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Pocket for iOS
After you sign in, iOS automatically downloads your 1,000 most-recently saved articles. There is nothing you need to configure; the app optimizes its downloads to preserve your battery life and cellular network automatically.
Pocket for Android
To sync your content across your devices on Pocket for Android, you need to enable syncing in Pocket. Here are the steps to do so:
- Open Pocket on your device.
- Tap Settings in the navigation bar at the bottom.
- Scroll down to Syncing.
- To sync your content upon opening the app, tap the toggle next to Sync when the app opens. This will ensure that your Pocket library is always up-to-date when you launch the app.
- To sync in the background automatically, tap Background Syncing and select a time-frequency (Sync every hour, twice a day, once a day, never). This will allow Pocket to sync your content even when you are not using the app.
Download synced articles to read them offline on Android
Downloading saves a copy of each item on your device so you can read it offline. Remember to change the toggle for Always fetch Article View, so Pocket can download articles in Article View for Offline Reading.
To disable this setting:
- Open Pocket on your device.
- Tap Settings in the navigation bar at the bottom.
- Scroll down to Offline Downloading.
- Turn off Always fetch Article View.
Article View shows a simplified version of each item with only text and images. Original View shows each item as it appears on its original website.
How to save cellular data
If you are concerned about cellular data usage, you can prevent Pocket from downloading items when connected to your cellular network. To do this:
- Open Pocket on your device.
- Tap Settings in the navigation bar at the bottom.
- Scroll down to Offline Downloading.
- Turn on Download only on Wi-Fi.
Offline Storage Limits and Download Priority
In Pocket on Android, you can control how much storage Pocket is using on your device. If you set a limit, Pocket will download your newest or oldest items until it reaches the limit. Here’s how to set an offline storage limit:
- Open Pocket and tap Settings.
- Scroll down to the Offline Downloading section.
- Tap Set offline storage limits.
- Adjust the slider to set a limit.
- Optional: Tap Download Priority to determine whether your newest or oldest items are prioritized until Pocket reaches its limit.
Common questions
What can be downloaded to Pocket?
Pocket can download most text-based content, such as articles, news stories, and blog posts. However, dynamic web content powered by JavaScript may have difficulty downloading. Additionally, videos cannot be downloaded to Pocket due to restrictions by popular video sites like YouTube. To watch videos, you must have an internet connection.
Does Pocket support download for items on Original View?
Only articles that are displayed in Article view can be downloaded to be read offline. Items on Original view are not supported for download.
Why can’t Original view support download for items?
The reason behind this is that Original view uses the default web browser of the mobile device, and this browser requires an internet connection to access the content.
