Read-later apps · Migration guide

How to Import Your Pocket Export (HTML) Into a New App — Step by Step

You exported your Pocket data before the shutdown and now you have an HTML file. Here's exactly what's inside it, what it doesn't keep, and a click-by-click way to import every link into a new app — then sync it to web, Chrome, iPhone, and Android.

The short version

Your Pocket export is an HTML file (usually ril_export.html) that holds your links, titles, save dates, and tags — but not the full article text or your highlights. To rescue it, pick an app that imports the Pocket HTML directly, upload the file, and let it rebuild your list. In LinkMemo the import reads your tags too, then everything syncs to web, Chrome, iPhone, and Android on one account. Total time: a few minutes.

If you're reading this, you did the smart thing back in 2025: you hit export before Pocket pulled the plug. Now you're staring at a lonely ril_export.html file in your Downloads folder, wondering whether it's actually useful or just a digital tombstone. Good news — it's useful. It's the entire skeleton of your reading list, and getting it into a new app is genuinely a five-minute job once you know what you're looking at.

This isn't the "what happened to Pocket" story (we covered that here). This is the next question: you have the file — now what? Let's open it, see what's inside, and move it somewhere that won't disappear on you.

First, what's actually in the file?

Before you import anything, it helps to know what your HTML file does and doesn't carry. People get burned when they assume the export is a full backup of every article — it isn't, and no importer can conjure data that was never in the file.

App	Works on	Best for
Links (URLs) ours		Yes — every saved URL is in there
Titles		Yes — the page title as Pocket saw it
Tags		Yes — stored inline, if your app reads them
Save date		Yes — a timestamp on each entry
Full article text		No — Pocket's reader copy is not exported
Highlights / notes		No — these did not make it into the HTML

Why this matters: if an app promises to "restore your full Pocket archive," be skeptical. The articles themselves live at their original URLs, not in your export. A realistic importer recreates your list — links, titles, tags — and re-fetches each page so it looks complete. The reading happens at the source, the same as it always did.

Open the file to confirm it's intact

Optional but reassuring — especially if the file's been sitting around for months. The Pocket export is plain HTML, so you can open it in any browser to see your list before you commit to an import.

1
Find the file
Look in your Downloads folder for ril_export.html. If you exported a zip, double-click it first and grab the .html inside.
2
Double-click it
It opens in your default browser as a plain page of blue links, each with its title. No internet connection or login needed — it's a local file.
3
Eyeball the tags
If you used Pocket tags, you'll see them grouped or labeled in the markup. Right-click and 'View Source' if you want to confirm the tag attributes are there — that's what a good importer will read.
4
Don't edit it
Resist the urge to 'clean it up' in a text editor. Importers expect Pocket's exact structure; one stray edit can break the parse. Leave the original untouched and import a copy if you're nervous.

Step by step: import it into LinkMemo

Here's the click-by-click for moving the whole file in. LinkMemo was built with Pocket refugees in mind, so the Pocket HTML is a first-class import format rather than a buried CSV option — and crucially, it reads your tags, so your library arrives organized, not dumped into one giant pile.

1
Create a free account
Sign up at linkmemo.app — email, Google, or Apple. The free tier is enough to import and use your library; you don't need to pay to migrate.
2
Open the import screen
Go to Settings and choose the import option. Select 'Pocket (HTML)' as the source so it parses the file the way Pocket structured it.
3
Upload ril_export.html
Pick the file from your Downloads folder (or drag it in). If it's still zipped, unzip first and select the .html. The upload itself takes a second.
4
Let it process
LinkMemo reads every entry — URL, title, tags, save date — and rebuilds your list, re-fetching titles and favicons so nothing looks blank. A few thousand links finish in well under a minute.
5
Check your tags came across
Open your tag or folder list and confirm your Pocket tags are there. This is the part most CSV-style imports lose, so it's worth a quick glance.
6
Sign in on your other devices
Install the Chrome extension and the iPhone or Android app, sign in with the same account, and your freshly imported library is already there — same saves, same tags, everywhere.

