Safari Reading List: how to use it on iPhone, iPad and Mac

Safari Reading List is a list of web pages you save in Safari to read later. It's built into Safari on iPhone, iPad and Mac, syncs between them through iCloud, and can keep copies of the pages so you can read them offline. On iPhone you save a page from Safari's Share menu with Add to Reading List. On a Mac you press Shift-Command-D.

The steps below are for iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27, checked against Apple's own guides in October 2026. Safari on iPhone has more than one tab layout, and the buttons sit in different places in each, so the iPhone steps say which layout they're for.

How to add a page to your Reading List

On iPhone

1. Open the page in Safari.
2. Tap the Page Menu button (the three dots), then tap Share. If your tab layout is set to Bottom or Top, tap the Share button instead.
3. Tap Add to Reading List.

To save a link without opening it, touch and hold the link, then tap Add to Reading List.

On iPad

Tap the Share button, then tap Add to Reading List. Touching and holding a link works the same way as on iPhone.

On Mac

You have three ways:

• Press Shift-Command-D to add the page you're on.
• Hold the pointer over the Smart Search field and click the Add button, or click the Share button in the toolbar, then choose Add to Reading List.
• Shift-click a link to add the page it points to without opening it.

Where to find your Reading List

On iPhone, go to your start page and tap the Reading List button. If you don't have a start page open, tap the Tabs button, then the Add button to open one. With the Bottom or Top tab layout, tap the Show Bookmarks button, then the Reading List button.

On iPad, tap the Show Sidebar button, then tap Reading List (below Saved). Your most recent saves also show at the top of the sidebar, newest on the left.

On Mac, click the Sidebar button in the toolbar, then click Reading List, or press Control-Command-2.

If you use Apple Intelligence, Safari also groups your Reading List items and bookmarks into suggested topics once three or more of them are related. Tap or click a topic to see its pages. On iPhone this needs an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max or an iPhone 16 model or later.

How to read your Reading List offline

Offline copies are off until you turn them on.

• On iPhone and iPad, open the Settings app, tap Apps, tap Safari, then turn on Automatically Save Offline (below Reading List).
• On Mac, choose Safari > Settings, click Advanced, then select "Save articles for offline reading automatically".

On a Mac you can also save a single page: Control-click it in the Reading List and choose Save Offline.

How to mark pages as read

On Mac, Control-click a page in the Reading List and choose Mark as Read or Mark as Unread. Click the Unread button above the list to hide pages you've read, and All to show them again. There's a search field above the list as well, and when you reach the end of one page, you can keep scrolling and Safari opens the next page in your list.

On iPad, touch and hold an item in the Reading List to copy it, open it, mark it as read or delete it.

How to delete items from your Reading List

• On iPhone, swipe left on the item.
• On iPad, touch and hold the item, then tap Delete.
• On Mac, Control-click the item and choose Delete. With a trackpad you can also swipe left on it and click Remove.

To empty the whole list on a Mac, Control-click any item in the Reading List and choose Clear All Items. Because the list syncs through iCloud, an item you delete on one device disappears from your other devices too.

How Safari Reading List syncs between devices

Reading List syncs through iCloud, along with your bookmarks and open tabs. For it to work, every device has to be signed in to the same Apple Account with Safari turned on in its iCloud settings. If a page you saved on your iPhone doesn't show up on your Mac, check that setting on both.

What Safari Reading List can't do

Reading List is free and already on your devices, and for a short list that's enough. It leaves out a lot that read-later apps have, though.

• It's one list. There are no folders, tags or notes, so a few hundred saved pages become a long scroll. The Apple Intelligence topics help on devices that support them.
• You can't highlight passages or keep notes on a saved page.
• It doesn't show how long a page takes to read, so it's hard to pick one that fits ten free minutes. You can paste the text into a calculator to see how long an article takes to read.
• It's part of Safari, so you read it in Safari on an Apple device. Pages you save in another browser don't end up there.
• Nothing brings you back. There are no reminders, and nothing helps you remember an article once you've read it.

That last gap is the one I care about. Saving a page is easy, and reading it is the hard part. Even when you do read it, the details start to fade within days unless you come back to them, as the forgetting curve shows.

When a read-later app is worth it

A read-later app is worth trying when you save from more than one browser, when you want highlights, or when you want to do more with what you read than tick it off. Instapaper, GoodLinks, Matter and Readwise Reader are a few you can try.

I made Bundle for the last of those. You save an article from the share sheet in any app on iPhone, from Chrome with the Bundle extension, or on a Boox tablet. Bundle keeps a clean copy for reading offline, files it under a topic and lets you highlight as you go. When you finish, a Quick check asks you a few questions about the article, and you keep the good ones as cards. Bundle brings the cards back with spaced repetition, a little before you'd forget them.

QUICK CHECK · SCIENCE Which night of sleep matters most after you study? The night after. It is at least as important as the night before, because that sleep cements what you learned. Sleep On It: How Snoozing Strengthens MemoriesShow in article

SkipKeep card

Bundle is on the App Store for iPhone, and you can try it free for 14 days. How to remember what you read has a few habits that work with any reading list, Safari's included.

Questions about Safari Reading List

Is Safari Reading List the same as bookmarks?

No. Bookmarks are for pages you go back to again and again, and you can sort them into folders. Reading List is for pages you mean to read, and it can save them offline and mark them as read.

Does Safari Reading List work offline?

Yes, once you turn on Automatically Save Offline on iPhone and iPad, or "Save articles for offline reading automatically" on a Mac. On a Mac you can also save single pages offline.

Where is Reading List in iOS 27?

On your Safari start page, tap the Reading List button. If your tab layout is Bottom or Top, tap the Show Bookmarks button first, then the Reading List button.