Chief Executive Andrew McLaughlin revealed in May that Digg was developing a non-standalone app Google Reader replacement, and now it looks as though the RSS service will finally arrive just in time for Reader's 1 July shutdown. 

Digg announced on Monday that its new RSS service, which uses the same API as Reader, will launch as a public beta 26 June. However, Engadget reported on Monday that a "friends and family" beta with limited access will first open 19 June.

Read: Google Reader is dead: Here are five alternatives

The beta features easy migration and onboarding from Google Reader, mobile apps that sync with the web, and support for key actions like subscribing, sharing, saving and organising. Digg further plans to introduce a tool that would allow users to push the most important stories to the top. 

Digg Reader - as Digg called it - is chiefly a "web and mobile reading experience that is clean, simple, functional, and fast." It's also a freemium product, and all of the free features mentioned on Monday will come with the free experience. With that said, Digg previously claimed its survey showed 40 per cent of participants would pay for a RSS product. 

"Free products on the internet don't have a great track record. They tend to disappear, leaving users in a lurch. We need to build a product that people can rely on and trust will always be there for them. We're not sure how pricing might work, but we do know that we'd like our users to be our customers, not our product," explained Digg in a blog post from last month.

Read: Digg CEO: 'Digg Reader' won't be separate app

McLaughlin clarified in May while on stage at Internet Week New York that Digg Reader is "one download, which is Digg, and the current Digg will have added onto it reader capabilities".

As for the next 60 days of Digg Reader, Digg said it would focus on an Android app, speed, integration, better tools, search and notifications, among other things.