Pocket alternative: a free read-later app for desktop
Updated
Yes, if you mostly saved and read articles on a computer. Mozilla shut Pocket down on 8 July 2025. Reading Rewind covers Pocket's core on desktop: one-click saving from Chrome (Firefox in beta), a clean reader view, tags, and a stored copy of every article's text. It has no mobile app, highlights, offline reading, or Pocket import.
What happened to Pocket
Mozilla, which bought Pocket in 2017 (Pocket's farewell page), announced on 22 May 2025 that it was shutting Pocket down. In its words, "the way people save and consume content on the web has evolved" (Mozilla blog). The key dates, from Mozilla's Pocket support article:
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 22 May 2025 | Shutdown announced. Pocket left the app stores, and new accounts and new Premium subscriptions stopped. |
| 8 July 2025 | Pocket shut down. The web, Android, iOS, and macOS apps and the browser extensions stopped working. Annual Premium subscribers got prorated refunds, and the web app switched to export-only mode. |
| 12 November 2025 | Exports closed (the first announced deadline was 8 October 2025). Mozilla turned off the Pocket API and began permanently deleting accounts and saved data. |
If you exported before November 2025, you still have your list as a file. If you didn't, Pocket can no longer give it to you.
What carries over from Pocket
The everyday Pocket habit on a computer works the same way: see an article, save it, close the tab, read it later.
- One-click saving. Click the Reading Rewind button in your browser toolbar and the page lands at the top of Read Later, your reading list. Add a tag as you save if you like.
- No duplicates. Saving a page that is already in your list moves it back to the top instead of adding it twice.
- A clean reader view. Ads, pop-ups, and sidebars are stripped out in the background. You choose the text size, and you can switch to the live page when you want the original.
- A kept copy of every article. Reading Rewind stores the article text with each save, so it stays readable if the page changes, moves, or disappears. In Pocket, a permanent copy was a Premium feature. Images are not stored, only the text.
- Tags. Tag on save. Your saves also appear in Bookmarks, where you can retag them in bulk and filter by tag.
- Find by title or address. Search in Bookmarks matches page titles and URLs, saves included.
Pocket never did the rest. The same extension syncs your Chrome and Firefox bookmarks, one source per browser profile, and can send all your open tabs to your library. Bookmarks and tabs open in the same reader as your saves. The Cleanup Center then finds duplicates, untagged links, stale tabs, empty folders, and bookmarks you deleted in the browser.
What you won't find (yet)
Some things Pocket users relied on are not in Reading Rewind. None of them is promised. If one ships, it will appear in the changelog.
- Mobile apps. There is no iOS or Android app. Saving works from desktop Chrome and Firefox only.
- Pocket import. There is no way to bring a Pocket export into your reading list. The export section below covers what you can do instead.
- Highlights and notes.
- Offline reading. You need a connection to open your list.
- Full-text search. Search covers titles and addresses, not the words inside articles.
- Recommendations. There is no discovery feed, only what you save.
- Listening. There is no text-to-speech.
- Export. There is no way to download your saves yet.
- Store listings. The extension is a .zip download from readingrewind.com, not a Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons listing. The Firefox build is in beta and unsigned, so Firefox removes it every time it restarts.
Pocket vs Reading Rewind
Pocket as it was before July 2025, next to Reading Rewind today.
| Pocket (until July 2025) | Reading Rewind (today) | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Shut down 8 July 2025; data deletion began November 2025 | Running |
| Cost | Free, with a paid Premium plan | Free to use today, no credit card |
| Save from a desktop browser | ✓ Extensions, and built into Firefox | ✓ Chrome; Firefox in beta |
| Save and read on a phone | ✓ iOS and Android apps | ✗ |
| Clean reader view | ✓ | ✓ With adjustable text size |
| Copy kept if the page disappears | Premium only | ✓ Every save (text only) |
| Tags | ✓ Suggested tags in Premium | ✓ Tag on save, bulk retag, filter |
| Search | ✓ Full text in Premium | Titles and addresses only |
| Highlights | ✓ Unlimited in Premium | ✗ |
| Offline reading | ✓ In the apps | ✗ |
| Listen (text-to-speech) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Story recommendations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Export your data | ✓ Until 12 November 2025 | Not yet |
| Browser bookmark sync | ✗ | ✓ Chrome and Firefox, one source per browser profile |
| Send all open tabs | ✗ | ✓ |
| Library cleanup tools | ✗ | ✓ Cleanup Center |
Bottom line: for saving on a computer and reading a clean copy later, Reading Rewind does the job and keeps the text on every save. For reading on your phone, highlighting, or listening, it doesn't.
