Here is my review to recent changes happened to Pocket and why I will not be using it anymore.

Introduction

I have been an old Pocket user. I was a Pocket user even before the name change happened long time ago. Back then its name was ReadItLater and everything was same. You had tags, you could archive or delete a link you saved. Except that saving was not on cloud. It was a local extension so your bookmarks would be saved to a SQLite database instead. I was happy with it and I did not need cloud.

I’m on clouds!

After their name change, they have introduced their cloud service. I said “sure why not,” then signed up for it. It was okay, no big changes. Everything was same again until their partnership with Firefox.

Partnership with Firefox

Firefox after their partnership with Pocket, the Firefox team have integrated a new Pocket button to Firefox so people can save pages without downloading an add-on. (because people are too stupid to find and download an add-on, right?) They could have bundled Pocket add-on but no, integration right into the freaking core. It was a simple button with an HTML Panel, so you could save pages. (Yes, that was all you could do)

After the integration, Pocket removed their feature-filled add-on from Mozilla Add-ons site, so essentially they forced users to use that basic integrated button. (because, why give them a whole bread, just give them bread crumbs instead.) You could not do anything with it, other than saving pages. Because they have removed the add-on, now you had to visit their website to view your saved pages. No more keyboard shortcuts, customization, or anything. It was all gone. At that moment, I have realized that, Pocket was now dead to me.

Conclusion

I have removed Pocket, completely from my phone and my computer and I will never use it again. I have not found any alternatives yet but I will be updating this article as I find alternative solutions. Also if you care about security, don’t trust Pocket.

Edit (2016-03-14): I found a free, open-source and in-development alternative to Pocket.
Wallabag (www.wallabag.org). You can also donate to the project here.