Pocket: Stay Informed

This used to be among my favorite apps, but lately I’m using it less and less and using safari more and more because of the poor integration of text to speech in the latest version. This is an easy fix for the team, but here are the problems: 1) the integrated voice will not read all the articles which pocket will download. 2) Sometimes the voice is not available in these cases I have to use iOS TTS ‘two finger swipe’ from the top, but the layout of Pocket’s buttons on the top means that two out of three times, it takes me back to the menu, rather than reads the article! 3) while I like the feature of being able to continuously read multiple articles, I miss the ability to follow along the text as it’s being read. 4) it would also be a nice feature if it would indicate, if if it has been fully read or what percentage has been read in the past. It would be nice also to turn off the screen and treat it like a music play list while exercising. The bottom line is that without the ability to easily have Pocket read aloud, the app is much less useful. The spotty availability of the integrated reader and poor placement of buttons on the top complicate the use of the iOS text-to-speech is particularly frustrating, especially if trying to listen to something while walking or driving.

This used to be one of my favorite apps and I am a long-time premium subscriber (but not for much longer). The recent update ruined this app. What used to be a fast, easy process is now slow and glitchy on the mobile app. It now takes me twice as long to create a new entry. The tag search function is dumber than before and doesn’t show the more sophisticated results it used to. Good features were lost and unnecessary new ones added. Even the design is bad and looks like something from the first year of the App Store. It is all frustrating because the app WAS great. I rarely write app reviews because who cares, there is always another app, right? But this was an app I really liked and came to rely on. I have been a subscriber for years and now I may delete it. This was a mistake and you should at least offer the previous version to users who think you have lost your way. Also, what is up with the developer responses here, Pocket? Are you even reading these posts? Your responses reference issues not listed in the reviews and don’t address the points that are mentioned. Have you left customer service to a dumb AI? And your attitude toward your loyal, paying customers is despicable. I am looking for an alternative and will not be continuing as a subscriber if you don’t quickly wake up and deal with the issues you created. What a stupid waste.

I normally don’t write app reviews, but this had to be my exception. This app is beautifully crafted, efficient, and altogether an absolutely wonderful concept. I used to have 200+ tabs open of articles I wanted to read but never had time, but now I can keep my safari tabs clear without losing any interesting things I wanted to read. I feel like this app was marketed directly to and for me, and it’s marvelous. My only criticism is not even one of the app itself; rather the ease of integration with Apple’s OS. When on Safari, when I click the share button, there are rows of different ways to share the article—the message bubbles of people I usually talk to, then the app icons of certain apps like AirDrop and Messages, then the specialized commands like copy and, in this case, save to Pocket. I wish that Pocket could be an app icon in line with AirDrop, Messages, Mail, Twitter, etc. rather than just being a command, as the commands are right at the bottom of the share screen so it can be a little difficult to click sometimes. Otherwise, I have absolutely no complaints. Simply a wonderful app. I absolutely recommend it.