My motivation was not to create a read-it-later app, yet it evolved into this unique yet cohesive form of a read-it-later + bookmarking organizer + clipboard manager + card based note-taking app over the last 6 months. It also launches from the menu bar with a shortcut and navigates with keyboard shortcuts. My favorite part is instead of rendering a list of article titles, everything is rendered as pretty preview cards in a translucent Pinterest-like mood board. It also has a nifty iOS app, that will allow you to swipe with your thumbs between articles just like on iOS Safari...
Now that Pocket is closing, this is after Instapaper going back to indie and Omnivore and UpNext and numerous others closing over the years. All of these are cloud-hosted services, which got me reflecting: maybe this local-first architecture would be well positioned to build in this space.
Here is my not-so-scientific comparison:
## Domain
$10 vs $1M = 100,000x difference.
## Server running cost
No servers other than what's running by iCloud vs $1M per year = 1mX difference
## Platforms
Apple only (mac + iphone + ipad) vs Multi platforms (windows, linux, android also supported) = 20X maintenance cost difference
## Capturing
No browser extensions required v.s. maintain all extensions for various browsers and extension stores = 5x difference
## Architecture
App receives the link, Apple generates the rich preview cards for thousands of different types of links, app caches these preview cards. vs. Someone write some custom code for each link type or with Open Graph, one designer created one generic card that works for all links. = 100x cost difference.
I know, Apple is coming for clipboards with more restrictions, which is basically a shared global state on Mac systems, DoubleMemory does also support other ways to capture: drag-n-drop to app/menubar icon/app icon, right click->Services menu, or Share sheet. We will add more auto-importers.
Also vibe coded some importers for Pocket, Omnivore and ReadWise here: https://doublememory.com/posts/tools
Everything in the app is free with no limits. Capturing is really step 0. You giving us a chance to save your content, doesn't mean you are getting any values out of it (ain't that the typical story of read-it-later apps? save-it and never-read-it). the eventual goal is to easily retrieve these content, and eventually consuming them. I hope to eventually launch paid features that aligns with these value generating workflows.
App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/doublememory/id6737529034
Let me know what you think...
