ArticleQ User Guide
Save articles and web pages to read or listen to later. Build your personal reading list with RSS feeds, on-device AI summaries, text-to-speech, and highlights synced across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Table of Contents
Getting Started
How do I add articles to my reading queue?
There are several ways to add articles. Share Extension: in Safari or any other app, tap the Share button and choose "Save to ArticleQ". You can edit the title and add tags before tapping Save. Safari Extension: click the ArticleQ button in Safari's toolbar to save the page with optional tags, or right-click any link and choose "Save link to ArticleQ". Add Article sheet: tap the "+" (Add) button in the Queue, paste a URL into the Article URL field, and tap "Save Article". If a URL is on your clipboard, ArticleQ offers to paste it for you. On Mac, choose File > Add Article… (⌘N). From Feeds: swipe left on a feed item and tap "Save", or long-press it and choose "Save to Queue".
How do I set up the Share Extension?
Open Safari and tap the Share button. Scroll right and tap "Edit Actions…". Find "ArticleQ", tap the + button, and tap "Done". Tip: drag ArticleQ higher in the list for easier access. These steps are also in Settings > Share Extension. On Mac, open System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, click the info button next to ArticleQ, and enable "Sharing" under Extensions. ArticleQ's Settings > General has an "Open System Settings" button that takes you there.
How do I turn on the Safari Extension?
On iPhone and iPad, open the Settings app, then go to Apps > Safari > Extensions > ArticleQ and turn it on. On Mac, open Safari > Settings > Extensions and check ArticleQ. Once it is on, the ArticleQ toolbar button saves the current page, including content behind a login you're signed in to. When a page offers RSS feeds, the button also lists them under "Feeds on this page" so you can subscribe in one tap.
What's the difference between Queue and Feeds?
Queue: your personal reading list of articles you've saved from any source. Articles are parsed for clean, distraction-free reading and listening, and support highlights, tags, summaries, and playlists. Feeds: RSS and Atom subscriptions that automatically fetch new items from your favorite websites. Feed items stay in the Feeds tab until you choose "Save to Queue". The app has three tabs: Queue, Feeds, and Settings. On iPad, these appear in the sidebar, along with your Playlists and Tags.
Managing Articles
How do I organize my reading queue?
Filters: choose Inbox, Unread, Favorites, Archive, or All. On iPhone, open the Filter and Sort menu; on iPad and Mac, use the sidebar. Sort: in Filter and Sort > Sort By, choose Date Added (Newest or Oldest), Title, Source, or Reading Time (Shortest or Longest). Swipe actions: swipe right on an article to Favorite it or mark it Read/Unread. Swipe left to Archive or Delete it. Tags: long-press an article and choose "Add Tag", or choose "Tags…" from the ••• menu in the article view. To filter by tag, use Filter and Sort > Filter by Tag. Batch Edit: choose Filter and Sort > Batch Edit (on Mac, the Batch Operations toolbar button). Select articles, then archive, unarchive, mark read or unread, favorite, unfavorite, or delete them all at once.
How do I manage tags?
Go to Settings > Library > Manage Tags (also available in the Filter and Sort menu and in the iPad and Mac sidebar). You can add new tags, rename them, merge several tags into one, and delete tags. Deleting a tag removes it from your articles but doesn't delete the articles.
How do I mark articles as read or unread?
Swipe right on an article and tap "Mark Read" or "Mark Unread", or long-press it and choose "Mark as Read" or "Mark as Unread". In the article view, choose Mark as Read or Mark as Unread from the ••• menu. On iPad it's also a toolbar button, and on Mac you can press M. Articles are marked as read automatically after you spend 5 seconds in the article, scroll past a quarter of it, or listen to it. If you explicitly mark an article as unread, ArticleQ won't mark it read again automatically.
Can I undo changes or delete articles permanently?
