Leopard + iPhone + IMAP = Offline RSS Reader

Want an offline RSS reader for your iPhone, minus all the annoying hacks? If you've installed Mac OS X Leopard and you have access to an IMAP-capable e-mail account (such as Gmail), you're halfway there—just follow these steps.

First, a few preliminaries: I assume you all know what RSS is (if not, here's the scoop). Now, you can already read RSS feeds on the iPhone if you're in network range (either through Apple's iPhone-friendly RSS Web service, Google's mobile RSS reader, or other such apps), but if you're riding on the subway, soaring at 30,000 feet or otherwise without wireless service, you're out of luck. In these cases, an offline RSS reader would come in handy, and several such iPhone apps are already available—but they all require hacking your iPhone, which (depending on your comfort level) you may or may not want to do. (Getting RSS feeds via e-mail is another option, but I'd rather not clog my inbox with any more messages than I have to.)

One of the new features in Leopard is integrated RSS feeds in the Apple Mail client—and of course, when I first heard of it, I thought: "Nice! Now I can sync my RSS feeds onto my iPhone!" But for whatever reason, you can't do it (nor can you sync your iPhone "Notes" to your Mac in Leopard). That's said, here's a little workaround—it's not terribly elegant (or automatic), but it's relatively easy and will keep you relatively current on your RSS even when you're stuck in "No service"-ville.

1. Set up your IMAP e-mail account: For the uninitiated, IMAP is an e-mail protocol that allows for message and directory syncing; that is, if you read, move or delete a message in your e-mail account, it'll sync with all your connected e-mail clients (including your iPhone). Gmail just added IMAP support, and several paid services (such as Mailstreet, which I use) work with IMAP as well. Just configure Apple Mail and your iPhone to fetch messages via IMAP (here's how using Gmail); I'd also recommend creating a subdirectory specifically for your RSS messages so you don't clog your inbox. (I'm not sure if that's possible using Gmail; IMAP support has yet to be activated for my Gmail account, so I can't test it yet. Help, anyone?)
2. Add your RSS feeds: In the Apple Mail client, look for the RSS header in the left-hand column; that's where new RSS items appear in the application. Now find the "+" button in lower-left corner of the interface; click it, select "Add RSS feeds," and start adding away.
3. Drag RSS articles into mail folders: Once you've added some RSS feeds to Apple Mail, new articles should start appearing automatically. (Not happening? Right-click a feed and select "Update".) Now simply drag the new articles into your IMAP inbox or the RSS subdirectory you created (it may take a few minutes for the articles to sync with your IMAP mail server).
4. Check your iPhone: Browse to your IMAP inbox or that RSS subfolder you made—within a minute or so, your RSS articles should start flowing in. Make sure to do this before you wander out of wireless range; if you don't and your iPhone fails to check mail before you hit the subway, you'll be left high and dry.
5. Rinse, repeat: Want some new RSS articles in your iPhone? Repeat steps two and three. No, it's not automatic, but it's better than nothing.

This little RSS offline "reader" isn't perfect, of course—articles aren't nicely labeled, for example—but you could fix that by creating separate subdirectories for each of your feeds. Give it a shot, and let me know your experience, critiques, and improvements.