FeedCount was an iPhone utility for checking FeedBurner statistics, rather than an RSS reader for browsing articles. A September 2009 iCulture report described subscriber, click, and reach information. That contemporary account identifies the historical purpose of the app, but does not establish that its old connections still operate.
A dashboard depends on its data provider
A small mobile dashboard can be convenient because it puts a frequently checked number within easy reach. Its long-term usefulness, however, depends on what the underlying service continues to supply. An attractive chart cannot preserve a metric after the source stops providing it.
Google’s 2021 FeedBurner announcement said core feeds and basic feed-request analytics would continue while many non-core features, including email subscriptions, would be retired. The historical FeedCount feature list should therefore not be read as a promise of today’s FeedBurner functionality.
Know what the number represents
For a publisher, the useful first question is the definition of the measurement. A request for a feed, an individual subscriber, a click on an article, and a website visit are different events. Comparing them without that distinction can make an audience look larger or smaller for reasons unrelated to the quality of the writing.
When recording a trend, keep the measurement method and date range beside the result. If a service changes its reporting, mark the change instead of presenting the old and new series as automatically comparable.
Use the archive to ask better questions
This retrospective does not provide a current download recommendation or instructions for connecting credentials to the old client. Its value is the publishing problem FeedCount addressed: checking whether distributed content was reaching readers. A modern measurement setup should answer a specific editorial question, such as which topics attract returning readers, and explain the limits of the evidence before turning a fluctuating count into a business decision.