How to Migrate from Pocket to ReadMonkey Pro in 2026: A Step-by-Step Guide
Mozilla shut Pocket down on July 8, 2025. The data-export window closed October 8, 2025. The Pocket API was disabled November 12, 2025 and accounts were queued for permanent deletion. If you exported in time, this guide shows you the honest two-step migration path. If you didn't, we explain what's realistically salvageable — and what isn't.
By PlugMonkey Team, Editorial
TL;DR
ReadMonkey Pro does not yet support a one-click Pocket-export import — that feature is on our public roadmap but is not shipped as of May 2026. The honest 2026 migration path is therefore two steps: import your pre-October-8 Pocket HTML export into Raindrop or Instapaper as an intermediate (both accept the Netscape bookmarks format Pocket used), then switch to ReadMonkey Pro for every new save going forward. When native import lands, you re-import the same export file in a single click and consolidate. If you missed the October 8, 2025 export window, your Pocket archive is permanently gone — Mozilla disabled the API on November 12, 2025 and queued all unexported accounts for deletion. The only realistic salvage for missed-window users is the Wayback Machine, one URL at a time, for articles you can specifically remember saving. This is unfortunately not a tooling problem we can engineer around; it is a deadline that has already passed.
- ReadMonkey Pro doesn't yet have native Pocket import — the current path is Pocket export → Raindrop or Instapaper as intermediate → ReadMonkey Pro for new saves.
- The Pocket export file is HTML in Netscape bookmarks format. It contains URLs, titles, tags, and dates — but never contained highlights, even when you had Pocket Premium.
- If you missed the October 8, 2025 export deadline, your archive is gone. The Pocket API was disabled November 12, 2025. The Wayback Machine is the only per-URL salvage.
- When ReadMonkey Pro ships native Pocket import (on the roadmap), the migration becomes a single click — but for now this guide reflects the working-with-workarounds reality.
“Pocket has helped millions save articles and discover stories worth reading. But the way people use the web has evolved, so we're channeling our resources into projects that better match their browsing habits and online needs.”
The Numbers, By the Source
Every figure below cites a primary source. Click through to verify.
Users Mozilla cited in its May 2025 shutdown announcement. Pocket had grown from approximately 17 million users by September 2015 to a smaller but still substantial active base by 2025. Every account in that base was given the same October 8 export deadline regardless of tenure or whether they paid for Pocket Premium.
Source: Mozilla Support KB2025
The date Mozilla officially shut Pocket down. New signups closed earlier on May 22, 2025 when the discontinuation was announced. After July 8 the apps stopped working, the website redirected to the support KB, and the service entered a 30-day export-only window.
Source: Mozilla Support KB2025
The final day users could export their Pocket data. After this date, the export function was disabled and accounts entered a deletion queue. There was no second-chance period, no soft extension, no archive made available to third parties — the deadline was hard.
Source: Mozilla Support KB2025
Date the Pocket API was disabled. Until this date, third-party tools that had been authorized while Pocket was alive could in principle still pull data — though Mozilla had already stopped issuing new API keys months earlier. After November 12, all remaining user data was queued for permanent deletion with no recovery path.
Source: Mozilla Support KB2025
Pocket's total operating lifespan from its 2007 founding as Read It Later (by developer Nate Weiner) through Mozilla's 2017 acquisition to the July 2025 shutdown. The longevity makes the loss particularly significant — many users had a decade-plus of saved reading material in their accounts.
Source: Wikipedia / Mozilla2025
Before You Start
- Your Pocket export HTML file — the one Mozilla generated before October 8, 2025. If you don't have it, skim the recoverability section first.
- Google Chrome (or a Chromium browser: Edge, Brave, Arc) on desktop
- A Raindrop or Instapaper account for the intermediate import step (both have free tiers)
- 10-30 minutes depending on archive size
- Optional: ReadMonkey Pro installed from the Chrome Web Store for the destination step
Step 1 — Locate your Pocket export HTML file (the one from before October 8, 2025)
ril_export.html (a holdover from Pocket's original "Read It Later" name). Search your ~/Downloads folder, your email inbox for the subject "Pocket data export ready," and any cloud-drive backups you may have made at the time. The file is HTML in Netscape bookmarks format — the same format Chrome, Firefox, and Safari use for bookmark exports. If you find a backup but aren't sure whether it's the full archive, open it in a text editor: a complete export starts with <!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1> and contains one <A> tag per saved article.If you can't find the file in Downloads, check your email for a sender like <code>noreply@getpocket.com</code> or <code>noreply@mozilla.com</code> between May and October 2025. Mozilla's export emails included a temporary download URL that has since expired — but the email itself often has the file as an attachment for smaller archives.
If you never exported and the email never arrived, your Pocket archive is gone. Mozilla disabled the Pocket API on November 12, 2025 and queued all unexported accounts for permanent deletion. There is no recovery service, no third-party archive Mozilla has authorized, and no legitimate vendor offering Pocket data retrieval in 2026. Anyone claiming otherwise is lying.
