Hi Robin! Good question. I’ve tinkered with the Reading List feature on iPhone and iPad pretty regularly since its debut about two years ago, and I’ll just be frank: I’m not a fan.

The Reading List, for those of you not familiar with it, is a list of articles within the Safari web browser that you’ve saved from the web.

Whenever you find a web page you want to read later, you just tap the Share button (it’s the square one with the upward arrow) and tap the Add to Reading List button. To open your Reading List, tap the Bookmarks button (the one that looks like an open book), then tap the Reading List tab (look for the eyeglasses).

Once you add a story to your Reading List, it will (or should, at least) sync automatically with the Reading Lists on your other iOS devices and Safari on your Mac via iCloud.

I’m not a fan of Reading List, but I love Instapaper’s consistent syncing and page-flipping mode.

Also, articles on your Reading List will (er, should) save themselves to your iPhone’s or iPad’s internal storage, meaning you should be able to browse your Reading List picks even when you’re offline.

My complaint about Reading List, though, is that it’s incredibly glitchy—or at least, it is for me. Half the time I save or delete a story on my Reading List, my changes don’t sync to my other iOS gadgets.

And it drives me nuts whenever I pull up Reading List while on an underground subway platform, only to be informed that for whatever reason, my articles weren’t saved for offline reading. (Naturally, Reading List worked perfectly when I tested it just now, but I still don’t trust it.)

Even if Reading List does work perfectly for you, there’s no way (and this is to your point, Robin) to categorize, tag, or otherwise sort the stories you’ve saved. And nope, there’s no folders, either.

For these reasons, I really don’t use Reading List all that much; for me, it’s just too unreliable.

Instead, I’ve turned to third-party reading apps. Many are available in the App Store, but there are two in particular that I use all the time: Instapaper (the original and perhaps best iOS reading app) and Pocket.

The free Pocket app lets you tag stories you’ve saved from the web.

Both apps are free, and both let you save articles from the web to your iPhone’s or iPad’s memory for reading later, whether you’re online or not. They’ll also remember where you left off in a given story and save your place on all your synced devices (including Android phones and tablets, if you have them).

Personally, I think Instapaper does a better job of formatting lengthy articles in a book-like format, complete with easy-to-read fonts and pages that you can flip with a swipe.

Meanwhile, Pocket does a better job with pictures and video, and I like the image thumbnails on Pocket’s article index page. I use Pocket whenever I find a shorter article I want to save.

Best of all (and finally an answer for you, Robin!), Instapaper lets you organize your saved articles into folders, while Pocket lets you tag your saved stories.

The downside to using Instapaper and Pocket on your iPhone or iPad is that there’s no super-easy way to save articles directly from the Safari browser. That said, you can always copy the URL for an article (tap the Share button, then tap Copy) and then open either Instapaper or Pocket; when you do, you’ll be prompted to save the article at the web address you just copied.

Long story short: Nope, you can’t organize the articles on the iOS Reading List, but Instapaper and Pocket (among other iOS reading apps) will do the trick.

Hope that helps, Robin. Still have questions? Let me know!

Note: Having trouble saving the tips on the mobile version of here’s the thing? Try our desktop site instead. On a phone, tap the little handle in the top-left corner of the screen, then tap Desktop Version. On a tablet, tap the Desktop Site button in the top-right corner of the home page.

The post iOS tip: Can I create folders for the stories in my Reading List? appeared first on here's the thing.

Well, there’s a better way to save web links for later than, say, simply pasting them into your iPhone’s (or iPad’s) Notes app.

The trick: using Apple’s “Reading List” feature, which saves links from Mail, Safari, and other iPhone apps and (once you’ve got a data connection again) downloads full web pages to your iOS device’s memory.

Prefer using a third-party “read it later” app like Instapaper ($3.99) or Pocket (free)? We’ll cover them, too.

Let’s get started…

You can access saved web links from the Reading List in your iPhone’s or iPad’s Safari bookmarks.

Using Reading List

• So, you just found a web link you wanted to open on your iPhone or iPad, but there’s no cell connection—or you’re just short on time. First, tap and hold the link you want to open.
• A series of buttons will slide (or pop up, on the iPad) into view: “Open,” “Add to Reading List,” and “Copy.” Tap “Add to Reading List”—and yes, this option will work even if your iOS device doesn’t have a data connection.
• Once you’ve got time or a cell connection again, open Safari, tap the Bookmarks icon at the bottom of the screen, then tap Reading List. (You may have to tap the Back button at the top of the screen a few times to get to the main Bookmarks directory; Reading List sits at the top.)
• Now you’ll see the list of links saved in your Reading List, and the link you just saved should be at the top of the list—and if you were offline when you saved the link, your iPhone/iPad will save the page to your handset’s memory once it gets a data connection back.

You can save links to reading apps like Instapaper and Pocket even if your iPhone/iPad doesn’t have a data connection.

Using Instapaper or Pocket

• Once again, tap and hold the link you want to save—but this time, tap the “Copy” button instead of “Reading List.”
• Next, open the app with which you’d like to save your link—either Instapaper or Pocket. When you do, a prompt will ask if you’d like to add the copied URL to the app’s list of saved links. Tap OK (or “Read Later,” in the case of Instapaper).
• Trying to save a link without a data connection? No problem. When you’re back in cellular or Wi-Fi range, open the app again, and app will automatically download the web page for the link you saved.

Looking for more iPhone tips? Click here, or click here for help with your iPad.

The post iPhone/iPad tip: Save web links for later, even when you’re offline appeared first on here's the thing.