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Meet Pocket, the successor to the megapopular short-term bookmarking tool Read It Later. Just as simple and platform-compatible as Read It Later, this new incarnation adds extra features and shows off a completely redesigned interface.
If you’re not familiar with Read It Later, it’s an incredibly convenient app that’s useful in countless scenarios. Say you’re on your morning commute and you come across a lengthy article that you can’t quite (or don’t want to) finish reading. Just add it to your RIL list, and go back to it later. Or say you come across an HD movie trailer while surfing on your phone. Go ahead and add it to your RIL list; then you can watch it when you get back to your desktop. The beauty of Read It Later has always been its simplicity and cross-platform compatibility. It was easy to use anywhere, anytime, and on any device.
Fortunately, with today’s news we don’t lose any of the features we came to love in Read It Later. In fact, in Pocket we get all of the previous app’s core functionality, plus a number of significant improvements. Most noticeably, Pocket is head and shoulders above Read It Later when it comes to visual interface. With sleeker colors, icons, panels, and fonts, not only is content more attractive in the new app, it’s also easier to read.
And it’s more than just a face-lift, as Pocket brings new features to the table. Now there’s bulk editing, which lets you mark as favorite, tag, or delete multiple items at once, potentially saving a lot of time for power users. Also, you can filter your list by content type, so you can choose to see only videos, images, or articles.
Finally, Pocket is completely free to all users, unlike Read It Later, which came in both free and paid Pro versions. This means there are no limits on your list, and the searching and sorting features are always unlocked.
After my initial test drive, I have to say I am impressed by the new Pocket app. It looks and feels better than its predecessor, it offers enhanced features, and I even like the name better. Sure, “Read It Later” had a nice ring to it, but it felt a bit constrictive, no? With the new name, Pocket, I feel like the app has a lot more room to grow, and I’m excited to see it do just that.
Pocket (Android | iOS) is available now for free download from Google Play and Apple’s iTunes App Store.
