Instapaper makes its premium features available for free

Instapaper has announced its biggest update yet since Pinterest acquired it in August: the read-it-later app is making its premium features available for free. The service used to offer a set of special features for $3 a month or $30 a year, but it's now opening up the tier to everyone.

Starting today, you'll have access to all the goodies only paying subscribers were able to enjoy even if you've never spent a cent on the app. Those include full-text search for all articles, unlimited notes, unlimited speed reading, text-to-speech playlists, "send to Kindle" via bookmarklet and mobile apps, as well as Kindle Digests of up to 50 articles. You'll also be able to browse Instapaper's website with absolutely no ads.

When Pinterest snapped up both the service and the team behind it, the company said it wouldn't kill the standalone Instapaper app. Hopefully, this means the application will live on. In case you're a Premium user, though, don't worry -- the team says they're sending out prorated refunds to customers in the coming weeks.