The last feature I worked on for Pocket was improved notes functionality. We wanted to add a way to add a note to Pocket, either attached to a saved item or as an individual note. Since Pocket was a place to save anything and everything, it seemed necessary for users to be able add notes and web clippings along with the usual bookmarks.
Notes was already a commonly requested feature from users. We also knew from research that users often forgot why they saved something in the first place. Lastly — as part of our competitive research — we identified notes as a core feature in other bookmarking apps. For these reasons, we prioritized Pocket Notes as the next feature to focus on after Pocket AI.
The goals of this project were to:
Sometimes features would be implemented for one aspect of Pocket but not the others, creating disparity for users who switch from desk to mobile and vice versa. As the lead designer, it was my responsibility to think through the various ways an user could theoretically add to their Pocket saves and propose a consistent solution.
I started with updating the widget design for the Pocket Extension. This meant adding input fields for users to fill in for their saved items as well as confirmation once an item is saved. To make the experience more convenient for users we would automatically fill in the title, though this could be edited after-the-fact. They would also be able to tag what they saved for more efficient organization.
Pocket users would have access to their saved notes and web clippings from Pocket via their desktop or either of the mobile apps. For desktop I updated the existing card designs to include card designs for notes and web clippings. This would also include basic actions such as favoriting, deleting, archiving, etc.
One of the main features of Pocket is Reader Mode, which provides Pocket users a lightweight, ad-free surface in which to best access written content. Thisinterface utilized a sidebar for various actions, like the ability to add a highlighted section of text. These highlights were limited for free users and unlimited for paid Pocket users. It made sense to use the same sidebar space for notes and web clippings as well.
Designing for the mobile Pocket apps meant designing the experience for both iOS and Android. For the most part I kept these experiences as consistent as possible while accounting for nuances specific to either platform. One example of this how iOS uses dialogs versus prompts in Android.
Another example was "Sharing" functionality for either platform, which is further complicated by the different browsers used by Pocket users. We could work with the Firefox teams at Mozilla to design the ideal "Share to Pocket" experience for Firefox but other browsers would have less predictable behavior. It's one example of how creating a consistent user experience is harder than it seems.
Free Pocket users currently had the option to save a limited amount of highlights per saved item. Adding the ability to add a note — specifically from within Reader Mode — created the unintended problem of feature cannibalization. Basically, there would no longer be reason to have (limited) highlights. That is potentially one less reason for users to convert from free to paid.
It presented a challenge of how to ensure satisfaction for both free and paid Pocket users. My proposal was to keep the features as distinct as possible, especially since different users have their own preferred ways of organizing information. In this case, selected text would be reserved only for highlights and limited for free users.
It wasn't long after I worked on these designs that the team received the official news that Pocket would be shut down. At first we hoped there would be just enough time to shoehorn this new functionality, but my team members would soon be redistributed and there was simply not enough time. As for myself, I was concerned about my overall future at Mozilla and what that meant for my contract.
Looking back, we probably should've prioritized this feature as one of the first projects for me to work on. I think if we had launched it, we would've received a lot of positive user feedback and increases in user engagement. That may still not have been enough to keep Pocket from being shut down, but I'm certain it would've been a win for users while they still had access to Pocket.