Pocket for iPad, the app formerly know as Read It Later, was updated yesterday – the same day as its closest rival, Instapaper. The new version number is 4.1 and it’s a substantial update for Pocket.

Here’s the full change list:

New Article View Features:
- Swipe left or right to enable Page Flipping to read one page at a time
- Improved Dark theme and new Sepia theme with a focus on contrast and readability
- Increased maximum font size
Plus:
- Dark Theme throughout the app so you can use it comfortably at night
- Automatic detection of URLs copied to the clipboard so they can be added directly to Pocket
- Support for additional video sites, including TED and Devour
Fixes:
- Fixed a case where items in the list would become untappable
- Fixed a case where only partial lists would load
- Fixed a number of crashes and other minor bugs

I’ve been using both Pocket and Instapaper – and I have to say I’m very impressed with this update for Pocket. In particular, I like the way that switching between scrolling mode and page flipping mode is a little more seamless in Pocket. It changes as soon as you make either a swipe (left or right) or a scrolling gesture.

Pocket and Instapaper are both superb offline reading app – this is one of those categories where we are spoiled for choice on the iPad – and it’s great to see the developers of both apps continuously improving  them.

Here’s an App Store link for Pocket; it’s a free app.