When you're writing all day, you're reading all day. But there are only so many hours you can spend on engaging long reads. So when I come across a story to which I want to devote some serious time, I save it to Pocket and read it later.
At launch, Pocket was actually known as Read It Later, before the App Store even existed. But after a 2012 name change, it has evolved into a seriously handy app. It archives whatever you've saved so that you can read it offline, which is particularly helpful when you're on a subway or train with limited service.
While Pocket is a simple cross-platform app, there are a few things that can make it that much more enjoyable. Check them out below, and if you have any you'd like to share, please add them in the comments.
If you've become truly devoted to Pocket, you might want to try Pocket Premium. With Premium ($4.99 per month or $44.99 per year), everything you save is archived to your Pocket account even if it's wiped off the Web, in addition to features like suggested tagging.
Tagging
Once you've been using Pocket for a while, it can be hard to keep track of what you've saved. One way to make locating things easier is to tag it. Select a piece of content, click the Tag button, and enter a tag. You'll be able to sort by tags now by selecting Tag from the Menu.
If you realized pretty late in the game that you want to tag all your content, go to Pocket for Web, click on the pencil icon to bulk edit, select all the stories you want for a particular tag, click Add Tag, and enter the tag.
If you're saving to Pocket from the bookmarklet, you'll see an option to add tags in each pop-up confirmation.
If you have Pocket Premium, you have Suggested Tags, which brings up a suggestion from Pocket every time you save something. It's a huge timesaver.
Display
You can change how text is displayed by going into a piece of content, tapping the ellipsis and then Display Settings. Switch between serif and sans serif, change the font size, adjust screen brightness, and choose to read against a white, black, or sepia background.
Mix It Up
While Pocket makes it easy to save and share content, you might find yourself wishing you could streamline things even more. Check out IFTTT and see if there are any recipes that suit your Pocket use.
Logins
If there are sites that you log into for paywall or archiving reasons, you can go to Settings, Logins, and enter your info. Some sites will already be listed, but for any that are not, just scroll down to Other Sites to enter the info.
Share With Others
The feature I'd like to see most in Pocket would be the ability to share a list with someone. Until that happens, Share With Friend is the next best thing.
After tapping the Share button on an item in your list, select Share With Friend. Enter in your friend's email address and, if you'd like, a note. Pocket sends them an email with an image and bit of text from the story along with the option for them to save it to their own Pocket account or view it in a browser. If you want to be notified within the app when a friend has sent you something, go to Settings > Sharing > Push Notifications, and toggle the feature to on.
Save From Mobile
On iOS 8, it's easier than ever to save to Pocket. Enable the Pocket Share Option and you can save to Pocket and tag from inside more than 500 apps, including Twitter and Buzzfeed. It also works on Safari and the mobile browser on Android.
Extend the Reach
On the desktop, you can add Pocket as an extension in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera so that you can save with just one click from sites.
Import from Instapaper
If you're an Instapaper user and want to make the switch to Pocket, there's no reason to lose all your saved content. Log into Instapaper, go to Settings > Export > Download HTML. Now go to Pocket's import tool, select the file that you saved, and click Import.
Clear Things Out
If your Pocket account has gotten so full that you just want to start over, then you can mass delete everything you've saved. Go to the Delete Your Online Reading List page on Pocket, affirm that you're really sure that you want to delete everything, and then click Delete My Data.