One of the best Android apps is Pocket, formerly known as Read It Later. It is an essential tool to be able to organize the information that we see on the internet, saving it quickly and having it accessible when we need it. It is also very complete and it is worth doing a review of various Pocket tricks and options to make the most of it.
Pocket allows you to store all kinds of links, customize the reading, listen to your own texts, read them offline and several options that even the most habitual users may not know.
1. Save all types of links: video, music or applications
The first and main trick of Pocket for Android is to remind you that we can take advantage of the application to save everything. From web pages, YouTube videos, Google Play applications, PDFs, tweets, songs …everything that can be related to a URL, which in these times is almost everything we do, is likely to be saved in Pocket to read later. Expanding the type of links we keep is the best way to optimize their use.
2. Create labels at the time of saving
When we share a link from the browser or from another application, there is a floating option to apply a tag at the moment. One of the problems of Pocket is that in the end it ends up becoming a kind of dumpster where we send everything we would like to read but sometimes we do not end up doing it. Hence, it is important to organize them into topics.
3. Edit or delete by groups
If we have to go one at a time, we can end up very tired. The Android application fortunately allows editing and deletion in group. To do this we must go to our list, click on the three points and choose the first group editing option and select the various links that will acquire a yellow tone. Then again from the top settings menu choose if we archive them, add favorites, delete or apply group tags.
4. If you copy a link it will appear automatically
Another function of Pocket is that it allows to save what we have in the clipboard. That is, if we copy or cut a link while visiting a website, a recommendation will appear in Pocket to add it. We saved a step, the paste, since the app recommends what to save.
5. Customize your reading and change sources
Pocket is a reading application after all. And therefore it allows us to modify various parameters to make it easier for us to read articles that in many cases are very long. We can expand the font, choose between Serif or Sans-Serif, apply sepia background, expand the brightness or move to web view.
6. Dark Mode
Another option to customize the application is to apply a dark mode, which will not only be for the text but throughout the application. Additionally, Pocket includes a deep black option for OLED displays to get even more out of the game, be more pleasant and consume less energy.
7. Use the volume buttons
Another curious adjustment is the possibility of using the volume buttons to download or upload an article. It can be useful if we do not want to use the touch panel for example if we have gloves. Another option is to move from one page to another by sliding to the left and right.
8. Listen to the articles in the background
A function that was added a few months ago and has now been renewed is that of listening. Pocket for Android can read you articles using the Text to Speech device. You have to go to the menu of an article and select listen. Now it also plays continuously and works even in the background.
9. Set limits for offline backup
Many users use Pocket on the plane, when they are on the bus or at times where they have no connection but many saved texts. Fortunately we have an offline version where we will keep in the cache what we ask. This information can be saved in a reduced or full form, but it is important that we define the offline storage limit so that we do not run out of memory.
10. Organize your list and subscriptions
Pocket allows us to sort our list of items based on the newest or oldest. It also allows you to select a default tag and even insert your login into sites that have a paywall to read the articles.
11. Text highlighted
Another addition that is being tested in beta and will soon be available for all are the annotations. Very interesting since we can mark a specific piece of the text and recommend it or save it directly. Then we will have a list with these annotations or highlighted text.
12. Recommend articles in the social part
Pocket is also a kind of social network. We can configure our profile, with the avatar, create a list of publicly recommended articles, like other users’ articles, share them as a retweet and of course have followers and follow other users.
13. Create an RSS feed for your articles
Another utility of Pocket that has been replaced in part by the social section is the possibility of creating an RSS feed of the items that we have saved.
14. Take advantage of the potential of IFTTT
The potential of IFTTT is enormous and Pocket is precisely one of the apps that is best synchronized with this tool. We have hundreds of recipes, from saving in pocket if we give favorite to Twitter, save in pocket the Evernote notes, add a task in Wunderlist or Trello with each saved note …
15. Use Pocket without downloading it
Pocket is an Instant App that means that even if we do not have it installed on our Android device we can use it since opening a link connected with Pocket will open menus that match those of the application. A fast and effective way to have all the benefits of Pocket only for the occasions when we need it.