Virtual Pants

So you’d like to save something forever. Would you throw it in the trash? Probably not. But Instapaper thinks that’s exactly where you should put it. Sometimes.

Instapaper on the iPhone doesn’t have an archive button in either list view or reading view. In the list view, you’ll find it tucked within the trash can, which is normally dedicated for deletion. An unintuitive UI design choice to say the least. 

In the reading view, you’d assume that you archive the same way. Nope. Here, you click the share button to find a delete, archive and share (huh?) button. Note that the identical share button has an entirely different purpose in list view, where it is used to access an open and copy menu. Same button, completely different uses in the same app. 

Imagine if Android’s Gmail app made you click the trash to save something. We would certainly see complaining blog posts and snarky tweets all over the place. So why does Instapaper get a free pass?