Mozilla to Shut Down Pocket App by July 8; Newsletter to Continue Under New Name
Mozilla has announced it will shut down Pocket, its popular
read-it-later app, on July 8, 2025, marking the end of an era for a product it
first acquired in 2017. The move is part of a broader restructuring that also
includes discontinuing Fakespot, a browser extension designed to detect fake
reviews.
Pocket users were notified via email on Thursday about the
closure. Mozilla has given users until October 8, 2025, to export their saved
content. Pocket Premium subscribers, who paid $4.99 per month for enhanced
features, will receive full refunds, the company confirmed.
Though the app itself is being retired, one of its most
popular extensions—Pocket Hits, the editorial newsletter that drives
significant traffic to publishers—will live on. Starting June 17, the
newsletter will continue with "the same great content curated by our
editorial team," but under a new name yet to be announced.
Pocket, which began as a browser extension called "Read
It Later," grew into one of the most beloved tools for curating and saving
web content. Mozilla acquired it in 2017 in a bid to boost Firefox's content
discovery features and diversify its offerings.
While Mozilla has not elaborated on the specific reasons for
the shutdown, the decision signals a pivot away from content aggregation tools
as the company sharpens its focus on core products and privacy-first
technology.
