Wumii: the Chinese reader app that thinks it knows what you want to read

One of China’s most innovative reading apps, Wumii Reader has just upgraded its Android app to version 2.0. In contrast to many other apps that demand you add in lots of subscriptions or preferred sites — which can be quite laborious — Wumii Reader instead uses its own clever algorithm to offer up what it thinks you might want to read.

One new feature that takes advantage of that is the “shake to read” that causes the Wumii app to freshen up your suggested list of relevant articles. Also new in this v2.0 beta is a reading network where you can follow and interact with other Wumii Reader users — and read some of their articles too.

A favorites folder is also integrated into the app, plus a built-in ‘read later’ service so that you can access a particular article when you have more time to read — even if you’re offline. The app’s interface takes on a nice magazine format for all those stored articles, as if it’s rewarding you for saving up good thing to read. If you prefer to stick with third-party services like that, there’s still the option to stash things in Pocket or Instapaper — and Pocket of course also has the same superb browsing interface since its recent major revamp.

Despite its algorithms for helping you find things, you can of course still add particular sites or topics manually within the app.

The startup behind Wumii has a lot of competition in this sector — everything from global players like Flipboard, to local clones like Zaker. Plus there are some good-looking alternatives from major Chinese web portals, such as Shanda’s Daguan app.

You can get the Wumii app for Android from its homepage. The iPhone app is not yet out.

This article by Steven Millward originally appeared on Tech in Asia and was published with permission.