Pocket lint

Well, damn… Pocket is heading off into the sunset. For those of us who saved articles there, this stings. The internet’s a goddamn firehose, and Pocket was a decent enough bucket.

So, what now? Panic? Freak out? Declare reading list bankruptcy? Nah. There are still ways to hoard your digital treasures.

When a beloved service shutters, some folks immediately go towards self-hosting. Building your own keep! Be the master of your data!

I get the appeal. But let’s be real, server maintenance can be a pain in the ass that very few people actually want.

Make it someone else’s problem

If you prefer tech that just works without constant futzing, there are solid, affordable open source packages that offer hosted solutions. My top picks are Readeck and Wallabag. You can get ’em hosted for less than a couple of bucks a month. Seriously.

• Readeck: A clean, straightforward reader. It archives webpages for offline reading with a no-nonsense interface. Honestly, it gets the job done.
• Wallabag: This open-source option is way more feature rich. It grabs content, has mobile apps, and even supports annotations if you’re of the note taking persuasion.

“But who,” you might ask, “hosts these for pocket change?”

Enter PikaPods.

PikaPods is a great low frills resource for managed web app hosting. While their catalog is limited to a few handfuls worth of apps, they handle upgrades, security, and any of those annoying 3 AM reboots.

You just send them a few bucks a month — under $2 for both Readeck and Wallabag — and they keep your app running. It costs as much as gas station coffee and solves your problem. No brainer, right?

Make it your own problem

Alright, you’re determined. I get it. You want the full neckbeard experience. I can respect that. All you need to do in this case is grab a Raspberry Pi (a 4 or 5 is good, more RAM is always better) and install YunoHost.

YunoHost is a server control panel aiming to make self-hosting accessible — even if you’re not a command-line wizard — via a surprisingly friendly dashboard for one-click app management.

Their app catalog is pretty well-stocked for article hoarders:

• Wallabag (See above)
• Readeck (Ditto)
• Linkwarden: More of a bookmark manager with archiving, but still super useful.
• ArchiveBox: For serious digital packrats, this creates full local website archives.

The main catch with YunoHost on a RasPi? You’ve gotta update your apps and the YunoHost software itself occasionally. It’s not really a huge burden — YunoHost’s dashboard helps — but slack off, and you’re asking for security problems or broken shit.

The TL;DR

Losing Pocket is a bummer, sure. But it’s also a chance to find a new thing that’ll stick around for a good long while thanks to beautiful nerds who also like to hoard articles for years and years and maintain free software.

For a low-stress, dead-simple solution, PikaPods managing Readeck or Wallabag for a tiny fee is fantastic. Minimal fuss.

If you’re feeling adventurous, have a Raspberry Pi kicking around your junk bin — or need an excuse to buy yet another one — and don’t mind a bit of tinkering, YunoHost offers a powerful, surprisingly user-friendly way to wrangle things.

Anyway, your digital hoarding habit isn’t dead — it’s just evolving! Pick your poison, save those tabs, and keep telling yourself that you’ll read them later.