The Breaker Times

It’s hard to keep up with everything you come across on the web, such as an article you don’t have time to read at the moment or a video you’d like to run again later. Years ago, I started getting the better of this issue with Pocket, a well-known app that allows you to bookmark an article to a separate server and then retrieve it to read at your leisure. Since then, a number of similar services have appeared, offering a variety of features — and a variety of prices.

What follows is a description of Pocket and some of the available apps. They all (with one exception) offer free versions and sync across a number of devices, including web browsers, Android devices, and iPhones.

Pocket has developed a nicely designed interface with lots of options that let you sort your articles from newest or oldest, choose favorites, display them in list or grid format, and archive the ones you want to keep or organize them via tags. Its homescreen shows you your most recent saves along with its own list of “Pocket-Worthy Reads.” You can share your articles via social media or recommend them within the app for others to find. There is a set of curated reads; extensions for a wide variety of browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari; and apps for Android and iOS devices.

Pocket is now “part of the Firefox family,” and as of June 11th, 2023, Pocket users were notified that they needed to transition to Mozilla accounts. Still, if you use Pocket and already have a Firefox account or don’t mind creating one, you can simply convert the account and continue with Pocket as before.

Paid version: The Premium version ($4.99 a month or $44.99 a year) adds a permanent library of everything you’ve saved (in case it disappears from the web) as well as full-text search and other features.

Like Pocket, Instapaper started out as a simple web add-on and has gone through several iterations (and owners); currently, it is part of an independent company called Instapaper Holdings. The web app has a nice and simple UI; while there is no grid view, you can turn thumbnails on and off. It offers (and syncs across) web browsers (using a Chrome extension, Safari extension, Firefox extension, or bookmarklet), iOS, Android, and Kindle. A free account lets you save an unlimited number of articles, videos, and other content. You can also highlight text in the articles you’ve saved, create up to five notes a month, and edit the name, link, or summary of each article.

Paid version: The Premium version ($5.99 a month or $59.99 a year) adds full-text search for your saved documents, unlimited notes, a permanent archive, and text-to-speech.

Raindrop may not have the simplicity of Instapaper, but it has a load of features that could be helpful, especially if you’re serious about your info collections. (And it is one of the favorites of Verge editor-at-large David Pierce.) The web version lets you view your articles in a variety of formats, including an interesting one called Moodboard. Like most of the others listed here, the free version of Raindrop offers an unlimited number of bookmark saves on an unlimited number of devices; these include apps for Macs, iOS devices, Android devices, Linux devices, and extensions for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge browsers. You can share with others and edit titles, tags, and descriptions.

Paid version: The Pro version ($3 a month or $28 a year) adds AI suggestions, full-text search, cloud backup, and a permanent library of all your bookmarked sites, among other features.

PaperSpan is an old-fashioned, simple app that is fine if you want a really plain bookmarking service — and it promises no ads and no tracking, which is a plus. You can create separate folders for your saved bookmarks, but that’s about it; there are mobile apps for iOS and Android and extensions for Chrome and Firefox. Unlike other services listed here, there are no nice graphics, highlighting, or choice between lists and grids. But if you just save articles in order to be able to easily read them and don’t care about all the fancy add-ons that the other options offer, this is for you.

Matter is currently only available for iOS devices and the web, with extensions for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox browsers. The free version allows you to do a variety of read-it-later tasks, including highlighting, adding notes, and listening to an audio reading of the article; the homepage offers suggestions as to what you might like to read next. The iOS app offers somewhat more than the web version, allowing you to set a reading goal and add your Gmail address to pull your newsletters into the app. You can also sync highlights to note-taking apps such as Notion or Obsidian or send articles to your Kindle.

Paid version: Matter Premium costs $14.99 a month or $59.99 a year and adds HD audio in a more natural voice, AI transcription of podcasts and YouTube videos, and integrations with other services.

Omnivore is a relatively recent open-source bookmarking app that shows promise. It has a straightforward UI that lets you see your articles in lists or as a gallery; as with many of the more sophisticated readers, you can highlight an article, add notes or labels, or archive them. Interestingly, you can see your notes and highlights as a sidebar both in the article itself or in the gallery / listing. There are extensions for a variety of browsers, including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, and mobile apps for iOS and Android. If you want to do more than the basics, it’s probably best if you’re comfortable with open-source software, but on the whole, this is a useful and usable app.

Paid version: None; users are asked to donate if they wish.

Readwise’s Reader, which lets you save a wide variety of content types, including YouTube videos (and their transcriptions), is the only app listed here that is for-pay only. The Verge’s David Pierce recently recommended it, and I must say, it’s intriguing. Reader adds a bar to the top of your browser that lets you overlay notes, tags, and more, directly to the original article as you’re reading it. A checkmark on the extension icon shows it’s active; uncheck it, and the markups disappear from your original article but not from the copy that’s been saved to Reader. You are also provided with a personal email address that allows you to forward newsletters and other inbox-cluttering emails directly to Reader. I only wish there were some sort of basic free version.

Paid version: You get a one-month free trial (perhaps two, if you ask for it). After that, you must subscribe to both Readwise and Reader for $12.99 a month or $119.88 a year.

Update, September 9th, 2024: This article was originally published on February 24th, 2022; entries have been updated, and new apps have been added.