Favorite, archive, and read/unread changes show a brief confirmation with an Undo button. To delete an article, swipe left and tap "Delete", long-press it and choose "Delete", or choose Delete from the article view's ••• menu. ArticleQ asks you to confirm first. Warning: deleted articles cannot be recovered, and deletion also syncs to your other devices. When you reach the end of an article, a bar offers quick Archive and Delete buttons.
What are Playlists?
Playlists (Premium) let you listen to articles in sequence with hands-free auto-advance. ArticleQ includes three default playlists that update automatically: Recently Added, Favorites, and Continue Listening. To make your own, open Playlists from the Queue toolbar (or the iPad sidebar) and tap New Playlist. You can give it a name, icon, and color. To add an article, choose Add to Playlist… from the article view's ••• menu. Tap Play All to listen to a playlist from the start. Each playlist holds up to 500 articles. If you delete the default playlists, you can bring them back with "Restore Default Playlists".
Reading Experience
How do I customize the reader appearance?
On iPhone and iPad, go to Settings > Reader > Reading Preferences. On Mac, go to Settings > Reader. You can adjust the font size (12–24 points), font family (System, New York, Georgia, Palatino, Iowan Old Style, or Baskerville), justified text, line spacing, margins, and reading theme (Light, Dark, Sepia, or System). A live preview shows your changes. The Reader section also has three toggles: Show Summaries in Queue; Show Images & Videos, which doesn't affect queue thumbnails; and Disable Article Links, which removes underlines and prevents accidental taps on links.
What is Text-to-Speech and how do I use it?
ArticleQ can read articles aloud. Open an article and tap the Play button in the toolbar, or choose "Play Audio" from the ••• menu. On Mac, click Listen in the action bar or press Space. A player bar appears with play and pause, skip back and forward 15 seconds, playback speed (0.5× to 2×), and a sleep timer (15, 30, or 45 minutes, 1 hour, or end of article). You can also control playback from the Lock Screen and Control Center. On Mac, use the Playback menu (⌥⌘P to play or pause). To choose a voice and adjust display options, go to Settings > Text-to-Speech. Display options include auto-scrolling, reading progress, and highlighting the sentence being spoken.
What voices are available?
Free Voices: Apple's built-in system voices, with no download required. To add more system voices, go to the Settings app > Accessibility > Read & Speak > Voices. Premium Voices (Premium): natural-sounding voices that run entirely on your device and need no internet connection during playback. Anyone can preview them in Settings > Text-to-Speech. Subscribers can download and select them right in the app. The first download is about 380 MB, and additional voices share the same base. You can turn on downloads over cellular, check for updates, or remove all downloaded voices in the same screen.
How do I create highlights?
While reading, select text by long-pressing and dragging, then tap the Highlight button that appears. To see an article's highlights, tap Highlights (in the ••• menu, or the toolbar on iPad). There you can add or edit a note on any highlight, and copy, share, or delete it. To export, choose "Export Highlights" from the Highlights menu and pick Markdown, JSON, or Plain Text, with or without notes. "Quick Export (Markdown)" exports in one tap.
Can I search within an article or export it?
Yes. Choose "Find in Article" from the ••• menu (⌘F on Mac) to search the text, with a match counter and next/previous buttons. To save or share an article, choose "Export…" from the ••• menu and pick Markdown, HTML, or Plain Text. You can include your highlights. "Open in Browser" opens the original page.
RSS Feeds
How do I subscribe to an RSS feed?
Go to the Feeds tab, tap "+", and choose "Add Feed". On Mac, choose File > Add Feed Subscription… (⇧⌘N). Enter a website or feed URL. Tap "Discover Feeds" to find the feeds a website offers, then tap one to subscribe. If you have a direct feed URL, tap "Add Directly" instead. You can also subscribe from the Safari Extension's "Feeds on this page" list. To bring in subscriptions from another reader, go to Settings > Feeds > Feed Preferences > Import OPML… (or share an OPML file to ArticleQ).
