone and iPad were separate apps moving at very different paces — always out of sync in terms of feature sets. Reeder creator Silvio Rizzi shared this frustration. "The main goal [of Reeder 2] was to bring the iPad version on par with the iPhone one," he says, but that doesn't mean the new app doesn't include a few bells and whistles. Reeder 2 includes new gestures, smart streams in Feed Wrangler, and the ability to rename feeds you've subscribed to. Rizzi looks forward to adding more services, and possibly themes, as his work on the app progresses.

The app is available now in the App Store for $4.99, and unfortunately, current users cannot upgrade for free.