Paid News Articles
Some news sites show the full article only to subscribers. If you subscribe to one of the publishers below, Social Archiver can save the full article through your own subscription instead of only the headline and summary.
| Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|
| The New York Times | Your NYT account also unlocks The Athletic. Saves Reader Picks comments and video pages |
| Financial Times | Articles saved to your account get the top reader comment threads with replies |
| The Wall Street Journal | |
| Bloomberg | |
| The Economist | Gift links also need you to sign in |
| Longblack (롱블랙) | Listed under Publisher accounts when the app language is Korean |
Without signing in
Our server can only see the public page, which for these sites stops at the paywall. Instead of saving the opening paragraphs as if they were the whole article, it saves a link note: the title, a short summary, and a link to the original.
When you later save the same article in full from any app, the same item is replaced with the full text. You don't get a second copy.
If you share a paid article through a public link, the public page shows only the title, a short summary, and the original link, never the article body.
Ways to save the full article
| Where | How |
|---|---|
| Mobile app (iPhone and Android) | Sign in under Settings → Publisher accounts, then share or open articles as usual |
| iPhone Safari | Sign in to the site in Safari, then use the share sheet or the Safari extension |
| Browser extension | Sign in to the site in Chrome or Firefox, then Clip the article |
| Desktop app (Mac) | Its Safari extension clips the same way as the browser extension |
Your password and cookies never leave your device or browser. Social Archiver only receives the article you save.
Recommended account setup
Use a plain email and password
Sign-in works most reliably with an account that:
- signs in with an email and password, not through Google, Apple, or Facebook (single sign-on). Google sign-in doesn't work in the app's sign-in window.
- doesn't use two-step verification (2FA). A code step can stop the sign-in partway through in the app's window, and you sign in again whenever the site's session expires.
If your subscription was created with Google or Apple sign-in, check whether the publisher's account page lets you add a password, then use that email and password in the app.
If you'd rather keep two-step verification on, you can still try signing in. If it stops partway through, save articles with the browser extension or iPhone Safari instead, where you sign in through the normal browser.
Mobile app
Connect a publisher
- Open Settings → Publisher accounts.
- Tap the publisher. Its sign-in page opens inside the app.
- Sign in with your email and password, then tap Done. The row shows Connected.
The session stays in the device's built-in browser. Tapping a connected row lets you Sign in again or Disconnect.
Share an article
Share a paid article to Social Archiver from any app, or paste its link into the app.
- It's saved first as a link note (title, summary, and original link), so it's in your library right away.
- When you open the app, it loads the article in the background with your session and replaces that item with the full text. A Saving the full article from … notice appears, and the sync icon at the top spins until it finishes.
A gift link from The New York Times, Bloomberg, or Longblack is saved in full even if you haven't connected that publisher.
One article at a time
To keep publishers from blocking your connection, the app loads one article at a time, at least 20 seconds apart, and at most 10 per publisher per hour. If a site shows a block page, the app pauses that publisher for an hour. If you share many articles at once, they fill in gradually while the app is open.
Open links inside archived posts
When an archived post links to a publisher you've connected (or to a gift link), tapping the link opens the article inside the app instead of the browser.
- While the page loads, you see the title of the link you tapped and a loading bar.
- When the full article is showing, tap Save full article.
- If the site asks you to prove you're not a robot, tap Verify, finish the check on that screen, then save.
- If the page shows only a preview, sign in on that screen, then save.
An article you save this way becomes a linked archive of the post you opened it from. The link in that post shows as connected, and tapping it opens the saved article.
Disconnect
Tap the connected row, then Disconnect. That publisher's articles go back to being saved as link notes, and only that site's cookies are cleared from the built-in browser.
iPhone: Safari
If you're signed in to the site in Safari, send the article with the share sheet or the Safari extension. The full article is saved directly, without a link note first.
New York Times comments are not attached when you save from Safari. Save from inside the app if you want them.
Browser extension
Sign in to the site in Chrome or Firefox, open the article, and Clip it (see Web Clipping).
- Preview only: if you aren't signed in and the page shows only the subscriber preview, the side panel shows a one-line notice. If the article is already in your library, it's left as it is. Otherwise a link note is created, and the note field is hidden.
- The New York Times: the comment panel opens and closes briefly while the extension reads the top 25 Reader Picks.
- The Economist, Bloomberg, WSJ: only the article body is saved. On Bloomberg, the next article that loads as you scroll is left out.
- The Athletic: the Daily Pick'em prediction cards in the middle of articles are left out.
- Longblack: only the note is saved, without the recommended notes list. Coffee chat replies are attached as comments.
What's included
- New York Times comments: up to 25 Reader Picks with the article's total comment count (for example, "25 of 304"). Saved from the mobile app and the browser extension.
- New York Times videos: video pages are saved with the description, byline, and video instead of a title-only link note. Videos of 5 minutes or less are saved at 720p.
- Financial Times comments: articles saved to your account get the 20 most-liked reader comment threads, with replies.
- Author photo: when an article has a single author, their photo is used as the author picture.
- Article images: for web articles saved since November 3, 2026, the images in the article body are kept as copies on our server. The mobile and desktop apps show the copies, so images stay even if the publisher changes or removes them.
In Obsidian
With the Obsidian plugin 4.10.12 or later, a link note is replaced with the full article on the next sync, once you save the same article in full anywhere. Notes that already have the full text, and notes from other sites, aren't touched.
From plugin 4.10.13, the article's body images are downloaded into your vault, into the same media folder as the lead image, and the note's image links point to the local files. Images that can't be downloaded keep their original links. Nothing is downloaded when Download media is set to Text only.
Troubleshooting
Articles are still saved as a headline and summary
The site's session has probably expired. Open Settings → Publisher accounts, tap the publisher, and choose Sign in again. The app also shows a Sign in button when it finds you signed out.
Google sign-in doesn't work
Google doesn't allow sign-in inside app windows. Sign in with an email and password (see Recommended account setup).
"Access is temporarily restricted"
The publisher has temporarily blocked your connection. The app stops loading that publisher for an hour. Don't retry repeatedly; wait and try again later.
Some shared articles are still link notes
The app fills them in one at a time with a pause between each. Keep the app open for a while, and they'll update one by one.