Step 2 — Understand what's in (and not in) the export file
ADD_DATE attribute). What it does NOT contain: highlights — Pocket's HTML export never exposed Premium highlights, only the article URL; the full article text as Pocket cached it (lost when the servers shut down); your reading position within long articles; and tag colors or any UI metadata. This is the same export format Pocket has used since 2012, and it's identical for free and Premium users. Knowing this up front prevents the disappointment of importing somewhere expecting your highlights to come along.If the export file is over 50 MB, you have an unusually large archive (~10,000+ saves). Some intermediate tools cap import file size — Raindrop's free tier allows up to 100 MB; Instapaper accepts files up to 5 MB on the free tier and 50 MB on Premium. Check the limits before you choose which intermediate to use.
Step 3 — Import into Raindrop (recommended intermediate) or Instapaper
Both Raindrop and Instapaper deduplicate on URL during import, so importing the same export file twice won't create duplicates. This is useful if you want to test the import flow on the free tier before committing.
Don't pick a paid intermediate just for the migration. Raindrop free is sufficient as a long-term archive of your historical Pocket data, and you're not committing to it as your active read-later tool — ReadMonkey Pro takes that role going forward.
Step 4 — Install ReadMonkey Pro from the Chrome Web Store
chrome.storage.sync — the same sync layer Chrome uses for bookmarks, passwords, and history. This is the architectural antidote to Pocket's shutdown: there is no PlugMonkey cloud that can be killed by a future corporate decision. Your library lives in infrastructure you already rely on for everything else in your browser.If you use Chrome Sync across multiple devices (laptop, desktop, work computer), make sure you're signed into Chrome with the same Google account on each. ReadMonkey Pro's library automatically follows that sync state — no separate ReadMonkey account to configure.
Step 5 — Use ReadMonkey Pro for every new save going forward
chrome://extensions/shortcuts (we suggest Cmd+Shift+S or Ctrl+Shift+S). The Pro tier ($6.99/month, $29.99/year, or $49.99 lifetime) unlocks unlimited saves, 5-color highlighting with inline notes, full-text search across your library, and multi-format export (Markdown, HTML, CSV). The free tier covers casual usage; the lifetime license is priced at roughly what a single year of Pocket Premium used to cost, which is the deliberate pricing decision we made for users coming out of the shutdown.Don't try to bulk-resave your historical Pocket articles into ReadMonkey Pro manually one by one — that's hours of work for marginal value. The intermediate (Raindrop or Instapaper) already holds the archive. Use ReadMonkey Pro for new saves and consolidate later when native import ships.
Step 6 — Keep your original Pocket export file for the future native import
ril_export.html after Step 3 succeeds. Store it somewhere durable: a cloud-drive folder, an external drive, a personal git repository, or your own backup system. The file is small (typically 1-50 MB), so storage is trivial, and it's the only copy of your historical Pocket archive that will ever exist.Don't compress the file inside a proprietary archive format that you might not be able to open in a few years. Keep it as raw HTML, or inside a standard <code>.zip</code>. This is your only chance to preserve the data — treat it accordingly.
Optional Step 7 — When native import ships, consolidate and dedupe
If you go with Option A (consolidating into ReadMonkey Pro), do the import in a quiet week, not at the start of a deep reading session. A large import can produce a wall of "new" items in your library that's mentally noisy. Treat the import like a one-time migration event, not a continuous activity.
Summary
Migrating from Pocket to ReadMonkey Pro in 2026 is honest two-step work because the one-step path doesn't exist yet. The intermediate tool (Raindrop or Instapaper) holds your historical archive, ReadMonkey Pro takes over for new saves, and the original export file stays preserved on durable storage for the eventual native import. If you missed the October 8, 2025 export deadline, the realistic answer is that your archive is gone — Mozilla closed the recovery window, and the Wayback Machine on a per-URL basis is the only salvage for articles you can specifically remember saving. The architectural lesson Pocket taught is the one ReadMonkey Pro is built around: storing your reading library inside a vendor's cloud is a single point of failure that 18 years of Pocket history couldn't survive. Chrome Sync — the infrastructure ReadMonkey Pro relies on — is owned by Google, which has its own corporate risks, but those risks are no worse than Chrome itself disappearing. If Chrome disappears, every Chrome extension, including ours, follows. Until then, your library lives where you already store the rest of your browser data.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Sources & Further Reading
- Pocket has shut down — What you need to know (official Mozilla Support KB) — Mozilla Support (accessed May 22, 2026)
- Investing in what moves the internet forward (Mozilla's May 22, 2025 announcement) — Mozilla Blog (accessed May 22, 2026)
- Mozilla is shutting down read-it-later app Pocket — TechCrunch (accessed May 22, 2026)
- Mozilla is shutting down Pocket, its read-it-later app — Nieman Journalism Lab (accessed May 22, 2026)
- Raindrop — How to import from Pocket (official documentation) — Raindrop Help Center (accessed May 22, 2026)
- Instapaper — Importing from Pocket (official documentation) — Instapaper Help Center (accessed May 22, 2026)
- Pocket (service) — historical overview and acquisition timeline — Wikipedia (accessed May 22, 2026)
- Wayback Machine — per-URL article retrieval for missed-window Pocket users — Internet Archive (accessed May 22, 2026)
Make ReadMonkey Pro the Last Read-Later Tool You Migrate To
ReadMonkey Pro syncs through Chrome's own infrastructure — not a vendor cloud that can be shut down. No account, no tracking, 5-color highlighting, multi-format export. Free to install; $49.99 lifetime if you want unlimited saves forever.