On a plane, in the subway or out of town — the internet drops out, and the articles stay. Readine downloads the whole article, images included, in advance and works offline exactly as it does online.
Not all reading apps download the whole article with images in advance. You board a plane or step into the subway, and the article opens truncated, with a “Read on site” link.
The “read” and “favourite” marks don’t always sync between devices either. You read on the road, then sit down at another computer and see the same articles unread again.
| Situation | Usually | In Readine |
|---|---|---|
| The RSS feed has only a teaser and you’re about to head out | finish it in the browser once you’re back online | the article is already downloaded whole, with images |
| You want to keep an article for later | move it to Pocket or Instapaper | mark it as a favourite in the same app |
| You read from your phone and from your computer | the marks get out of sync and what you’ve read comes back as unread | the marks are kept on the server, so both devices show the same state |
| You marked something read without a network | the mark stays in one app | the mark goes to the server the next time you connect |
Readine downloads full text and images on the server and then syncs them to your device. When the network drops, you read the same article as online — with no placeholders and no truncated paragraphs.
Compressing articles on the server cuts mobile data usage. There is also a “Wi-Fi only” mode — sync runs only when there is a Wi-Fi or wired internet connection.
To keep the device from filling up, there’s a storage limit. You decide how many articles to keep on the device for offline reading, and how many to fetch only when you’re online.
The local copy is kept even if the author deletes the original.
One limitation: video and other files aren’t downloaded in advance and always need a connection. Such files are too large, and there may be too many of them to keep them on the device.
Readine runs on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Ubuntu and Web. The “read” and “favourite” marks sync across all your devices.
Syncing is server-side — data is not lost even if the device runs out of charge. Offline changes are applied the next time you connect.
Q: Why install the app on both your phone and your computer?
A: So both devices share one state: mark something read on the road and it won’t show as unread at home or at work. Subscriptions and history are stored on the server, not on the device.
Q: What will I see in the app without internet?
A: The very same article — full text, images included. It is downloaded in advance, so it opens instantly when you’re offline.
Q: Will the device fill up with downloaded articles?
A: The storage limit is configurable. You decide how much space the cache gets.
Q: How to save mobile data?
A: You can turn on the “Wi-Fi only” mode — copies are downloaded only when you’re on free Wi-Fi.
3 feeds — free, no time limit and no ads. Offline copies are available on the free plan too.
Download Readine →