I Used To Be Obsessed With Pocket But Then I Built Something Better

I made Lynx to be everything I wish I’d been able to do in Pocket.

I used to be a diehard Pocket user. I was in the top 1% of Pocket users! It was awesome. But then I got frustrated.

People would email me links that I would save to Pocket to read later. And then I would want to share that content with others, so I would end up emailing more URLs. A vicious cycle.

So we set out to build a new app called Lynx that I could use exactly like Pocket (saving links and reading later, even offline) but could also use to send and receive links directly, completely bypassing email.

We made it super flexible — if I send to someone that uses Lynx, it goes directly to their account. If I send to someone that doesn’t have Lynx, then I just choose their email or text.

Also, sometimes there was nothing in my Pocket list I actually felt like reading, so we included a discovery piece too. It’s fairly rudimentary right now, but you can just wade through random content from the web, and there is usually some good stuff in there.

I know this post will seem market-y and obviously I am highly biased. But as a former Pocket junkie, I now only use Lynx and have stopped using Pocket entirely.

If you are a crazy Pocket person that manually tags everything then you should probably just stick with it. But if you are more like I was, someone who loves the utility but is looking for something more social (and more colorful!), then you might like Lynx better.

Do a trial run: download the iPhone app, log in on your computer, install the Chrome Extension, add some friends, and use Lynx for all your saving and sharing for a couple of weeks.

If you miss Pocket, then go back to it. Just let me know why! If you think Lynx is awesome, then awesome!

Note: I have nothing but respect and admiration for the team at Pocket (who I do not know personally).