After Mozilla’s read-it-later app Pocket shut down in August, a number of alternatives popped up to take its place. But one newcomer, Laytr, is taking things further than offering a way to save things to read. The app lets you save anything on the web for later consumption, whether that’s an article, recipe, screenshot, video, PDF, bookmark, or tab.
The app also automatically sorts those different file types and lets you organize them into collections it calls “cases.” It can also remind you about a saved item on a date you choose, which could help you remember local events or places you want to visit on certain days, for instance. (Or perhaps as a way to force you to get through your reading list!)
What’s interesting about how the app works is that everything you save becomes a private archive that’s only accessible on your own device. That means you don’t have to create an account to use Laytr, and the developer can’t see anything you’ve saved either. Still, you can access your content across multiple Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, and Mac, because the content syncs over iCloud.
The idea for Laytr comes from Ontario-area indie developer Mostafa Talaat, and is published under his company’s name, Waitery Inc. Talaat told TechCrunch he was inspired to build his own read-it-later app after hearing about Pocket’s shutdown. Creating an app without a server was a privacy choice on his part.
“What you save says a lot about you, and I didn’t want to be holding it. Everything stays on your device and in your own iCloud,” Talaat explained. “When you save something, Laytr asks when you want it back and reminds you on that day. It also imports your old Pocket export, so nobody has to start over,” he added.
Because the app is privacy-focused, there are things it won’t do, including personalizing a feed or using AI to summarize or automatically tag items.
The app is free to try, but limits you to 30 saved items. For full access, the app’s Premium tier costs either $1.99 a month, $14.99 a year, or a one-time $39.99 for a lifetime plan. (The lifetime offering is on sale for $24.99 until the end of December.) Talaat said the the app will focus on adding more languages over time.
If your subscription lapses, you also won’t lose your saves — you just won’t be able to add more until you rejoin a plan or get your archive back under the 30-item limit for free plans. You can also leave Laytr at any time, as the entire archive can be exported as a ZIP file, with readable Markdown and HTML for every item, note, tag, date, and collection (aka “case”).
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