Matter
Matter is a well-designed reading app, popular with iPhone users, and it handles newsletters too.
It’s made for the iPhone first, it’s proprietary and hosted in the US. If you read on Android or on a Kobo, or if you care where your data lives, you’ll want something else.
The other options
- Readwise Reader: very complete (RSS, highlights, notes, AI features), but around 96 € a year and hosted in the US.
- Instapaper: a long-standing read-it-later app, with highlights and notes. Premium costs around 55 € a year.
What wallabag.it does
- It saves the whole article, not just the link. If the page disappears, you still have it.
- You read on the web, on Android, on iOS, and on Kobo or PocketBook e-readers. Offline too.
- Tags, search, highlights and annotations.
- You can export everything whenever you want: PDF, ePUB, mobi, JSON, CSV…
- It’s hosted in Europe. No ads, no tracking: it’s paid for by subscriptions.
- It’s the open-source wallabag, the project I started in 2013. If you’d rather host it yourself, you can.
Prices
| Service | Per year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| wallabag.it | 11 € | Open source, hosted in Europe |
| Readwise Reader | ~96 € | Highlights sync, RSS, AI features, hosted in the US |
| Instapaper Premium | ~55 € | Highlights, notes, text-to-speech |
wallabag.it costs 11 € a year. There’s also 4 € for 3 months, or 30 € a year if you want to support the project a bit more. You can try it free for 14 days, no credit card needed.
If you’re on iPhone and mostly read newsletters, Matter is a good app. If you switch between devices, wallabag.it follows you everywhere.