How to Save Reading Lists Offline on iPhone, iPad & Mac

If you regularly make use of Safari’s Reading List feature to save web content for reading later in your free time, you may be interested in checking out the offline reading feature that’s available for reading list items. This makes sure your reading list items are accessible at all times, even if the iPhone, iPad, or Mac is not online.

For those who haven’t tried this feature out, Reading List allows you to save webpages and organize them so that you can check them out later. It’s similar to a bookmark, except that its main focus is written content. However, these saved webpages will still require an internet connection to load up by default and you cannot expect to stay connected to Wi-Fi or LTE at all times. This is exactly where the offline reading list items come in handy. For example, you can load up an iPad, Mac, or iPhone with a bunch of news articles to read before going on a trip.

Whether you have an unreliable internet connection or you want to read content while you’re traveling, you may want to save some of your reading list items offline. Let’s take a look at how this works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

How to Save Reading Lists Offline on iPhone & iPad

We’ll be checking out the necessary steps for not just the iPhone and iPad, but the Mac as well. If you haven’t added any reading list items yet, feel free to check out how to use Reading List on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac before you go ahead with these steps.

1. Launch Safari and tap on the bookmark icon from the bottom menu as shown in the screenshot below.
   
   
2. Next, head over to the reading list section by tapping on the “glasses” icon. Here, you’ll find all the webpages you’ve saved. Tap on “Edit” located at the bottom-right corner of your screen.
   
   
3. Now, simply select the reading list items or webpages that you want to keep for offline use and tap on “Save Offline”.
   
   
4. In addition to this, there’s a global setting that you can use to automatically save all reading list items for offline use. To enable this, go to Settings -> Safari on your iPhone or iPad and toggle “Automatically Save Offline”.
   
   

That’s it. All the webpages you save will now be accessible offline and you don’t have to do it individually.

How to Save Offline Reading Lists on Mac

Now that you know how to use the offline feature on iOS/iPadOS devices, let’s check out the procedure for macOS systems. If you’re wondering, it’s fairly similar and easy.

1. Launch Safari on your Mac from the Dock, and click on the Reading List icon at the top-left corner of the window. Once the left pane shows up with your reading list items, simply right-click or Control-click on the webpage that you want to keep for offline use.
   
   
2. Now, click on “Save Offline” from the additional options and you’re good to go.
   
   
3. If you want to set Safari to automatically save reading list items offline, go to Safari -> Preferences from the menu bar.
   
   
4. Next, head over to the “Advanced” section and check the box next to Reading List. This will save articles for offline reading automatically.
   
   

There you go. Even if your Mac isn’t connected to Wi-Fi, your saved webpages will be available to read.

If you use multiple devices like iPhones, iPads, and Macs, you just need to add reading list items on one device. This is because iCloud will automatically sync your reading list items across all your other Apple devices along with Safari bookmarks and history, provided you’re signed into the respective devices with your account.

As you can see, offline reading list items aren’t enabled by default. You either have to manually save each webpage offline or use the global setting that’s available in the Preferences menu.

If you want to remove any of the reading list items that you’ve read, you can swipe left on the saved webpage to access the Delete option if you’re on iOS/iPadOS. On the Mac, you can access the Delete option by right-clicking on Control-clicking on the reading list item.

We hope you were able to learn how to use Safari’s Reading List feature even when you’re not connected to the internet. How often do you read web content from the Reading List? How many OSXDaily articles have you added to your reading list? Share your experiences and thoughts with us.