Instapaper for iOS v6.4 Adds Notes, Moves Into Competition With Evernote

For the longest time I’ve heard from readers that they liked to read a saved article in Instapaper, but if they wanted to add a note, save an article for the long term, or generally do any real work with the atrticle then they generally copied said article to Evernote (or OneNote).

The latest update to Instapaper could eliminate the need for that second step. Betaworks released a new version of Instapaper for iPad and iPhone on Thursday (iTunes). The app has supported highlighting text since May 2014, and yesterday readers gained the ability to attach a text note to any saved article.

The notes sync across the Instapaper platform, and they can be edited, deleted, or shared on social networks. (Also, Betaworks mentions in its blog post that it has updated its IFTTT channel to make this easier.)

I haven’t had a chance to play with this myself, but Federico Viticci of Macstories.net has been testing it for the past couple months. He posted the following screenshots:

Viticci loves the new feature. he says that it has changed how he works:

Thanks to Notes, I’ve started using Instapaper as a blogging tool. When I’m reading and I find something I want to comment on, I highlight noteworthy passages and add my notes to start composing a linked post for MacStories. This enables me to stay inside Instapaper, avoid external distractions, and retain the context of the article I’m reading. … I find this incredibly empowering and practical. Most of the linked posts I’ve published for the past month generated from Instapaper Notes.

In the opinion of this blogger, there is no higher praise than a reviewer saying that they can use a new tool to get work done faster and better; it is a sign that the new Notes feature is an improvement on the other tools on the market.

As an inveterate taker of paper notes, I don’t expect that I will be using this feature but I think it is worth your time to take a look.

The Notes feature is available in the Instapaper app for iPad and iPhone (iTunes). It’s also available on the Instapaper website, but not the Android app (Betaworks says an update is coming shortly).