Browsing a Flash-based website on your iOS device, and want to send it to your Mac? If you have an iCloud account, it’s easy to use Safari’s Reading List to swap links between your Mac and your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.
• Format: MPEG-4/H.264
• Resolution: 480 x 272 (iPhone & iPod compatible)
• Size: 5.1 MB
• Length: 1 minute, 48 seconds
Show Notes
Safari’s Reading List was introduced with iOS 5 and Safari 5. To sync Reading List links, you need to have an iCloud account, which you can create for free from a Mac running OS X Lion or from an iOS device running iOS 5 or later.
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Show transcript
It’s easy enough to sync your Mac’s email, contacts, calendars, photos, and even bookmarks with your iOS device, but what if you want to transfer something more immediate—like the current website on your Mac? Hi, I’m Macworld staff editor Serenity Caldwell, and I’m here with this week’s video tip to show you how to use Safari Reading List to quickly exchange links between your Mac and your iOS device.
Before you do anything, you’ll need to be logged into iCloud on both your Mac and your iOS device. (If you don’t have an iCloud account, you can create one for free.) Also, you’ll want to make sure the Sync Bookmarks option is checked (or, on your iOS device, toggled on).
With Safari 5, Apple debuted Reading List, a feature that allows you to save the links to articles you’d like to read, but don’t have the time for. You can also use this feature to pass links back and forth from your Mac to your iOS device, and vice versa. On your Mac, open Safari and surf the Web. When you need to switch to your iOS device, just navigate to Bookmarks -> Add To Reading List, and the page will appear in a column along the left-hand side.
From here, it’s as simple as waiting a few seconds, opening Safari on your iOS device, and tapping the Bookmarks icon on the bottom toolbar. Tap on Reading List, and your link should be right at the top. Tap it to open the page.
On an iOS device, you can also do the reverse. When you’re on a page you’d like to send to the desktop, tap the Action button, and then tap Add To Reading List. On your Mac, open Safari and click the glasses icon in the toolbar (or View -> Show Reading List), and click the new link. Voilà!
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