In the last six months, I've been cleaning up and deep-sleeping redundant apps on my phone.

One of these apps is Instapaper. I like using reader apps to keep my eyes from squinting when viewing up close; it's been a great experience.

Lately, I have had some problems with Instapaper that have led me away from it — archiving web pages hasn't been as instantaneous or smooth.

That's when I started gravitating toward immediate options on my — Chrome's built-in reading mode.

Instapaper and Chrome's reading mode remove distractions

No digital clutter on my favorite web pages

I don't have to worry about ads, video embeds, and random pop-ups getting in the way of reading.

Apps like Instapaper, Readwise, and function similarly. They strip web pages down to display only the core text and images.

These apps let you bookmark content to read or listen to later.

Plus, if you use a dedicated e-reader or read on Kindle, you can send saved articles to those devices (from Instapaper).

Then, my absolute favorite is having text-to-speech playlists (happy this became free) so I can still enjoy consuming content without gluing my eyes to a screen.

All was well and good with Instapaper until I found myself using it less and less due to its performance.

Some websites are trickier to parse because of heavy JavaScript use, but the longer it takes to build my reading library, the less patient I get.

I thought to myself. I already love Chrome's built-in reading mode; it doesn't feel sluggish, and I can tab-hop between websites while toggling reading mode on and off on my phone — if a website doesn't load properly, I don't use reading mode.

I also don't just use it for reading; I use it for research.

While I love staying up to date on the latest happenings from Samsung, Google, and Apple, I also like to pin helpful articles to my tab groups.

Sometimes, even then, my reading becomes more like exploring — I go from web page to web page, opening new links within them.

Ideally, I would prefer being immersed, not having to go back and forth between apps to read uncluttered text.

It also helps that I am more fond of Chrome's font customization, simply because it's simpler.

I can make the text bigger when I want to lie down and relax without holding my phone close to my face, and I can also change the style and background color without ruining the web page.

Instapaper does a pretty good job with its stylization options, but I don't use some of the extra options, like Justify text and , inside the app.

A big reason I am moving on from Instapaper is that I am much more of a chaotic reader than I used to be.

I don't see myself spending time curating a digital library of web pages like I may have a year ago, when I was a lot more active with the app.

So it's not like Instapaper is a bad app; it's still really good — just my approach has changed.

Chrome's reading mode can 'sort of' be used offline

You just need to plan ahead of time

Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police

One concern about switching from Instapaper to Chrome's built-in reading mode is using it offline.

This upcoming weekend, I'm going to lose power, and I like spending weekends catching up on major news stories.

My weekend routine is to wake up and spend the day reading online tech and gaming news while enjoying a cup of tea.

That's why I want to have offline access. Instapaper handles this easily, since you only need to connect to the app initially to sync your content.

Anything saved in the app can be accessed offline.

Chrome's reading mode isn't as smooth; you need to keep articles locally in the cache or save them to your reading list.

I save mine to the reading list instead of relying on leaving them open.

You need to open the tab when you're online, tap the Three-dot icon, and tap the to bookmark it.

Then I tap from the more menu (the menu that opens from the three-dot icon).

To manage bookmarks for offline reading, I tap the next to it and choose Move to > Reading list.

From there, you can open them in a tab and use Chrome's reading mode.

You can also download the article, but you lose the reading mode perks.

Downloading the full web page is more reliable for offline use, but for now, since I don't normally lose power at home (I have mobile data), using the reading list is totally fine (I prefer the organization like Instapaper has).

Instapaper's offline viewing is more straightforward, since every time you share it to the app, it saves it as an offline version.

It's not a feature I rely on often, meaning I am not too worried about the trade-offs from Chrome's reading mode for offline use.

But if I find myself without a network too often, that's when Instapaper makes an active return to my phone and routine.

Other notable e-reading tools and resources

Chrome's reading mode and Instapaper are great for reading web pages.

If you're rocking a tablet or a bigger phone, you might want to consider a solid free e-book reader app for Android and an e-reader, mainly because these apps offer more eye-comfort options than a standard reading mode app does.

Then, when you run out of content to read, . It lets you borrow reading materials from your local library — completely free.