Permanent Library means that whenever you save an article, a copy of that article as it was at the time of save is preserved in your permanent library. After you upgrade to Pocket Premium, Permanent Library automatically copies eligible articles you’ve saved to your Permanent Library. That way, even if an article changes or is taken offline, you will be able to open the version that you have saved in Pocket.
How is this different from free Pocket accounts?
In free accounts, the Pocket apps manage downloading of content. The main purpose of this feature is to save the content for reading while offline. If you Archive an article or log out of the Pocket app, downloaded articles are cleared from storage on your device. After this point, the original link must remain available and unchanged on the web to continue to access it.
Getting started with Permanent Library
When you upgrade to Premium, Pocket automatically creates permanent copies of eligible articles in your Saves your
Permanent Library.
Any existing articles in your account will also be preserved, as long as they are available at the time of upgrade. It may take some time to complete this process for existing articles. You can check the progress here: Pocket Premium Account Status.
What is not included in my Permanent Library?
Pocket’s Permanent Library is unable to create copies of the following content:
- Video and audio files, and other embedded media
- Dynamic web content, powered by JavaScript or Flash
- PDF files or other documents
- Content within iFrames
- Content that is available behind paywalls or requires an account to access
Additionally, for accounts with very large numbers of articles saved, Pocket will create permanent copies of the most recent 30,000 articles that are present in the account at the time of upgrade. However, as more articles are saved, no permanent copies will be removed.
How to access your Permanent Library
Permanent Library features are available in Pocket for Android and Web.
Pocket for Android
When you open an article in View Original you’ll see your permanent copy of that article. If you’d like to update to the live version (that is, what’s currently available on the web), just tap Refresh. Here’s how:
- Open the overflow menu (three dots) in the top toolbar and then select Refresh
After the page is refreshed, you can update the copy that’s in your Permanent Library. Just look for the green bar at the bottom of the screen and tap Update.
Pocket for Web
When using Pocket in your browser, you can access the permanent copies of your saved articles by following these steps:
- Move your mouse to the ●●● menu of an article
- Click Share
- Click Permanent Copy
To see the live published version of a saved article at any time, click View Original from the same Share menu.
Additional Questions about Premium Library
What is the difference between Permanent Library and how Pocket's free experience saves articles?
Whenever you save an article, Pocket Premium’s Permanent Library feature stores a personal copy of this article’s content for you, in both the Article View and View Original formats. You will be able to view these copies even if the original page changes on or is removed from the web.
For free users, the way Pocket works, and will continue to work, is that we store the links to saved articles, and not their actual content, on our servers. Pocket’s mobile apps will download any article’s content that’s saved in “Saves” for offline viewing, but if you Archive an article, the copy will be removed from your device.
If you want to access articles that have been Archived, or you are logging into your Pocket account on a new device, it’s possible that you will no longer be able to access any articles that have been changed or removed from the web.
What happens to my Permanent Library if I unsubscribe from Pocket Premium?
Your Permanent Library will be deleted after 30 days of unsubscribing.
Is my Permanent Library available offline?
While offline, it’s possible to view permanent copies of articles that are saved to your Saves when using Pocket for Android. However, since Pocket’s apps do not download articles in the Archive, you must be online to access the permanent copies of articles that have been Archived.
Can I share or export Permanent Copies?
It's not possible to share or export a Permanent Copy of a saved article.