How do I organize feeds into lists?
In the Feeds tab, tap "+" and choose "New List". Give the list a name, description, icon, and color. You can also turn on Unified View (all items in one timeline) or notifications for that list. To add a feed to a list, long-press the feed and choose "Add to List", or open a list and tap "Add Feeds". Lists appear under My Lists. Deleting a list keeps its feeds.
How often are feeds refreshed?
Go to Settings > Feeds > Feed Preferences. Set the Auto-refresh Interval to Never, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1, 2, 6, 12, or 24 hours (the default is 1 hour). You can also turn on "Refresh on App Launch" and "Background Refresh". Background refresh pauses automatically in Low Power Mode. To refresh manually, pull down on the feed list (⌘R on Mac). Each feed can have its own Refresh Frequency, under Edit Feed: System Adaptive, Hourly, Every 6 Hours, Daily, or Manual Only.
How do I read and manage feed items?
Tap a feed item to read it, and use Previous and Next to move through the feed. To listen to an item, first save it to your Queue with "Save to Queue". Long-press an item to save it, open it in the browser, share it, or mark it read or unread. To mark many items, long-press a feed and choose "Mark All as Read" or "Mark Read Before…" (older than 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month). In Feed Preferences, "Keep Unread Articles" and "Keep Read Articles" control how long feed items are kept. To get alerts, turn on "Notify on New Items" for a feed in Edit Feed, and enable notifications in Settings > Notifications.
AI Features
What is AI Summary?
ArticleQ can generate concise summaries of articles entirely on your device. Open an article, choose "Summary" from the ••• menu, and tap "Generate Summary". Summaries are saved with the article, sync to your other devices, and are available offline. You can Regenerate, Copy, or Share a summary. On devices that support Apple Intelligence, ArticleQ uses Apple's on-device model. On other devices, it creates an extractive summary from the article's key sentences, so summaries work everywhere. To set the summary length (Brief, Standard, or Detailed), style (Paragraph, Bullet Points, or Numbered List), and focus, go to Settings > AI & Privacy. To show summaries in your queue, turn on Settings > Reader > Show Summaries in Queue.
How does Semantic Search work?
Semantic search finds articles based on meaning, not just keywords. Tap Search in the Queue toolbar (⇧⌘F on Mac) and type at least two characters, using either keywords or a natural-language phrase (for example, "articles about climate change"). ArticleQ automatically blends keyword and meaning-based results, so you find related articles even if they don't contain your exact words. Filter results by date, tag, favorites, or unread. Semantic search is controlled in Settings > AI & Privacy and requires the Apple Intelligence setting to be on. The search data is generated automatically in the background.
Can I find my articles in Spotlight?
Yes. Turn on Settings > AI & Privacy > "Index in System Search" to make your article titles, summaries, and tags searchable in Spotlight. It's off by default. Tapping a Spotlight result opens the article in ArticleQ.
iCloud Sync
How do I enable iCloud sync?
There's nothing to turn on. iCloud sync is always on as long as you're signed in to iCloud on your device (Settings > iCloud shows "Sync is always on"). If you're signed out of iCloud or out of iCloud storage, ArticleQ shows a banner explaining the problem. When you install ArticleQ on a new device, your library downloads automatically. A large library may take several minutes, so keep the app open while it shows "Restoring from iCloud".
What data is synced across devices?
These sync across your devices: articles and their content; tags and playlists; highlights and notes; AI summaries and search data; RSS feed subscriptions, lists, and feed items with their read state; reading and listening progress; and app preferences. These stay on each device: downloaded premium voices, Source Sign-Ins, local backups, and a few device-specific options, such as cellular downloads and private-network access.
What happens if I'm offline?
ArticleQ works offline. You can read and listen to any saved article, create highlights and notes, and browse feed items you've already downloaded. Premium voices also work offline once downloaded. A "You're offline" banner appears while you're disconnected, and your changes sync automatically when you reconnect. Articles you save from the Share Extension while offline are kept and imported when possible.
