After 17 years, Mozilla is shutting down the popular bookmarking tool Pocket, and Fakespot
May 22, 2025 at 9:50 PM

After 17 years, Mozilla is shutting down the popular bookmarking tool Pocket, and Fakespot

Mozilla has announced that it will shut down Pocket, its long-standing content-saving and bookmarking tool, on July 8, 2025. After this date, users will have until October 8, 2025, to export their saved Pocket content. All user data remaining in Pocket will be permanently deleted following the export window. Mozilla began removing the Pocket web extension and app from distribution on May 22, 2025, but users with the app already installed can re-download it until October 8, 2025. For subscribers, Pocket subscription plans will end on July 8, 2025, and annual subscribers will automatically receive prorated refunds.

Some questions remain, like what will happen to the integration with Kobo e-readers or the recent one with Inoreader. Mozilla cited evolving web content consumption habits as the main reason for shutting down Pocket. Mozilla cited evolving web content consumption habits as the main reason for shutting down Pocket, though the app remained a strong player in its category and arguably still had a sizable user base. Luckily, there are several compelling alternatives available, such as Instapaper, Readwise, wallabag, Raindrop.io or mymind.

In parallel, Mozilla will also discontinue Fakespot, the fake review detection tool it acquired in 2023. The Fakespot-powered Review Checker, which is integrated into Mozilla Firefox, will be shut down on June 10, 2025. Mozilla stated that while Fakespot’s concept resonated, it did not fit into a sustainable model for the organization.

May 22, 2025 by Mauricio B. Holguin

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Pocket is a bookmark manager designed for saving articles to read offline, with seamless browser and app integration across multiple platforms. Rated 3.7, it offers features like ad-free reading, dark mode, and text-to-speech. Key functionalities include offline reading, a browser extension, and visual bookmarks. Top alternatives to Pocket include wallabag, Raindrop.io, and Instapaper.

Comments

picking
May 29, 2025
0

After Omnivore announced it's shutdown, I tried Pocket, Wallabag, Instapaper, RainDrop, and Obsidian for several days, and chose Wallabag.it at last. $14 a year. That's OK to me.

Navi
May 23, 2025
2

Would be nice if they brought back the RSS reader functionality into Firefox if they are dropping Pocket which is part of why they got rid of it in the first place.

mimumu
May 23, 2025
6

I know a lot of people didnt use it or actively disliked it, but I was a heavy user for many years, even paying for the subscription for a while until now. I love the idea and really liked the features and experience. Almost a year ago I accidentally deleted a lot of my content, so between that and the issues Pocket was already showing, I used the opportunity to see alternatives. I landed with omnivore, and we all know how that went. After omnivore I moved to instapaper, but I never quite felt as good as pocket, so I was actually waiting to see if mozilla fixed the few issues I had with pocket to get back to it. I guess now the search continues, readwise reader is amazing but it is just too expensive. Probably will finally find the motivation to start selfhosting my stuff. Farewell pocket, you served me well for a long time. Let's hope this is good mozilla, and they capitalize on this narrowing of the scope to really make firefox shine again.

Asumeh
May 23, 2025
2

I most certainly think Fakespot had potential for a tool that could help detect fake reviews for products, and I do hope other companies, organizations, and developers can follow up on Mozilla's efforts to make a tool much like it, and hopefully succeed in the long run. A bit disappointing with how Mozilla's acquisition made a buzz in 2023 then died out way too soon after, but I suppose that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Pocket, on the other hand... ...yeah, no. Let's not go there...

UserPower
May 23, 2025
0

From Mozilla announcement: "Pocket helped shape the curated content recommendations you already see in Firefox". I won't say that it's mission accomplished because of the relevance of theses recommendations. Better also kill them. Also: "While the idea resonated, [Fakespot] didn’t fit a model we could sustain." And what kind of model Mozilla has ever had, outside getting money from Google and imposing the search engine from who pays the most? Don't misunderstand me, I only use Firefox/Librewolf since 20 years but it has never been for Mozilla business ideas but because of the simple and free Firefox experience, where adblockers work. But I don't need "smart" tabs/bookmarks. I don't want anything "smart" in Firefox. It's just a browser, and no companies will ever get as much money as Google has poured info Firefox just for a browser.

D7
May 22, 2025
4

raindrop.io is still the king

3 replies
SoloDimeKuro
May 23, 2025

I agree! It's a really cool tool

Pepexl
May 24, 2025

Raindrop doesn't store the sites for offline reading. i prefer wallabag

D7
May 25, 2025

that is the only problem with raindrop no offline support, but with the new update of obsidian this would be fixed ypu can store links and saved in a new database formate called Bases https://help.obsidian.md/bases

candroid_man
May 22, 2025
1

Fakespot was awesome though!

Gu