Imagine if you could continue reading that article you were looking at during breakfast, or do some quick revision on Java – on the tube, without Internet.
With the reading list feature you can do just that. It’s a really clever option that I found to be useful on a somewhat boring journey to uni. Best of all – there is nothing to set up, not even an iCloud password to enter.
To get started, open up Safari and begin by opening the site that you want to be able to view offline. Make sure it’s fully loaded. You’ll know it’s fully loaded by the fact the blue bar at the top reaches the end of the URL bar and disappears.
Tap the share icon, and choose Reading List (it’s the icon with the Steve Jobs glasses). Then wait a few moments for the page to save in the background. You won’t get any visual cues that it’s done, but if you no longer see the spinning wheel at the top of the screen (next to the iPad text), you can assume it’s been saved/added to reading list.
And that’s it!
To get back to that site, when you’re offline, open Safari and tap the book icon. Choose the glasses icon and you will see all the sites available to you.
It’s not really going to work for videos and it’s best for sites that have a lot of text rather than images (though it will save images). Also, the more content on the page, the longer it will take to save. You can check if the page got saved by closing the tab, turning on airplane mode and trying to access the site from your reading list before you make your actual offline journey.
Give it a try and tell me what you think in the comments!
Irfan
My iPad Diary 