InstaPaper: Read Favourite Web Page Offline on iPhone

Have you ever heard of InstaPaper.com? Like delicious.com, Instapaper.com is a website that basically offers bookmark service and lets you view the web page later when you have spare time. I’m an avid users for these kinds of bookmark websites. Spent a great deal of the time on the web, I used to bookmark some great articles and read about them thoroughly later.

But what differentiate InstaPaper from other similar bookmark websites is the release of its iPhone application – InstaPaper. Work in conjunction with InstaPaper.com, InstaPaper lets you download the saved web pages onto iPhone and view them offline. So, you can always put those great blog, magazine or newspaper articles in your pocket.

For optimization purpose, by default, InstaPaper strips off all images and download the text version of the saved article. You can read the article in both portrait or landscape mode. If you’d like to read the whole web page in the original format, InstaPaper also provides you with such option in its setting screen.

InstaPaper offers both free and pro version. The free is fully functional and good enough for normal offline reading. The Pro version adds a number of enhancements including:

Position-saving: Resume any article where you left off
Tilt scrolling: A fancy function. Just tilt your iPhone to scroll the page
Adjustable font including font type, size, and colour

How to Use InstaPaper

Like many other bookmark services, InstaPaper requires you to first register on its website. The registration is very straightforward. An email and password are enough for the registration.

After registration, follow InstaPaper’s instruction to save a “Read Later” bookmarklet in your browser. Then whenever you come across an article you want read later, click “Read Later” bookmark to save it.

To download the saved article to iPhone, just launch InstaPaper and log into InstaPaper.com with the registered account. That’s it. InstaPaper will automatically download the article for offline viewing.

Oh… Why still need InstaPaper

Probably, you wonder why still need such application when your iPhone can always connect to the Internet via EDGE / 3G network service. I’m not sure the price of an unlimited data plan in your country. But in Hong Kong, such unlimited data usage charges an average of USD~~$80~~ $60. That’s pretty high for normal mobile users. The ability, provided by InstaPaper, to read web page offline looks really promising for those readers (at least for me) without an unlimited data plan.

If you’re like me and enjoy offline viewing, you can download a free version of InstalPaper with this iTunes direct link. But remember before using InstaPaper, you’ll need to register at InstalPaper.com.

What do you think about InstaPaper? Leave me comment and share your view.

Share with Your Friends

What's Next?

If you find the post is useful, subscribe to Simon Blog using RSS or Email to get free iPhone updates. Alternatively, you can follow me on Twitter or join us on Facebook.

Related Post you'll like: