Mozilla Is Shutting Down Pocket (betanews.com)
- Reference: 0177693309
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/22/1759238/mozilla-is-shutting-down-pocket
- Source link: https://betanews.com/2025/05/22/mozilla-is-shutting-down-pocket/
> In a surprising move that will frustrate longtime fans, Mozilla has announced it will [2]shut down Pocket on July 8, 2025 . The once-popular read-it-later service, which helped users save and organize web content for later reading, will no longer function as normal after that date. While existing users can continue saving and reading articles until July, the service will switch to export-only mode afterward, with all user data permanently deleted on October 8.
The Firefox-maker will [3]also shut down Fakespot , a service that allows users to identify unreliable reviews, on July 1.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~BrianFagioli
[2] https://betanews.com/2025/05/22/mozilla-is-shutting-down-pocket/
[3] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/building-whats-next/
Redundant feature (Score:2)
If there is anything I want to read later it is too easy to simply bookmark it, and if you have a lot of bookmarks start categorizing them into subfolders within your bookmarks
Re: (Score:2)
> If there is anything I want to read later it is too easy to simply bookmark it
I bookmarked the page but now it still looks the same when I click it again. What am I doing wrong? You're claiming booking marking is an alternative to this, but it seems to address only a single one of many features of Pocket.
Pocket worked offline (Score:3)
In particular, Pocket let users save pages to read offline. I found this helpful to avoid paying for a cellular data plan for a netbook on public transit, as not all buses and trains had guest Wi-Fi.
Re: (Score:2)
I bookmarked the page but now it still looks the same when I click it again. What am I doing wrong?
You could always clear your cache, but since that is such a difficult thing to do, it might take some time to do. I've never had an issue with a web page looking the same after I bookmark it and come back later, but that's just me always clearing out crap and forcing the browser to get new info.
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We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
sounds like Trumps golden dome, = a vain attempt at absolute security
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Bookmarking? In 2025?? Well that's just uncivilized!
In 2025, I need all of my content links uploaded to the cloud so it can be paraphrased and narrated by an AI that sounds like Patrick Stewart complete with corresponding random vertical videos of random things getting assembled from my smart hub screen as I fall asleep at night to maximize content retention. Anything less is too much of a bother.
Has anyone ever used this? (Score:2)
I already found pinterest completely insufferable and they were the first to massively push for hostile content where you were forced to sign up to see a funny picture.
And then came pocket from Firefox. Anyone actually used this? And what for?
Re: (Score:2)
Mozilla claimed it had 17 million active users 10 years ago... for whatever that is worth.
Re: Has anyone ever used this? (Score:2)
Pocket (originally called Read It Later) wasnâ(TM)t originally a Mozilla product, it was a web 2.0 startup from 2007 that eventually sold to Mozilla when the investor money ran out. It existed before browsers had reading list features built in. It wasnâ(TM)t just a bookmarking app, it archived the page for full text search. Extremely handy for pages I remembered saving but didnâ(TM)t know the title of. The fact it worked everywhere was a huge bonus, and the UI was beautifully simplistic. Un
Re: Has anyone ever used this? (Score:1)
Wow, itâ(TM)s 2025 and slashdot still canâ(TM)t handle text encodingsâ¦
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
> Wow, itâ(TM)s 2025 and slashdot still canâ(TM)t handle text encodingsâ¦
doesn't
can't
won't
Wow.... works just fine.
Maybe don't be a dumbass, and just use the proper character.
Re: (Score:2)
The typographically correct apostrophe is U+2019.
Re: Has anyone ever used this? (Score:2)
Slashdot isn't a type setting application. It's a forum based on ASCII.
Re: (Score:2)
I have been using Pocket (Read It Later) since 2009 at least. It got even more use when it was integrated into Feedly which I started using for RSS after Google killed Reader. (as another post said, there's always /somebody/)
However, I never use Firefox (their PWA support has always been second-class) and so I have no idea what pocket's "integration" with Firefox was like.
I'll figure something out. Having cloud bookmarks easily referenced was always useful - bookmark on my desktop mac, then read later on my
Saves Me the Step of Disabling It (Score:2)
I recently started removing Pocket from every instance of Firefox I use. Occasionally there would be some interesting recommended articles, but I got tired of the "Your Gender Is Toxic" stories it started displaying.
I will miss (Score:4)
immediately removing it from the toolbar when installing a new copy of Firefox.
Re: (Score:2)
just looked - didn't know that it was there.
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> immediately removing it from the toolbar when installing a new copy of Firefox.
