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How To Keep Your Reading List In Sync With iOS 5

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Apple has made iCloud a big part of the iOS 5 experience on the iPhone and iPad. This new feature is built into Safari, and allows you to sync a reading list between all of your iOS devices and Safari on your computer.

The free service makes it possible to save a page to read later, and instantly pull it up. There are two areas where this is incredibly handy.

If you are about to run out the door, but want to read an article, you can add it to your reading list in Safari on your computer and pull it up on your iPhone while you wait in line later in the day.

In the reverse, if you are out and find a long article that would be better read on your iPad or on your computer, you can add it to the reading list to come back to when you have more time.

How To Use the Safari Reading List in iOS 5

This service will only work with the latest version of Safari and iOS 5 on your devices.

Adding a Page to Reading List on iOS 5

To add a new page on your iPhone or iPad, visit the page you want to add to your Reading List.

Add to Reading List on iPhone

Add to Reading List on iPhone

Tap on the small Send to icon in the bottom middle of your screen.

Choose Add to Reading List.

The webpage will sync to your Reading List and can be accessed on your other devices.

Adding a Page in Safari for Mac

To add page to your reading list on Safari, the process is similar.

Visit the page you want to add to your reading list.

Reading List Safari

Add to the Reading List in Safari

Click on the Reading Glasses icon.

Click Add Page.

Access Your Reading List in Safari on iOS 5 and Your Computer

To gain access to your list, you will click on the same Reading Glasses icon you did to add a page in Safari.

On the iPhone or iPad, you will have to tap the Bookmarks icon at the bottom of your page.

Next, click on Reading List selection at the top.

Reading List iPhone

View your Reading List on the iPhone

Using the new Reading List in iOS 5 is that simple. It is a nice way to keep track of articles and pages you want to be sure you can read later. Unfortunately, you cannot access the Reading List in other browsers like Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer.

13 Comments

13 Comments

  1. Andershp84

    10/29/2011 at 12:44 am

    Yeah.. only problem is, they don’t sync… I have 2 different reading lists on my iPhone and my Mac, and was promised that these would sync..

    But they don’t.

  2. Xuj

    12/05/2011 at 1:27 am

    Do not believe everything apple promise ;)

  3. Arik

    01/16/2012 at 8:04 am

    Anyone aware of any Chrome for windows browser extensions that woudl allow me to add URLs to my Apple iOS5 Reading List for later reading on the convenience of my iPad or iPhone?

    • Josh Smith

      01/16/2012 at 6:08 pm

      I haven’t found any yet. I’m guessing there isn’t an open toolset to let this happen. I wish there was one as I primarily use Chrome.

  4. Coreycolvin

    01/16/2012 at 2:23 pm

    I would like to nominate this article for the dubious honor of  “Most Misleading Title” .  Seriously, this doesn’t sync.

    • Josh Smith

      01/16/2012 at 6:07 pm

      Corey, I just tested this again and it synced. Do you have iCloud enabled?

      In this test it synced to my phone instantly, but wasn’t as fast going from phone to the Mac.

      If you share more details I will help you troubleshoot, but it does indeed sync.

  5. Chris Holmgren

    01/18/2012 at 12:51 am

    Mine do not sync either. I have iCloud and it works as advertised, but this sync feature does not happen.

  6. AmaurieRaz

    02/12/2012 at 8:00 pm

    They sync, you just need to go to iCloud on your iOS device and enable Bookmarks and you’re done

  7. Davidbrown49

    02/20/2012 at 12:48 am

    to sync iPhone reading list to reading list on mac, first disable bookmark on iCloud  on your iOS device then delete existing bookmarks on iOS device next enable bookmarks on iOS device and it will be completely synced to mac bookmarks and or reading list

    • tblspn

      11/08/2012 at 7:07 pm

      if anyone can suggest a way which does not involve deleting bookmarks on the iDevice.. because I am in the habit of bookmarking and adding to reading lists on the iPhone, in the hope of later reading them on the MBA. I have these set to sync via iCloud (as far as I can tell there is now other way). I also have, at this stage, nothing else set to sync via iCloud. I sync manually via USB cable. Let me know if there’s anything else you need to know? thanks

  8. Rik

    04/22/2012 at 8:39 am

    I was excited with the concept of syncing via “computer”, but it turns out you mean a Mac computer… not a PC.  BUMMER

  9. Doris tremblay

    11/07/2012 at 5:18 pm

    The reading list on my ipad is not accessible. Once i ckick on the icon it jump to the first page of my ipad????

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