How to Read Paywalled Articles on iPhone and Android
Half of all paywall hits happen on a phone. Here is the quickest way to open a locked article in a clean reader on iOS or Android, including a one-tap bookmark trick.
Paywall behaviour last tested
Most people meet a paywall on their phone: a link in a group chat, a tap from a social feed, a tweet quoting the first paragraph. Half of the visitors to this site are on mobile, and the flow on a phone is fiddlier than on a desktop because copying and pasting a URL takes several taps. This guide shows the fastest way to open a locked article in a clean reader on iOS and Android, plus a one-tap shortcut you can set up in a minute.
The basic method on any phone
- In the article you cannot read, tap the address bar (Safari) or the three-dot menu (Chrome) and choose Copy or Share, then Copy link.
- Open skipthepaywall.com in a new tab.
- Tap the box, tap Paste and press Read Article.
The article opens in a mobile-friendly reader view: no ads, no pop-ups, no autoplaying video, just the text and its photographs. On a phone on mobile data this is usually faster than the original page.
The one-tap shortcut: a reader bookmark
You can skip the copy-and-paste by saving a bookmark that sends whatever page you are on to the reader. It uses the reader's direct link format, which is:
skipthepaywall.com/read?url=ARTICLE-LINK
On iPhone (Safari)
- Bookmark any page (tap Share, then Add Bookmark) and name it "Skip Paywall".
- Open Bookmarks, tap Edit, tap the new bookmark, and replace the address with the line below, then save.
- Now, on any locked article, open Bookmarks and tap "Skip Paywall". The current page opens in the reader.
The address to paste in:
javascript:location.href='https://www.skipthepaywall.com/read?url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)
On Android (Chrome)
- Bookmark any page and give it the name "Skip Paywall".
- Open Bookmarks, tap the three-dot menu next to it, choose Edit, and replace the URL with the same javascript line above.
- On a locked article, tap the address bar, type "Skip Paywall" and tap the bookmark from the suggestions. Chrome on Android only runs bookmarklets from the address bar, not from the bookmarks list.
Using the share sheet
If you would rather not edit bookmarks, both platforms let you share a link straight into the reader:
- iPhone: on the article, tap Share, then tap Safari or Chrome in the app row, then paste into the reader box.
- Android: tap Share, choose Chrome, and paste. Some Android launchers also let you share directly to a website shortcut on your home screen; adding skipthepaywall.com to the home screen from Chrome's menu makes it one tap away.
Which sites this works on
The reader works on any site with a metered or freemium paywall, which covers most magazines and regional newspapers: The New Yorker, Time and Fortune, Business Insider, Medium, The Boston Globe, The Times and many more. It does not work on hard paywalls such as the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal; our post on sites that cannot be bypassed explains why and what to do instead.
Reading in the reader view
The reader is a plain page, so everything your phone can normally do works: pinch to zoom, Safari's own reader mode for a serif font, the share button to send the clean version to someone else, and "Add to Reading List" to save it for later. There is no app to install and nothing to sign up for.
Try it with an article
Paste the URL of an article from Medium and read it in a clean reader view. Free, instant, no signup.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a Skip the Paywall app for iPhone or Android?
No, and there does not need to be. The site works in any mobile browser, and a bookmarklet or home-screen shortcut makes it a single tap from any article.
Why does the bookmarklet not appear in Chrome on Android?
Chrome on Android only runs javascript bookmarks from the address bar. Start typing the bookmark name in the address bar and tap it from the suggestions rather than opening it from the bookmarks list.
Does the reader work in the Twitter, Facebook or Instagram in-app browser?
The reader site itself does, but copying a link from an in-app browser is awkward. Tap the three-dot or share icon in the in-app browser, choose "Open in browser" first, then copy the link from there.