If you still have your Pocket export
Reading Rewind cannot import it. That's the plain answer. Here is what you can do with the file instead.
- Open it in the free Pocket export viewer. It runs in your browser and needs no account. You can browse, search, and filter everything you saved in Pocket.
- Save the articles you still want. Open the ones worth keeping and save each with the Reading Rewind button. Each lands in Read Later with a fresh copy of the text, as long as the page is still online.
- Keep the rest as bookmarks. The viewer can download your list as a bookmarks.html file. Chrome and Firefox can both import that file as bookmarks, and you can browse it any time in the no-account bookmark explorer.
Reading Rewind can also import that bookmarks.html file, but it is not a Pocket import. The links arrive in Bookmarks as their own source, named after the file, not in Read Later, and your Pocket tags don't come along. Open one there and Reading Rewind tries once to make a reader copy, if the page is still online.
Reading Rewind can only copy a page that is still online, so articles that have disappeared since you saved them in Pocket can't be brought back this way.
Who should pick something else
Reading Rewind is built for one way of reading. Look elsewhere if:
- You read mostly on your phone. Without a mobile app, Reading Rewind won't fit a commute or a couch.
- You highlight and take notes. If your Pocket highlights were the point, you need a read-later app with annotations.
- You read offline, on flights or with a patchy connection.
- You search inside years of articles. Full-text search isn't here.
- You used Pocket to discover stories. Reading Rewind only shows what you save. Mozilla says the curated story recommendations in Firefox carry on (Pocket's farewell page).
Switch in a few minutes
- Create your free account at readingrewind.com/register. Your reading list lives here.
- Install the extension. Follow the Chrome guide, which is the recommended setup. On Firefox, read the Firefox beta guide first.
- Connect it. In Settings > Sync, copy a pairing link and paste it into the extension.
- Save your first article. Click the toolbar button on any article. It appears in Read Later straight away, and the clean copy follows a moment later.
- Bring back the best of Pocket. Open your export in the Pocket export viewer and re-save the articles you still want to read.
Frequently asked questions
Can I import my Pocket export into Reading Rewind?
No. There is no Pocket import. You can open the export in the free Pocket export viewer, re-save the articles you want with one click each, and download the full list as a bookmarks.html file for your browser.
Can I still download my Pocket data?
No. Pocket's export closed on 12 November 2025, and Mozilla then began permanently deleting accounts and saved data, according to Mozilla's support article. If you didn't export before then, the list can't be recovered from Pocket.
Is Reading Rewind free?
Yes, it is free to use today, and you don't need a credit card. Paid features may be added later. If that happens, existing users will hear about it before anything they use changes. See the terms for details.
Does Reading Rewind work on iPhone or Android?
No. There is no mobile app, and saving works through the extension in desktop Chrome, with Firefox in beta. If you read mostly on your phone, Reading Rewind isn't the right replacement today.
What happens if a saved article is deleted or changed?
You can still read it. When you save a page, Reading Rewind extracts the article text in the background and stores it with your save, so it stays in your library even if the original page changes or goes offline. Only the text is kept; images are not stored.
Is the extension in the Chrome Web Store?
No. You download it as a .zip from readingrewind.com and load it as a local extension. In Chrome it stays installed. In Firefox it is a beta that runs as a temporary add-on, so you need to load it again after each restart. Your saves stay in your account either way.