Read: How to Use Pocket (Read Later App) Effectively
Alternatives to Pocket App
1. Article Reader Offline
The simplest app for bookmarking is the Pocket Reader Offline. The app works by silently monitoring for a clipboard action. Whenever you wish to save an article for offline reading, just copy the link to clipboard and it automatically pops up a floating button where you can either download it to read later or preview it in the app. Much like pocket TTS feature, Article Reader offline comes with an inbuilt dictation tool which reads your articles with varying speeds. Useful in those times when you’d rather listen to a long article than reading it. Text can be reduced or enhanced and it also supports dark mode, which lets you change the background to black to ease your eyes if you read on the phone too much. Offline: Yes, you can save your articles offline but it is limited to text and images. It doesn’t support videos in offline mode and filters out during the save. Cross-platform sync: This app is only available on Android, so it’s a viable option is if you do most of your reading on the phone. Advanced Search (tags): You can use folders to sort the link but that’s pretty much it. More refined tags based search isn’t available yet. Article Reader Offline (Free, no ads)
2. Figgle
Figgle is NOT just another Read it later app which shows you bookmarked posts. It is an advanced app that lets you save your posts efficiently and discover relevant content based on your preferences. You being with creating an account and every time you wish to save something, simply tap the Share button on your iPhone and select Figgle. It would automatically fetch the details using the URL and save the contents to your profile.
You can manually upload photos, notes, and URL to save it on your Figgle profile. The best part about Figgle is that it lets you discover others’ posts and vice versa with the trending tab. But if you wish to keep things private, you can hide the posts from the world and keep things to yourself. You can follow friends or check out random posts by users and save it to your profile and read it later. Figgle offers an innovative product across the genre which lets you save everything that matters. Offline: Sadly, Figgle doesn’t work offline and won’t load your saved posts without the Internet. Cross-platform sync: As of now, Figgle has an iOS app and would sync all your saved posts on every device with the app installed. Advanced Search: You can save the posts for easier discovery and search posts using the tags. Figgle (free, no ads)
3. EmailThis.me
Most of our official communication is done over email and it only makes sense that there was a service that gives us our articles via email. Enter EmailThis, a chrome extension ( also has a web app) where you can directly paste the links and it sends you an ad-free, formatted article in your Email inbox. It is pretty decent in my opinion because you don’t have to worry about dedicating a part of your life in sorting and organizing everything in different apps. It sends you your bookmarks directly into the inbox where you don’t have to worry about organizing. Most Email clients have folders to sort things out. Even better you can directly forward those emails to anyone which saves you a lot of time in an office. Offline: Yes. once a link is saved, you get an email which stays in your inbox. You can view it later. It displays the article reformatted and without any ads. Cross-platform sync: All your saved bookmarks and articles are in your inbox, if you can access your email from a smart device, your bookmarks will be there. Advanced Search (tags): It depends on which email client you use and sort them in separate folders. EmailThis.me ($19/year)
4. WorldBrain
It’s an opensource tool which keeps a track of all the websites you visit and indexes them on your system. It works as a chrome extension and sits neatly on the side of the browser for easy access. You can add tags and comments by selecting a piece of text on the webpage and clicking the comment button. Extra Features: You can share the text directly instead of copy-pasting by generating shareable links with just one tap. you can do this by selecting the piece of text and share the text by tapping the share button.
