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Populus

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 24, 2012
6,101
8,550
Spain, Europe
I’m debating wether to buy GoodLinks, or use just Pocket or Instapaper.

My main issue with Pocket and Instapaper is that I can’t decide which one to use. Seriously. I know it sounds silly and I could just “pick one of them”, but then I saw GoodLinks, and many people buying it indicates that it could be better than those two services.

My only doubts are about the search engine, if it searches across the body of each saved article, or just on the titles...

Anyone using GoodLinks, could you tell me if it’s worth the purchase? Something I love from this app is that it is universal, meaning you can purchase it and download it on a mac, iPhone or iPad.
 
I just tried search on iOS. It searches the titles and the summary, but not the text of the saved article.

I myself am happy with GoodLinks. It is a one time purchase and has (for me) good functionality. Also it gets regular updates. I don’t have experience with Pocket and Instapaper however.

When I was searching for a read it later app I considered Pocket and Instapaper, but I didn’t want a subscription.
 
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I like GoodLinks — the problem for me has been downloading. I can’t seem to get it to download links in the background. Every time I open the app, I have to wait for it to go fetch all the items I added (which can be an issue if you’re traveling, for example). If it wasn’t for this, I’d be all in on GoodLinks over Pocket.
 
I like GoodLinks — the problem for me has been downloading. I can’t seem to get it to download links in the background. Every time I open the app, I have to wait for it to go fetch all the items I added (which can be an issue if you’re traveling, for example). If it wasn’t for this, I’d be all in on GoodLinks over Pocket.
So, aside from this, GoodLinks is better than Pocket, right?

I’ve already written a couple of emails to their support email (support@goodlinks.app) but they never reply. I’m a bit afraid of purchasing an app whose devs don’t offer any support to their customers...
 
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I like GoodLinks — the problem for me has been downloading. I can’t seem to get it to download links in the background. Every time I open the app, I have to wait for it to go fetch all the items I added (which can be an issue if you’re traveling, for example). If it wasn’t for this, I’d be all in on GoodLinks over Pocket.

I think it should work. In the release notes of version 1.1 it says: "Links saved via share extension will now be synced immediately without having to open the app".

But now you mentioned it, I noticed it too. Bug maybe?
 
I did get a reply. Actually, I finally purchased it, and I’m really happy with the app.

I’d like to find another one for less important stuff tho. You know, those types of links that you don’t think are too relevant but you don’t want to close the tab either… I know, digital Diogenes…
 
I’d like to find another one for less important stuff tho.
GoodLinks is great! But, for a light-weight solution to just save links, I use Pinboard (pinboard.in). You can add tags and comments and that's about it (unless you pay for the archiving feature). A minimalist's solution that provides access to your links from any device, and easy export options for local copies.
 
GoodLinks is great! But, for a light-weight solution to just save links, I use Pinboard (pinboard.in). You can add tags and comments and that's about it (unless you pay for the archiving feature). A minimalist's solution that provides access to your links from any device, and easy export options for local copies.
Many thanks Brian. I’ll try it out!
 
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