Read-it-later apps after Pocket: how to actually choose one
Last updated: 2026-08-27
Since Pocket shut down, "read it later" no longer describes one thing. It now covers two genuinely different kinds of app, and most disappointment comes from buying one while expecting the other.
What Pocket actually did
Pocket did two jobs at once, and that is why it is awkward to replace. It saved a link, and it also fetched and stored a clean copy of the article text so you could read it later without the original page, without the ads, and without a connection.
Mozilla shut it down on 8 July 2025. The API was switched off in October 2025 and the final export deadline passed on 12 November 2025. It is not coming back.
When people say they want "a Pocket alternative", they usually mean one of those two jobs. Working out which one you mean is the whole decision.
The category split in two
The first kind is a reader. It extracts the article text, strips the page down, stores that text on your device, and gives you a typography-controlled reading view that works offline. Instapaper is the long-running example; Readwise Reader is the modern, heavier one. If your problem is that you want to read long articles comfortably and away from a connection, this is the category you want.
The second kind is a library. It saves the link, captures the title and a preview, and helps you organise and find it again later. It does not usually store the article text, and when you open something it takes you to the live page. If your problem is that you save things everywhere and can never find them again, this is the category you want.
Pocket straddled both, which is why no single app feels like a direct replacement.
How to tell which one you need
Look at what actually goes wrong for you today. If you have a backlog of long reads you genuinely intend to read, and you get frustrated by paywalls, pop-ups and no signal on the train, you need a reader. Pay for one; that is what the money buys.
If instead your saves are a mix of recipes, videos, product pages, threads and the occasional article, and the real pain is that they are scattered across a browser, a chat app and your own screenshots, a reader will not help you. Most of what you save is not an article, so there is no text to extract.
A useful test: look at your last twenty saves. If fewer than half are long-form articles, a reader app is solving someone else's problem.
Where Linki fits, and where it does not
Linki is the second kind. It saves links from any app through the share sheet, organises them into visual categories with tags, and searches across everything — offline, without an account. A Pro tier adds AI summaries and AI search, and a Daily Brief that groups new saves into a short digest you can read or play back aloud.
To be clear about what it does not do: Linki has no reader mode and does not store article text on your device. Opening a saved link opens the live page. If distraction-free offline reading is the thing you actually want, Instapaper or Readwise Reader will serve you better than Linki will, and you should use one of those.
Where Linki earns its place is the other job — a searchable library of everything you saved, with summaries so you can tell what something was without reopening it. If you are migrating, it imports a Pocket CSV export directly, along with browser bookmark files, Raindrop and Karakeep backups.
Frequently asked questions
What is the closest replacement for Pocket?
There is no single one, because Pocket did two jobs. For offline reading of article text, Instapaper or Readwise Reader are the closest. For saving and re-finding links of every kind, a bookmark library like Raindrop or Linki is closer. Pick based on which half of Pocket you actually used.
Does Linki have a reader mode?
No. Linki does not extract or store article text, and it has no distraction-free reading view. Opening a saved link opens the live web page. If offline article reading is your main need, choose a dedicated reader app instead.
Can I still read my saved articles offline?
Only in an app that stored the article text at save time. Linki stores your links, titles, previews, tags and AI summaries offline, so you can browse and search your whole library without a connection — but opening an article itself needs the live page.
Is read-it-later the same as bookmarking?
Not quite. Read-it-later grew up around long-form articles and offline reading. Bookmarking is broader and covers anything with a URL — videos, recipes, products, threads. The two have converged, which is exactly why the labels are now confusing.
What can I do with an old Pocket export?
The CSV you downloaded before the November 2025 deadline still works. It holds titles, URLs, timestamps, tags and read status — but not the article text, which was never part of the export. Linki imports that CSV directly, mapping your Pocket tags to its own and keeping archived items separate.
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