This will soon be irrelevant, but don't forget the config setting:
> user_pref("extensions.pocket.enabled", false);
One of the stupidest purchases ever (Score:4, Interesting)
By the time Mozilla wasted money on buying pocket in 2017, the use case of pocket was already done. During the heyday of Pocket, the hassle of using the product to get content onto a PDA had some return; once cellular data was ubiquitous and cheap Pocket was done. Whomever approved Mozilla buying this stupid product in 2017 should be forced to reimburse Mozilla. The creator of Pocket really lucked out with that acquisition.
Re: (Score:2)
Speaking as someone who often travels outside cell data zones and prefers to read things on my own terms, I know I'm in the minority, but the use case Pocket was created to fill does still in fact exist.
However, enshittification means that I'll continue meeting my personal need for this exact functionality with "print to PDF" and other basic tools, because those don't randomly change everything in an attempt to get more of my attention every other Tuesday.
Moved from Delicious and Pocket to text files/PDFs (Score:3)
I had a 1000 links on Delicious and a similar number on Pocket. Now I store my links in text files, but links degrade with time. Sometimes I export to PDF, but that takes up hard drive space.
Re: (Score:2)
Your LLM agent and its ancillary vectorDB will remember everything for you. I suggest selfhosting and not using a corporate secondbrain.
This may come across as tongue in cheek but I am deadpan serious.
Oh Noes! (Score:2)
Now where will I put all my [1]pennies [slashdot.org]?
[1] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/05/22/1742234/us-treasury-unveils-plan-to-kill-the-penny
Well, shit (Score:2)
I guess I was one of the dozen users still using Pocket.
Why, you ask? It is (was) simple, not terribly intrusive or advert-happy, and it just suited my needs.
I use(d) it as a cross-platform link-sharing tool between my mobile and various personal and work PCs - just a big bucket of links accessible anywhere, which I would occasionally revisit and prune if/when the list grew too long.
So now what? Google Keep? Microsoft OneNote? (shudder)
Is like pocket and fackespot should have been... (Score:2)
... either extension or plug-ins all along... instead of being integrated in the browser...
Mozilla had/still has the opportunity to become the "Distro of browsers". Just like a Linux Distro is the linux kernel surrounded by a bunch of other projects, Mozilla should strip the browser to the bone, shifting everything non-essential into plug-ins or extensions, either developed by Mozilla, or developed by trusted third parties, and ship "Browser Distros".
A "normal user browser distro" with all the privacy, DRM,
Pocket is crap, and Fakespot is worse (Score:2)
They're killing pocket because almost nobody uses it. How do they know? All the telemetry they gather, the fuckers.
Fakespot is what dumbasses quote on Slick Deals. Algorithmic bullshit that was useless even before the AI age got more useless as AI use expanded.
Who didn't immediately disable Pocket in Firefox? (Score:5, Funny)
> In a surprising move that will frustrate longtime fans
My condolences to both of them.
Re:Who didn't immediately disable Pocket in Firefo (Score:5, Insightful)
I think both of them post here on Slashdot, so you should get to hear from them shortly.
The part I'm frustrated about is that they pissed away $20M of that and still have the gall to complain that people don't donate enough.
Well, that and the fact that they ever made Pocket part of Firefox, instead of an addon like it should have been if they had to have it in the first place. That was the original idea.
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, unfortunately Mozilla is a broken organization and Firefox has been going downhiil for a while. Though removal of Pocket makes me hope that they finally got atleast one person there with a clue.
Unfortunately I have not found a replacemnt browser, having tried quite many. All the alternative browsers that I have tried seem to have broken or some totally annoying basic functionality.
Re: (Score:2)
Have you tried LibreWolf?
I remember needing to disable one or two things to make it usable (like re-enabling history and keeping tabs between closing and re-opening the browser) but over all it's become my daily driver.
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If I had mod points I would upvote this. Please do yourself a favor and use [1]LibreWolf [librewolf.net]. It is literally just Mozilla with the adware/telemetry ripped out, uBlock0 preinstalled and good privacy-preserving defaults while maintaining usability. In other words it is what people who donate money and code to Mozilla are trying to help create, namely, a non-commercial open source browser for users by users.
My only complaint is that they [2]will not shut up and take my money [librewolf.net]
[1] https://librewolf.net/
[2] https://librewolf.net/docs/faq/#why-dont-you-accept-donations
Re: (Score:3)
> The part I'm frustrated about is that they pissed away $20M of that and still have the gall to complain that people don't donate enough.
The problem is you cannot donate to Firefox directly - only to the Mozilla Foundation. If they let people vote with their (donation) dollars, it would be much more clear to them where people want them to expend their efforts.
As an optional (or even promoted) extension, Pocket was a great idea. Integrating it into the browser was pretty dumb. Fakespot as a website is pretty cool and I used it a number of times over the years. Mozilla buying it was incredibly stupid.
If I knew my donation had been wasted o
Re: (Score:2)
Pocket? Oh, you mean that button which is the first thing you remove from the toolbar after installation? Cool.