What I’ll use in place of Instapaper
Update September 5, 2022: In January 2022 Instapaper finally received a needed update with version 8.1. It is currently at version 8.1.2. I have been all in with Instapaper since the update in. In my opinion, it is the best read-it-later app bar none.
I recently wrote about my disappointment with Instapaper, my long-time read-it-later app. I also wrote an Open Letter to the Developer asking that they either fix the app or sell it. Since I don’t have much hope for either of those things happening, I’ve been on the hunt for a replacement.
There are several other read-it-later apps to choose from. Pocket, Reeder, Goodlinks, Matter, Readwise, and UpNext to name a few. UpNext and Readwise are both in beta and early access sign-up is available. I’ve tested UpNext, and I’m on the early access list for Readwise.
Here’s what I’m looking for in a read-it-later app. A clean, attractive reader view, highlighting, and highlight export.
My number one choice would be Goodlinks. As I recently wrote:
In my opinion, GoodLinks is one of the best read-it-later apps out there. The reading experience is excellent. Articles and reading positions sync between devices via iCloud. And best of all it’s a one-time purchase for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The only thing that’s missing is highlighting and highlight export. A recent addition to Goodlinks is the ability to export a full article as markdown, plain text, or PDF. I received an email from the developer Ngoc Lou stating “Highlighting and notes are planned. I’m working on it.”
For now, I’ve settled on Matter. It does what I need, plus a lot that I don’t need or want. But it lets me highlight my articles, export the highlights, and save them to Obsidian. The reading experience is good but could be better if there were more font choices. Another nice feature is being able to listen to articles.