Head-to-head

Linger vs Pocket: a read-it-later app after shutdown

For years, Pocket was one of the most loved read-it-later apps: a clean reading view, reliable cross-device sync, and deep integration into Firefox made saving articles for later effortless. In 2025, Mozilla announced it was winding Pocket down, the apps were discontinued in July, and user data export ended in November. Linger is built for readers looking for what comes next on iOS: it saves articles, strips the clutter, and reads them aloud entirely on-device, with no subscription, no account, and no internet needed for playback. Pocket set the standard for this category; Linger's angle is staying always-free and keeping your library on your own device.

Linger icon
All Things AI

Linger

Save articles. Listen offline. Always free.

View full app →
P
Competitor

Pocket

Pocket was Mozilla's read-it-later app that let you save articles, videos, and webpages to read or watch later across devices.

Pricing: Discontinued (was free with an optional Premium tier)

  • •Clean, distraction-free reading view that stripped ads and clutter from saved pages
  • •Reliable cloud sync of your saved list across phone, tablet, web, and desktop
  • •Deep integration with Firefox and a widely supported browser/share-sheet save flow
  • •Long-standing, polished app with tagging, archiving, and (on Premium) full-text search
Visit external site ↗

Key differences at a glance

What each one is good at.

Linger icon

Linger

All Things AI

  • Save with the share sheet

    Linger registers an iOS share extension. From Safari, Mail, Messages, X, or any app, tap Share → Linger. The URL is queued; the article …

  • Distraction-free reader

    WKWebView renders article content with reader-mode JavaScript extraction. Strip nav, sidebars, ads. Customize font (sans/serif), size, line-height, width, and theme (light/dark/sepia).

  • Listen offline

    AVSpeechSynthesizer plays any saved article aloud using Apple's neural voices. Works offline once the voice is downloaded. Background playback. Lock-screen controls. Speed 0.5x–2x. Resume …

  • Highlight + notes

    Tap-hold a passage → highlight it. Optionally attach a note. All highlights are searchable and stored on-device.

P

Pocket

Competitor

  • Clean, distraction-free reading view that stripped ads and clutter from saved pages

  • Reliable cloud sync of your saved list across phone, tablet, web, and desktop

  • Deep integration with Firefox and a widely supported browser/share-sheet save flow

  • Long-standing, polished app with tagging, archiving, and (on Premium) full-text search

Pricing: Discontinued (was free with an optional Premium tier)

← All apps