Matter is trendy right now…but is it good?

TL;DR

Mater is a free read later app that allows users to organize and read articles, sync highlights to other platforms like Notion, and listen to audio versions of articles.

Transcript

every couple years it seems like a new category of productivity software just gets really trendy really quick uh if i think back about five years ago i think about task managers and email apps where there was a lot of innovation a lot of competition between new and established players trying to get a foothold i think we saw a lot of innovation that... Read More

Key Insights

• 📈 The productivity software industry has seen trends in task managers, email apps, and note-taking apps over the years, with reading apps now gaining momentum.
• 📱 Matter is a versatile app that functions as a read later app, reading discovery app, and social app for sharing highlights.
• 🔍 Matter offers multiple ways to import articles, including connecting to Twitter, browser extensions, newsletters, and saving Twitter threads.
• 📥 The app's inbox feature, which pulls in articles from Twitter, may not be very useful, but the discover tab provides interesting and popular content.
• 📚 The main focus of Matter is on the reading experience, with a clean interface, adjustable style settings, and the ability to listen to articles through synthetic voices.
• 🔄 Matter allows users to prioritize articles in their queue by dragging and dropping, filter them based on length or progress, and easily archive them when finished.
• 📝 Users can highlight sections of articles within Matter and sync those highlights to external platforms like Notion and Readwise for further organization or sharing.
• 🆓 Matter is currently free and ad-free, with plans to monetize the app in the future through potential avenues such as sponsored content or a subscription fee.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does Mater help users save and organize articles?

Mater provides multiple ways to save articles, including connecting to a Twitter account, using browser extensions, saving newsletters, and saving Twitter threads. Users can also organize their saved articles in a queue and prioritize them.

Q: What are the key features of Mater's reading experience?

The reading experience in Mater is clean and customizable, with options to adjust themes, brightness, and text size. Users can also listen to synthetic voice audio versions of articles. However, the app can struggle with formatting multi-page articles.

Q: Can users interact socially on Mater?

Mater allows users to highlight sections of articles, which can be shared on their social feed within the app. These highlights can also be automatically synced to external platforms like Notion. However, the app's social features are still in development.

Q: Is Mater a subscription-based service?

Currently, Mater is completely free and does not include any ads. However, the long-term monetization plans for the app are unclear, and it may introduce subscription fees or sponsored content in the future.

Q: How does Mater compare to other popular read later apps like Pocket or Instapaper?

Mater offers a unique set of features, such as audio versions of articles and automatic syncing of highlights to other platforms. It also provides a user-friendly browser extension. However, users may have different preferences and can easily switch between read later apps based on their needs and preferences.

Q: Does Mater support collaborative reading or group discussions?

As of now, Mater does not have specific features for collaborative reading or group discussions. It primarily focuses on individual reading and organization. However, future updates may introduce social features and more collaborative functionalities.

Q: What platforms is Mater available on?

Mater is currently available on desktop with browser extensions and on iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad. There is no mention of an Android version in the content provided.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• In the past few years, there has been a trend of new and innovative productivity software, including task managers, email apps, and note-taking apps.

• Mater is a read later app that aims to enter the market and revolutionize the reading experience.

• The app allows users to easily save articles, sync highlights to platforms like Notion, and listen to audio versions of articles.