Offline: It does store the annotations and tags offline but it only works when your website is loaded, if not then you need internet to first load the webpage to be able to access that. Cross-Platform Sync: It is not yet available but you can back the project and you’ll get this feature when it is officially rolled out. Advanced Search(tags): yes, it supports advanced filters and tag support. Price: Free, $5/month with additional features (cross-platform sync, automatic backup, private storage) WorldBrain (free, $5 per month)
5. Raindrop.io
An advanced bookmark manager for articles, links, images, audio, and video. The UI can be intimidating for some people with so many features but it is really easy to learn. It can sort the bookmarks in folders, filter redundant links and remove broken links which help in keeping your collection clean. You can directly share the articles with one button. It has a few extra features with this app and it allows you to get a preview of an article without opening it first. You get to sort bookmarks by date, name, tags, etc. The premium version has an option of filtering links like broken and duplicates. You can integrate google drive and dropbox with raindrop.io pro version and save all your bookmarks on the cloud. Integration with other services like Instapaper is also included in the pro version. Offline: Raindrop.io doesn’t save bookmarks offline, you can view them only when you’re connected to the internet. It does have an option to sync with the cloud where you can save and download the articles. Cross-platform sync: It does have apps for all the platforms. You can use the Chrome extension or the web app for computers and apps. For mobiles (apps are available for both iOS and Android). Advanced Search (tags): Searching saved articles is a breeze with this app. Tag search option is available with a few other options to make it even easier when looking for bookmarks. Raindrop.io (freemium, $3 for extra features)
6. Instapaper
It is one of the more popular apps in the online bookmarks category is also one of the simplest. Instapaper initially a paid service is now free to all users over all platforms. The web app has the simplest UI and the mobile apps have followed the same style keeping uniformity across all platforms. Now, most of the basic features of the app are available to all users across all platforms. Some of the paid ‘premium’ features including voice dictation, ad-free browsing, and full-text search are also made free. you can Send articles to e-readers like Kindle, it is really useful when reading articles on kindle.
Offline: All your bookmarks are synced across all the platforms and you can view the links from any device after saving it to Instapaper. However, you cannot view them without an internet connection. Cross-platform sync: The app is available on all the platform as a web app and app can be downloaded for both Android and iOS from the respective app stores. Finding articles(tags): tags are not supported in Instapaper but you can search for you saved articles using the inbuilt search option. Instapaper (free)
7. Pinboard
Like every app in this list, Pinboard takes the spot because of clear objectives. It charges a fixed amount a year, lets you bookmark links, articles on its app and helps you organize and clear broken links. The UI is fairly simple with no ads, web page like interface. You get an easy tag option to organize your articles. It is fast and efficient in archiving links. It connects with other popular services like Pocket, Instapaper, etc. You can save tweets and favorites of up to three accounts. Offline: The archive feature lets you archive the data but it is not available offline. Cross-platform sync: it’s a web app and many third-party apps are available which you can use on different devices. Finding articles(tags): You can find articles with advanced search. Pinboard ($11-25/year)
8. Evernote
Evernote is a mobile app designed for note taking, organizing, tasks lists, and archiving. Even though primarily marketed as a note taking the app, it is used for its organizing features as a bookmarking tool.
Read: Don’t Like Their New Pricing, Try These 8 Best Free Evernote Alternatives Instead of folders, Evernote has a notebook where you keep notes. It is a smart tool, it allows you to post links, drop images and videos on a page which is automatically embedded in the notebook page. You can organize using tags and separate the link into different notebooks. Extra Features: With the free version of the app you can share your data with two devices. With paid services you can search in PDF’s and docs, you can save web pages and links for later reading. Offline: yes, you can. Cross-platform sync: Evernote works on all the platforms and the apps are synced with a common account. you can save the links on any one platform and all of your devices would sync and receive the links. Finding articles(tags): tags are supported with Evernote. Evernote (freemium, $3.99 for extra features)
9. Wallabag
Wallabag is an open source bookmark manager that helps you in keeping links as well as images by downloading them and removing all the clutter (ads, cookies). The UI is close to a web page and it lets you save the webpage and you can read it later. It can be used as a self-hosting server that would host your saved bookmarks locally to allow offline reading. Offline: yes. it supports offline reading and self-hosting server. Cross-Platform sync: It is available for different platforms and you can use it to host a server on your local machine and use it on the mobile applications Advanced Search: yes it supports advanced search. Price: free and open source. Wallabag (free)
Best Pocket App Alternatives
Most people have a different requirement while looking for organizing apps. Evernote is great if you want to add notes to the saved links while open source lovers can use Wallabag and host their own service app. Pinboard is very minimal and basic if you want to keep your bookmarks to yourself. Booky.io and Instapaper are great for sharing the links, organizing and then view it later on their phones. If you spend most of your days on writing emails and sharing articles is a hassle, you can use Email this to send beautifully crafted emails without ads. Article Reader Offline is best if you use only your phone to read articles. These apps may not have made our list but are rather useful. Bookmark ninja – for fast and efficient bookmarking. Vookmark -bookmarking for video. Save to Google – save your bookmark with Google account.