What happens if I switch Apple Accounts?
To keep each account's library separate, ArticleQ asks you to quit and reopen the app after the device's iCloud account changes. The previous account's library is set aside, not merged into the new one.
Data Management
How do I export my data?
To export your library, go to Settings > Data > Export Library. On Mac, it's Settings > Storage > Export Library…. This exports all your articles as a JSON file, including their text, summaries, highlights, notes, and tags. Save it to Files or share it via AirDrop, Mail, and so on. To export your feed subscriptions, go to Settings > Feeds > Feed Preferences > Export OPML (or File > Export OPML… on Mac). You can also export a single article (••• > Export…) or an article's highlights from its Highlights view.
How do I back up and restore my library?
ArticleQ keeps automatic backups on this device, up to five snapshots. To make one now, go to Settings > Data > Restore from Backup and tap "Create Backup Now". To restore, choose a snapshot there, confirm, and then quit and reopen ArticleQ. Your current library is saved first and listed under "Undo a Restore", so you can switch back if needed.
How do I manage storage?
Go to Settings > Storage > Manage Storage to see how much space ArticleQ uses. Under Free Up Space, Clear Cache removes cached thumbnails, site icons, voice previews, and web data. Clear Archived Articles removes archived articles not modified in over 30 days. Clear Old Feed Items removes items older than your retention limit; items saved to your queue aren't affected. ArticleQ warns you if local or iCloud storage runs low. To remove downloaded premium voices, go to Settings > Text-to-Speech > Storage.
How do I delete all my data?
Go to Settings > Data > Delete All Data (on Mac, Settings > Storage > Delete All Data…). This removes all articles, feeds and feed items, highlights, tags, playlists, and local backups. Type DELETE to confirm. Your app settings and subscription aren't affected. Because your library syncs through iCloud, the deletion also applies on your other devices. Warning: this action cannot be undone.
What does ArticleQ Premium include?
Premium adds Premium Voices and Playlists. Reading, syncing, summaries, search, and text-to-speech with the free voices stay free. To subscribe, restore purchases, or manage your subscription, go to Settings > Account > Subscription.
Troubleshooting
Why won't an article parse correctly?
Some articles may not parse well because of paywall protection, JavaScript-heavy websites, or non-standard HTML. ArticleQ shows a notice in the article when it detects a paywall or incomplete content, with an "Open in Safari" button. For sites you subscribe to, go to Settings > Library > Source Sign-Ins and sign in to the publisher. ArticleQ and the Share Extension can then save the full article. Saving from Safari with the Safari Extension also captures content you can see while signed in. To retry articles that failed to parse, pull down on the Queue, or click Refresh (⌘R) on Mac.
Why aren't my feeds updating?
Check these common issues. Verify your internet connection. Make sure the Auto-refresh Interval isn't set to Never, and that the feed's own Refresh Frequency isn't Manual Only. Remember that background refresh pauses in Low Power Mode. Open Settings > Feeds > Feed Preferences > Feed Health, which lists feeds that are possibly broken, never fetched, or dormant; you can unsubscribe from them there. If your feeds come from a self-hosted server on your home network, turn on "Allow Private Network Addresses" in Feed Preferences. Some feeds update infrequently by design.
Why can't I play an article with a premium voice?
Premium voices require an active Premium subscription and a one-time download in Settings > Text-to-Speech. Free users can still preview them. If your subscription has lapsed, downloaded voices show as Locked until you resubscribe. You can switch back to a free voice at any time.
How do I report a problem?
Go to Settings > About > Report a Bug. Describe the issue and optionally include diagnostic logs and device info, which have URLs and file paths removed. You can preview the report before sending it. If Mail isn't set up on your device, tap "Copy Report" and email it to support@asymmetric.enterprises.