How to get your saved articles on every device

Long articles rarely get read in one sitting. You find an essay at your desk, have five minutes on the bus, and want to finish it on the sofa that evening on a tablet. Unless the article is somewhere every one of those devices can reach, it stays as an open tab on the computer where you found it.

This guide looks at the read-it-later habits people rely on, where they fall short when devices and browsers are mixed, and how to keep a reading list in Fabric that opens on any device with your place saved.

How people usually keep articles to read later

The simplest method is leaving tabs open. It works until the browser restarts or the count reaches forty, and tabs stay on the one machine where they were opened.

Safari’s Reading List and similar browser features sync articles across devices signed in to the same browser account. They suit people who live in a single ecosystem. Anyone reading on an Android phone and a Mac, or a Windows work laptop and an iPad, finds the list on some devices and missing on others.

Dedicated read-it-later apps such as Pocket, Instapaper and Omnivore were built for this, with clean reading views and offline copies. Omnivore and Pocket have both closed, which left many readers holding an export file and looking for somewhere to put it. How to replace Pocket compares the options. Others email articles to themselves or send them to an e-reader, which gets the text across but loses links, images or the original layout depending on the route.

Step 1: Bring over the articles you’ve already saved

If you used Pocket or Omnivore, Fabric has import functions for both, so an existing reading list can come across with its articles. How to import your Pocket or Omnivore saves explains the process.

For articles sitting in open tabs or a notes app, paste each link into Fabric. A pasted link becomes a bookmark, and the page is saved for reading and search.

Step 2: Save new articles from your browser and phone

On a computer, add the Fabric browser extension to Chrome, Safari or Firefox and save an article with one click. If only part of it matters, the extension can save selected text instead of the whole page.

On a phone, install the Fabric mobile app and use the share sheet. From a news app, a newsletter in your mail client or a link in a group chat, tap Share and choose Fabric. Everything goes to one reading list, whichever device saved it.

Email newsletters can join the same list. Forward an issue to your Fabric email address and it’s saved alongside the articles from your browser. The address only accepts mail from your verified Fabric account address, so forwarding works from the mail app on any of your devices.

For writers and publications you follow, RSS feeds can bring new posts into Fabric as they’re published, so they arrive on every device without you saving each one. RSS and other connections need a paid plan.

Step 3: Read in the reader and switch devices midway

Open a saved article and it appears in Fabric’s reader, which strips out ads, pop-ups and sidebars. Each piece shows an estimated read time and a progress bar.

Reading progress syncs across devices. Stop halfway through on your phone, open the same article on your laptop later, and it’s at the point where you left off. The reader works on the web app, the Mac, Windows and Linux desktop apps, and iOS and Android, and it’s included on every plan.

You can highlight passages and add comments as you read. Those annotations stay with the article in Fabric and are searchable, so a line you marked on the train is there when you come back to write about it.

Step 4: Find an article you read weeks ago

Read-it-later lists grow faster than they get read, and finished articles pile up too. Click Search or press Cmd+F (Mac) / Ctrl+F (Windows), or use search in the mobile app, and describe what the piece was about. Fabric search matches by meaning across the full text of each saved article, so you don’t need the headline or the publication.

If you remember a phrase word for word, put it in quotes for an exact match. Filters by tag or kind of item help when your library also holds files and notes, and you only want the articles.

Fabric also writes a short summary of every article it saves and suggests tags based on its topics. That makes a long list easier to scan on a small screen, and you can set up smart collections that gather articles on a subject as they come in.

Step 5: Ask questions across what you’ve read

When you’ve saved a dozen pieces on one subject, open the folder that holds them and ask the AI assistant. It limits itself to that folder and cites the articles it used, so you can open the original passage on whatever device you’re holding. A question like “where do these pieces disagree about remote work?” is a typical use. You can also choose which model answers, since one subscription covers models from several major labs. Answers can be saved as notes, which then sit in the same library as the articles.

Frequently asked questions

What’s a good read-it-later app that works on Android and iPhone?

Fabric has apps for both iOS and Android, plus desktop apps and a web app, and saved articles open in its reader on all of them.

Does my reading position sync between phone and laptop?

Yes. Reading progress for saved articles syncs across devices, so you can pick up where you stopped.

Can I import my Pocket saves?

Yes. Fabric has import functions for Pocket and Omnivore.

How do I save an article from my phone to read on my computer?

Tap Share in the app you’re reading in and choose Fabric. The article is then in your library on the desktop and web apps.

Does the reader remove ads?

Yes. Reader mode strips ads, sidebars, pop-ups and other clutter from saved articles.

Can I highlight articles and see the highlights on another device?

Yes. Highlights and comments are stored with the article in Fabric, so they appear wherever you open it.

Can new articles from blogs I follow arrive automatically?

Yes, through RSS feeds, which bring new posts into Fabric as one-way syncs. Connections like this need a paid plan.

Is the Fabric reader free?

Yes, the reader is included on the free plan. RSS and other connections need a paid plan; see pricing for details.