Elytra & Big Sur

It’s been some time since I posted an update here and since I was gathering some screenshots of my progress on the Mac Catalyst app, I thought I would share my progress here as well for everyone to check out.

Hello, Big Sur

As noted in my previous post (WWDC20 and Elytra), I mentioned I’d release two separate builds, one for Catalina and another for Big Sur. But looking at how much better the app is using new technologies released this year, the plans have changed a bit. There won’t be a Catalina build, not anytime soon anyways. However, here’s an early look at the work in progress app running on Big Sur:

Elytra running on Big Sur with an article open from the unreads section

Elytra running on Big Sur with Large Sidebar Icons enabled under the OS Preferences.

Elytra supports OS tinting and will use your preferred tint color from the OS preferences

Elytra on Big Sur also supports inline playback and Youtube support just like the iOS App.

Elytra on Big Sur will also bring Multiwindow support similar to the Web App for opening Articles in separate windows.

The app is probably only 50% done. There a lot of tweaks and adjustments that need to be precisely made so that the app feels native to macOS Big Sur. It is still missing critical features like Importing & Exporting OPML files and managing your Subscriptions.

So I’d definitely tag this as Alpha for now. Once I determine it has all the necessary features from its iOS and Web counterparts, I’ll tag a beta pipeline and figure out a way to introduce it to testers. So if you’re interested in helping me test the macOS App, have Big Sur running on one of your computers, send me DM on Twitter or email me. Also send in any feedback or features you’d like to see in the macOS app.

Happy Reading!