Back in January, I wrote about the steps I went through in submitting apps to various app stores. To summarize, Google Play happened just fine, the Microsoft Store version was rejected, and iOS wasn't possible as they don't support this type of applications.
Things changed in the meantime, and I'm happy to report that BiteReads is now available on the Microsoft Store, giving it some extra exposure! You might be wondering what happened in the past eight months to allow this.
With the upcoming release of Windows 11, Microsoft announced a set of changes to the rules of their applications store. One that caught my eye quickly was the fact that they now allow third party payment platforms, as long as that's clearly mentioned. This was the very problem locking me out initially: as BiteReads requires a connection to the Pocket service, people were getting redirected to their platform on login, also giving them a detour to their paid features. Under the new policy, this was allowed, so I went back to work. I modified the product description to cover this directly, updated the in-app description accordingly, submitted the new version, and it was approved after about a day! This means that two of the largest platforms are now within my reach for this and any future project I release.
I'm launching today something different from my usual works: BiteReads, a smaller user interface for Pocket!
For those not familiar with Pocket, it allows you to save web pages to read them later. Your list can be saved and shared across devices, so you can do something like save a page on your phone then read it later on your tablet. BiteReads uses that same information but presents it in a more compact format, letting you see more of your stories at a glance.
It's available both as a web tool or an app that can be installed on Android, iOS and PC. If you want to try that, on Android and PC, access the web version and click the Install button to get started! On iOS, in Safari, use the Add to Home option. The installation through Firefox is not supported at the time due to limitations with the browser.
I originally wrote BiteReads for my own use, as I wanted to browse my list of pages in a more compact format. However, the layout of the official tool favored large fonts and plenty of whitespace, leaving little room for actual content. You can see a comparison of this on BiteRead's about page. The tool I developed can be used in parallel to Pocket, or as a full replacement, since it connects to the same service.
While I could have kept this for myself in a rough format, working but lacking in polish, I decided to go the extra mile, add all relevant features and offer it to everyone out there. I don't have any set expectations for this: as mentioned above, I wrote this for my own use first and foremost. If others see a use for it, so much the better. The source is also available!
I'm hoping to use the coming months to release more tools with the same concept: applications or modules that I have created for my own use yet could still be useful to others.