Doc Edward Morbius ⭕<p><strong>So, Pocket, the article-archival tool that keeps getting worse the more you use it, has just become immeasurably worse.</strong></p><p>I've reverted from version 8.6.x to no, not 8.5, not 8.4, not 8.2, but 8.1.1.0 from freaking <em>February</em> of this year to revert these completely fucking brain-dead changes.</p><p><strong>The TL;DR: link is <a href="https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/mozilla-corporation/pocket/pocket-8-1-0-0-release/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">apkmirror.com/apk/mozilla-corp</span><span class="invisible">oration/pocket/pocket-8-1-0-0-release/</span></a></strong></p><p>That's what you want to install and freeze on until Pocket catches a motherfucking clue.</p><p>I've had a long an unhappy relationship with this feature and app. Its sole claims to my continued use are that it holds nearly 5 GB of content hostage, and that it, unbelievably, seems to be the best of what is an immensely shitty application space. See my now-six-year-old rant virtually all of which remains valid: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190512092903/https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/5x2sfx/pocket_it_gets_worse_the_more_you_use_it/#" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">web.archive.org/web/2019051209</span><span class="invisible">2903/https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/5x2sfx/pocket_it_gets_worse_the_more_you_use_it/#</span></a></p><p>Most recently, Pocket has lost two features:</p><ul><li><p>A "page flip" mode, which though itself hugely flawed, is better than scrolling through articles, <em>especially</em> on e-ink devices.</p></li><li><p>The ability to view <em>all</em> articles <em>either</em> in the (hugely preferable, very useful) <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/ReadabilityJS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ReadabilityJS</span></a> view, <em>or</em> in-app in a "web view". The latter now revert to your device's default Web Browser app on mobile devices.</p></li></ul><p>The problem with that latter is that the task of annotating and tagging articles (my principle remaining justification for Pocket) is made vastly more tedious --- and it's already more than adequately tedious in previous Pocket versions. To the point it's not even worthwhile.</p><p>Fortunately, I was able to hunt down a prior version of the app (using the APKMirror app), and I will not be upgrading Pocket beyond the most recent version I can find which still supports both Page Flip and Web View modes, as noted above <strong>8.1.1. from 17 February 2023</strong>. (Few if any of Pocket's "improvements" over the past five years have had any value to me whatsoever, so this is little loss.)</p><p>There is of course a Relevant xkcd: "Software Updates":</p><p><a href="https://xkcd.com/2224/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">xkcd.com/2224/</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p>I would <em>so</em> like to see a useful document-management solution for tablets and e-ink devices with the ability to managed both offline and online (Web-based) content.</p><p><strong>Boosts and re-sharing this on other platforms is strongly encouraged.</strong></p><p><strong>Edits:</strong> I'm updating this toot as I'm finding out more. In particular, what version(s) of Pocket are NOT affected by these changes is not yet clear.</p><p><a href="https://toot.cat/tags/Pocket" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Pocket</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/GetPocket" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GetPocket</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/MozillaPocket" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MozillaPocket</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/Mozilla" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Mozilla</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/ApkMirror" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ApkMirror</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/EInk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EInk</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/DocumentManagement" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DocumentManagement</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/xkcd" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>xkcd</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/xkcd2224" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>xkcd2224</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/kfc" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>kfc</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/webfs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>webfs</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/docfs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>docfs</span></a></p>