Read-later app with a focus on the reading habit
How scratching my own itch led to an app that become Product Hunt's Product of the Week and App Store's App of the Day.
overview
impact
8%
27% higher than market median (6.3%)
3.2%
68% higher than market median (1.9%)
71%
Paywall shown
27% higher than market median (56%)
services
Product Design, Strategy, Research
role
I partnered with an engineer and led the product, design, and strategy.
year
2020-2023
platform
iOS
inception
What if reading later actually worked?
I had a habit of reading articles I’d saved for later during my work commute. And also while flying. There was no wi-fi, so there wasn’t much to do besides reading what I previously saved. Every time I did that, I enjoyed it, because most of the articles I saved were useful and professionally related.
Then covid happened. No more commuting and, well, flying, too. Articles didn’t stop piling up.
Pocket and Instapaper, main read later apps, weren’t getting significant updates in years. The main focus for them was to help users save link for later, and not caring if users read or even look at them ever again.
Looking at conversations online and analyzing App Store reviews of similar apps, it was clear, there’s an opportunity for a better product in this space.
I decided to scratch my own itch (and as it turned out other people's too) and focus on these challenges:
testing hypothesis
Prototype worth a thousand words (literally)
For the prototype, I decided to focus on existing Instapaper and Pocket users. Both of them have APIs, so it also solves the Cold Start Problem and addresses the challenge of saving but not reading.
I recruited 16 users for testing. During Zoom calls, I asked them about their current reading habits to dig into their problems and showed an early prototype of the app to get their feedback.
core ideas
Turning reading into a habit
To help users not just save articles that interested them but also read them, I relied on a few key ideas. I took inspiration from James Clear's "Atomic Habits" and BJ Fogg's "Tiny Habits".
We needed to help users set up an effective system to make reading happen: bundle reading with an existing habit, introduce a small goal of 1 article/day, reduce friction when picking what to read.
#1
Bundle reading with an existing habit
During onboarding, users struggled to pick a time when to be reminded to read. When we changed the approach to showing common activities users were already doing, resulting in 40% notification opt-in rate.
#1 iteration
shipped (40% notification opt-in rate)
#2
Introduce a small goal
By setting a goal, users commit to a new habit and track their accomplishment through out the journey. When the goal isn't achievable, they're encouraged to reduce the weekly goal until they become more consistent.
SET READING GOAL
Reading insights
goal achieved
#3
Reduce friction when picking what to read
Most read-later apps overwhelm users with infinite lists of saved articles, causing choice overload. Presenting one article at a time helps find gems while also purging the queue.
keeping it fresh
all hands on deck
Archive, skip, or read now. Find a gem, one article at a time.
I’ve really been enjoying as a way to slowly chip away at my Instapaper queue. There is something powerful about reviewing items one at a time instead of in a long list.
It changes the decision from “is anything here interesting?” to “do I want to read *this* right now?”. Small but significant shift by not seeing your full list at once. Now you can power through the list (or skip) without feeling overwhelmed. Do recommend.
Steven
Super excited about the one article at a time focus - keeps me from getting overwhelmed.
Jimmy
bonus
First class reading experience
During onboarding, users struggled to pick a time when to be reminded to read. When we changed the approach to showing common activities users were already doing, resulting in 40% notification opt-in rate.
adjust reading appearance
Reading preferences are often personal. The interface helps users to customize it to their liking.
HIghlight of the day
Highlights help retain learnings. Alfread also integrates with Readwise for spaced repetition of highlights.
BRANdING
A friendly butler for reading later
The app needed a name.
After coming up with 30 names for the app, Readext seemed to be the best one yet. Bought the domain, hated the name 24 hours after.
Thought a bit more and then Alfread came up: a combination of "Alfred," a friendly butler, and "read." Alfread seemed suitable for an app that will bring your articles in the morning (or whenever the user preferred). Then it was time to explore icon options:
Landing page
The app needed a name.
After coming up with 30 names for the app, Readext seemed to be the best one yet. Bought the domain, hated the name 24 hours after.
Thought a bit more and then Alfread came up: a combination of "Alfred," a friendly butler, and "read." Alfread seemed suitable for an app that will bring your articles in the morning (or whenever the user preferred). Then it was time to explore icon options:
Version 1.0
Version 1.2
current version (live preview)
the journey
Building in public and growing the waitlist
Before the first TestFlight version was ready, my friend and I started a waitlist. In the end, more than 2,300 people signed up.
With every app update, we would add 150-200 more people to the TestFlight to get their feedback without getting overwhelmed and write a public update about the app and our learnings:
i've learned that
Users aren’t psychics
"When working on something, it’s easy to forget that potential users don’t know as much as you do about it. A product is only as good as its messaging for potential users. No matter how cool it is under the hood if it’s not clear what it is."
sell before it's RELEASED
"iOS apps take time to build but they are very restrictive with monetization. Unlike web/Mac apps when you can start charging before you’ve built anything and slowly figure out your pricing.
But we were able to sell an invite to someone who didn't want to wait and paid us via PayPal."
Waitlists grow old
"Alfread’s waitlist is ~6 months old, with recent invite conversions at 25–40%. We still invite in batches, but now I also fast-track signups from personal mentions. This helps build better user relationships and get more feedback than cold invites."
Don't bulk email everyone from your Gmail
"I was using SendGrid for all the emails I’ve sent to out to Alfread users previously but it seemed like it added an extra step. When requesting new users for feedback, I’ve decided just to use the standard email app and bcc everyone who installed the app. Well, that was a rookie mistake."
the destination
The real treasure was the fans we made along the way
After working on the app nights and weekends for 1.5 years, we finally launched in December 2021. The reception exceeded our expectations.
Alfread became Product Hunt's Product of the Week (wrote how we got here and what it brought here), App Store's App of the Day, got featured as one of the best new apps of 2021 according to Fast Company.
but first, some numbers
Beating productivity apps' median
The app follows a freemium model, allowing users to upgrade for premium features like highlighting, full-text search, and advanced stats. Based on RevenueCat State of Subscription 2025 report, Alfread's key metrics outperform the productivity niche average.
8%
Trial start
27% higher than market median (6.3%)
3.2%
Download to paid
68% higher than market median (1.9%)
71%
Paywall shown
27% higher than market median (56%)
Screen Time stats of an Alfread user