Dead links are normal. Some pages you saved years ago no longer exist, so they'll import as entries you can't open. That's not a failed import — it's just the web aging. You can search and bulk-delete those later if they bother you.

What if my new app doesn't read Pocket HTML?

Plenty of read-later and bookmark apps only accept their own format or a generic browser bookmarks file. You've got two honest options, and neither requires you to give up the app you want.

Convert to browser bookmarks. Many apps accept the standard Netscape bookmarks HTML format, which is close to Pocket's. Some converters (or a quick import-into-Chrome-then-re-export) bridge the gap — but you'll usually lose tags in the process.
Use an app that reads Pocket HTML natively. Fewer steps, no lossy conversion, and your tags survive. This is the whole reason LinkMemo treats the Pocket export as a built-in format — so migrating refugees don't have to play file-format Tetris.

Where to land so this doesn't happen again

The real lesson from Pocket's shutdown isn't "pick a bigger company" — Mozilla is plenty big. It's pick a tool you can export from any time, so a future shutdown can't strand you. Here's how the common landing spots compare for a Pocket migrator, honestly.

LinkMemo

Best for Pocket refugees

Pocket HTML import, then sync everywhere on one account

Imports the Pocket HTML directly — and keeps your tags
True sync across web, Chrome, iPhone, and Android on one login
Free tier covers importing and everyday use
Native-language UI and search (including Korean and Japanese) if you save in more than one language
Export your data whenever you want — no lock-in

Newer than the household names, so a smaller community
Focused on saving and organizing links, not a heavy highlight-and-annotate workflow

Raindrop.io

Polished, visual bookmark manager

Beautiful card and visual views
Strong tagging and collections
Generous free tier

Pocket import usually goes via CSV/bookmarks, so tag fidelity can vary
More of a bookmark organizer than a focused reading app

Instapaper

Clean, distraction-free reading

Best-in-class reader view
Now free for the core features
Long, stable track record

Import options for Pocket are limited and can be fiddly
Lighter on tag-based organizing

Browser bookmarks

The zero-cost fallback

Free and already on every device
Imports the bookmarks-HTML format easily
No new account needed

No reading view, no save date, tags become folders at best
Sync depends on your browser account, not the saves themselves

There's no single "Pocket successor," but for someone holding a ril_export.html right now, the deciding factor is simple: which app reads that file without mangling your tags, and where will it live afterward? If you save across a phone and a laptop — or in more than one language — true cross-platform sync is the thing to check first, because it's where these apps differ most.

What does the Pocket export HTML file contain?

It contains your saved links — the URL, the page title, the time you saved it, and any tags you added. It does not contain the full article text, your highlights, or the reader-view copy. Think of it as a list of bookmarks with tags, not an archive of the articles themselves.

What is the file called?

Pocket's export is usually named ril_export.html (RIL stands for 'Read It Later,' Pocket's original name). If you downloaded a zip, the HTML file is inside it. Older or browser-based exports may have a slightly different name, but it's the .html file you want.

Can I still export from Pocket if I haven't yet?

No. Pocket went offline on July 8, 2025, and the final export deadline was October 8, 2025. After that date Mozilla permanently deleted the data. If you have the HTML file already, you're fine — if you don't, there's no way to retrieve it now.

Will importing keep my tags?

It depends on the app. The Pocket HTML stores tags, so an app that parses them will recreate your tags on import. LinkMemo reads the tags from the Pocket file so your folders and labels carry over instead of arriving as one undifferentiated pile.

Will the full articles come back after I import?

No app can resurrect the full text from the HTML file, because Pocket didn't put it there — the export only holds links and metadata. A good app re-fetches each page's title and favicon so your list looks complete, and the original articles are still live at their URLs, one tap away.

I have thousands of saves. Will the import handle that?

Yes. The HTML file is just a long list, and importers process it in one pass regardless of size. A few thousand links import in seconds to a couple of minutes. Dead links (pages that no longer exist) still import as entries — you just won't be able to open them.

Bring your Pocket export back to life

Upload your ril_export.html, keep your tags, and read your saves on web, Chrome, iPhone, and Android — one account, synced everywhere. Free to start.

Import to LinkMemo free