The Internet is full of great websites, some of which are very interesting and useful, so it's no wonder people want to preserve them for posterity. Bookmark managers, notes apps, and read-later services like Pocket are great for collecting and organizing links, but in reality, there are so many links across so many platforms and apps that it's easy to keep track of them. You can not.
Former Twitter engineer Joe Fabisevich built an app called Plinky that aims to address this problem with a new approach that prioritizes customization.
Available for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Silicon Mac, Plinky lets you save links to web pages, apps, videos, images, and even app stores, neatly labeling them, and organizing them into different folders. You can customize these labels and folders, and even how the links appear within the app. Plus, you can search and pin links for easy access.
Easily set apps as favorites in the share menu to quickly share links from anywhere: in your browser, other apps, or within Messenger. Saving was easy with just a few taps on the link, and I liked the save animation.
Image credit: Plinky Image credit: Plinky
Fabicevic told TechCrunch that he was inspired to create the app after he was sending his fiancé a ton of links, including tweets, articles, videos, and memes. Although she liked the gesture, she felt it was a distraction and she asked him to save some for later. That's when Fabicevic began working on Plinky.
The founders feel that the philosophy of a link saving app should be to make the process easy. He points out that while apps like Pocket and Instapaper are great for reading, links often include videos and photos, making these apps less suitable for multimedia consumption. did.
Image credit: Plinky Image credit: Plinky
Fabisevich has also built extensions for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, as well as RSS reader Unread, iOS shortcuts, and integration with Zapier. There is also an open API that third-party developers can use to build more Surface integrations.
The free version allows you to save up to 50 links and create up to 5 labels and 3 folders. To remove these limits, you can pay $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year. Alternatively, you can purchase lifetime access for $159.99.
Image credit: Plinky Image credit: Plinky
In terms of features, Plinky pales in comparison to the popular bookmarking app Raindrop. Raindrop also offers Android, Mac (Intel), and Windows apps. Raindrop offers more integrations, and the free tier allows you to save as many links and bookmarks as you like. However, Raindrop doesn't work well with YouTube or App Store links because they open through an in-app browser rather than redirecting to the native app. Plinky solves this problem better.
Plinky offers a much better solution than storing links through your browser's bookmark manager, as it's easier to organize links within your app using folders and labels.
Fabicevic said he has used Raindrop before, but wanted to build a solution that anyone could use. “In their own words, Raindrop is ‘designed for creators and built for programmers,’” he said. “I like it, but it's both, so only a few people will benefit from a universal inbox for links.”
“From the first time you save a link in Plinky, you know the app does its job and doesn't get in your way. It's a different approach than Raindrop, where you have to think about categorization from the beginning.”
What's next for Plinky?
Over the coming months, Fabisevich hopes to build out better configuration and customization capabilities for the app.
He wants to be able to easily import links from existing services that already have bookmarking and clipping libraries, such as Goodlinks, Raindrop, and Pocket.
The founders also aim to add a secure folder for storing sensitive links, an in-app reading experience, and the ability to add reminders for links you want to read later. He also wants to build a native Mac app, since the current app is just an iPad app that is only compatible with his MacOS devices that run on Apple's own chips.
I like that the support section of the app has a list of upcoming features that users can vote on. Features with the most votes will be built first.
Image credit: Plinky
In the long term, Fabisevich wants to build a better search experience as well as a more personalized workflow for saving and prioritizing links.