We all have a habit of scrolling through our facebook feed time and again. Sometimes, on the go, we come across stories that look really interesting but somehow, the moment does not allow us to go through them.
My solution to this problem was to cram my memory, sometimes with the titles or the peoples’ name who shared them. Knowing my love for reading and writing about tech, a friend decided to send me weekly reading material and hence, I was introduced to this wonder app – Pocket.
Pocket is a ‘read it later’ app but it can be practically used for anything ranging from articles to videos and images. Here is a simple starter’s guide to pocket:
- Download Pocket from Play Store or Apple Store. You can also use the web browser version to start pocketing.
- Sign up with a username or just with your email address.
- You have now accessed Pocket. The display is supposed to show your items, but since you are a new user, worry not. The space is soon to be filled.
- The orange boxed area gives you two options: to change the display to list or grid and to bulk edit items such as delete or tag. I will show you how you can manage and tag your items in both views.
- Now, when you are skimming through an article or streaming a video on your phone browser you can easily pocket it by hitting the menu button of your phone and sharing it to your Pocket app. For desktop, you can download an extension that works for Chrome, Safari and Firefox and adds a tiny icon beside the address bar. With one click, you can pocket the URL you are browsing.
- You can also add URLs to the app from the clipboard of your phone.
- Now what can you do with your items? When you will hover over an item in your list, it will give the following options: Add it to favorites, Place a tag, Delete it, Forward it to a friend, or Archive it.
- When you favorite an item, it gets added to your favorites section which you can easily access from the menu options.
- To categorize various common items, you can add a tag to each of them and then access them through the ‘Tags’ option in the menu.
- There is also an inbox feature that notifies when someone has shared any item with you.
Why I love Pocket and why should you try it?
Pocket has a beautiful and sleek UI design that works fluidly. The perk I loved the most is its offline caching feature which saves items for you and you can view it anytime without the need for an internet connection. Another strong capability of this app is how it enables users to share items without having them to leave the app.
Wonder Feature? Caches items for offline browsing.
Price? Free
Availability? Android, iOS, Desktop
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