I am a big user of Pocket, the (awesome) read it later service.
Like, seriously big.
So I was stoked to learn that it’s now possible to read my latest must-reads offline on Ubuntu Phone.
How?
Using PockIt, an unofficial Pocket app for Ubuntu designed and built by Turan Mahmudov.
And it’s awesome.
Latest PockIt Update Adds Offline Reading
The latest update to PockIt finally adds the feature I longed for: the ability to cache and read articles offline. This feature was sorely missed in earlier versions of the app.
But there’s also a slight drawback to this feature (for now): the app will download every single article stored in your Pocket account immediately after you log in.
That’s not going an issue if you have a modest selection of saved articles, but for me, with more than 250+ articles stashed in my account, the initial sync task took forever to complete — well over an hour!
Now, admittedly, this isn’t entirely the fault of the app. PockIt, like most third-party apps, is hampered by Ubuntu’s application lifecycle policy which prevents apps from running in the background.
Each time I switched to read a new e-mail, reply to a tweet or the phone screen turned itself off the PockIt app would be force-stopped, and the sync process brought to a stand-still.
A better first-run solution aside (fetching the most recent ten, and offering an option to ‘download all’ in the settings, would perhaps solve the run-in sync issue) the app is otherwise fantastic.
PockIt App Gallery
PockIt works much better as an app than a Scope (though a Scope that lets you browse items, with tags as departments, that then hands off to PockIt could be interesting).
Other features of Pockit:
- Offline Reading
- Dark Mode
- Filter by ‘All’, ‘Favourites’, ‘Video’ & ‘Image’
- Choice of two fonts in article view: Arial or Ubuntu
- Adjustable font size
- Social sharing integration
- Tag sorting & adding
The app does not currently integrate with Ubuntu Online Accounts so you will need to login through an in-app login screen.
There’s no way to verify that it’s actually Pocket you’re logging into so if you’re super security conscious you may prefer to create a burner account.
Quick Tip: How To Add Items To Pocket in PockIt
To add a new article to Pocket using PockIt is easy: just share the URL from another app, and select PockIt. E.g.,: in the Web Browser tap the Share icon > PockIt.
Download PockIt For Ubuntu Phone
This application is powered by Pocket but is not officially provided by Pocket. It’s a free, open-source app and can be installed from the Ubuntu Store on Ubuntu phones and tablets.
PockIt
Summary
A must-have for accessing your must-reads on the move