Read It Later app becomes new Pocket for online stuff

It’s later for you, Read It Later, a $2.99 app that let users to store all the cool online things that they want to examine when they have time. The app is now free and goes by Pocket, as in put it in your pocket for later.

Read It Later was originally designed as a bookmarking app to collect articles and online text for users to peruse at their leisure. The name, it seems, no longer fit the app’s function.

It turns out the company’s 4.5 million users are using the app to save more than text. About 40% of all content saved to the app is not text -- videos, images, recipes, things to buy, and Web pages, for example. YouTube is its No. 1 most-saved domain.

In fact, there’s been a 140% increase in saves from major video domains over the past year, the company said. This includes content from sites such as Vimeo, Hulu and Netflix.

“We wanted a brand that better reflected our vision and where we’re headed as a service and product,” said Pocket’s founder, Nate Weiner, in an email to The Times. “It’s about making the shifting of any type of content to any platform as simple as putting something in your pocket.”

Users save five items a second, with more than 400,000 items saved a day, according to the company. Also, 70% of users have connected more than one device to the service.

The app’s makeover includes a redesign that favors Flipboard a bit and makes it easier to filter, find and organize saved content. It’s available for iOS, Android and Kindle devices. Read It Later’s blog says more platforms may be in the works, but no word yet on which ones.

Pocket is already integrated into more than 300 other apps for easy content saving.

Read It Later Pro users can just update to get the new app version. Those using the free version will have to download Pocket.

If you can’t find it in whatever app store you search, try using the original name.

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