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Instapaper Updated for iOS 8 With Enhanced Saving Features, Now Free to Download

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Popular read-it-later app Instapaper today received a significant update for iOS 8, bringing a redesigned user interface, enhanced saving capabilities, and deeper integration with notifications. The app is also now available for free, as users also have the option to pay for premium features.

instapaper_ios8-800x465.jpg
Users can now save content to Instapaper from any application that supports iOS' built-in share functionality by way of a new app extension. The app also includes text-to-speech functionality, and curates saved articles in iOS 8's Notification Center on a daily basis. A $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year subscription to Instapaper Premium unlocks a number of other features, including full-text search, unlimited highlighting in articles, and text-to-speech playlists.

Instapaper is a free app for iOS devices and can be downloaded from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Instapaper Updated for iOS 8 With Enhanced Saving Features, Now Free to Download
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/09/21/instapaper-ios-8-enhanced-saving-free/
Weird to live in times when the first thing you think of a free app is:
Okay, which horrible business model ruins this otherwise potentially decent app?

Anyways, on topic: Is Instapaper relevant in times of Pocket and Reading List and also Reader mode in Safari?
I'm genuinely interested, since I think I might be missing something big here.

Glassed Silver:mac
 
I would like to support the developers, but $29.99/year? That's too rich for my blood. Oh well, I guess I will just become a free user and pay them nothing.

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mavis said:
Too bad it's not optimized for the new iPhones.
Click to expand...

The app is optimized for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
 
Glassed Silver said:
Anyways, on topic: Is Instapaper relevant in times of Pocket and Reading List and also Reader mode in Safari?
Click to expand...
Pocket is quite similar to Instapaper, but the latter has IMO the better reading options (font selection and themes). But this is largely a matter of taste.

Reading List has one big flaw in my experience that makes it pretty much unusable for me: Saving the page for offline reading is not reliable. I have often tried to save some pages to the Reading List to read offline on a long flight, only to be told "Safari cannot open the page" as soon as I actually tried to read it offline.
 
mavis said:
Not according to the App Store description.
Click to expand...

Yeah I don't know why the developers didn't update the description, but I am running the app now on iPhone 6 and the status bar and keyboard are definitely not zoomed in.
 
I just hate software that force users in to subscription. Sometimes it legitimate but most of the time it's a cheap shot of squeezing money from your own users who supported you in the first place.
 
If you don't have time to read an article you really need to organise your life better. Another fine example of laziness and stupidity and people pay for it - what fools.
 
ArmCortexA8 said:
If you don't have time to read an article you really need to organise your life better. Another fine example of laziness and stupidity and people pay for it - what fools.
Click to expand...

Eh, on a plane, being in an area with spotty 4g etc etc. Start to think and stop being lazy.
 
TheBuffather said:
Have you looked into Pocket (formerly Read it Later)?
Click to expand...

Pocket are trying to come up with monetisation ideas too. If you want these apps and services to stay in business, then the business obviously needs to make money. I'm not sure how you make that money without charging people, and most people do not want to pay.

Cracking mobile is a tough business. With desktop browsing rapidly going away, you're going to see a lot of sites and services cease to exist in the next year or two. a) people won't pay and b) advertising opportunities are extremely limited from a mobile device.
 
So those of us that paid for the app before won't have access to the paid features now without paying more?

No thanks. I'll stick with Safari reading list. There are an increasing number of what I'd consider $3-5 apps getting into this subscription model and I just don't see $30 a year being worth it. Hopefully effective competition will balance the playing field.

Currently paying subscription fees on Simplenote and Wunderlist, but about to cut one or both of them, too.
 
lincolntran said:
I just hate software that force users in to subscription. Sometimes it legitimate but most of the time it's a cheap shot of squeezing money from your own users who supported you in the first place.
Click to expand...

Do you realise that the pro features have always been subscription-only? Nothing has changed here, except that the standard features are now free. And in the order of 90% of all users have happy with the standard features for many years.

When Marco Arment was still the developer, he stated that only a small proportion of users were subscribers to the pro version but that the income from this more than covered the running costs of the whole app. This is a case of being able to give away the app for free to 90% of the users because the extra costs of doing so (extra server costs) or so small that they can be easily covered by the small percentage of users paying for the service.

This subscription is more of a way for people who really like the app to pay the developer for it. You subscribe not because you want the pro features but because you get so much utility out of the app that you want to pay the developer something for it, the extra features you get are just the icing of the cake.

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blairwillis said:
So those of us that paid for the app before won't have access to the paid features now without paying more?
Click to expand...
No, see above.
 
blairwillis said:
So those of us that paid for the app before won't have access to the paid features now without paying more?

No thanks. I'll stick with Safari reading list. There are an increasing number of what I'd consider $3-5 apps getting into this subscription model and I just don't see $30 a year being worth it. Hopefully effective competition will balance the playing field.

Currently paying subscription fees on Simplenote and Wunderlist, but about to cut one or both of them, too.
Click to expand...

I agree and most of these apps are note even worth it. Apps that I paid for that worth with their weight in gold are 1Password, Evernote, tweetbot, iA Writer.
 
Rigby said:
Pocket is quite similar to Instapaper, but the latter has IMO the better reading options (font selection and themes). But this is largely a matter of taste.

Reading List has one big flaw in my experience that makes it pretty much unusable for me: Saving the page for offline reading is not reliable. I have often tried to save some pages to the Reading List to read offline on a long flight, only to be told "Safari cannot open the page" as soon as I actually tried to read it offline.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads-up.
Well, I rarely ever need offline access to saved pages so that never became a problem for me.

I remember times when features offered by Apple out-of-the-box had always been maybe not the most powerful, but at least very reliable way of going about things.
It's a shame that this feature seems to be so unreliable.

Glassed Silver:mac
 
Glassed Silver said:
Anyways, on topic: Is Instapaper relevant in times of Pocket and Reading List and also Reader mode in Safari?
I'm genuinely interested, since I think I might be missing something big here.
Click to expand...

For many people: No. But I think Instapaper is better for long articles, maybe because of the slightly better typography and pagination options. A big one for me is that it can send saved articles to Kindle. That's an even better place for longreads.
 
Seems to be useful. Download website seems to be compatible with macrumors. ;)
 
BTW. Here's the #1 reason to use this app especially with long web pages, place your finger over the visible scroll bar on the right, slide your finger to the left a bit and the scroll bar thickens, now drag up and down to scroll to any point in the window. Amazing!

This is my #1 problem with long documents. You can scroll to top but not to bottom. Thought by now apple would have resolved this. If you are listening apple war room, please download and install this app and improve on this concept and place it in the next x.1 update. Thank you.

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I also like how it confirms opening links. Safari needs this option.
 
ArmCortexA8 said:
If you don't have time to read an article you really need to organise your life better. Another fine example of laziness and stupidity and people pay for it - what fools.
Click to expand...

Totes. I have a daily appointment on my calendar. 7:00-8:30am - READ THE ENTIRE INTERNET

"read it later." Y'all are slackers.
 
I don't like freemium apps. I miss the days where you paid once and you were done. Game apps will try to bleed you for months.
 
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