My introduction to Stoop - The Best Way to Manage Your Newsletter Subscriptions
So, a post after a very long break! A lot has changed in the personal and professional front, I'll be sharing the stories, and I'll try to keep this blog alive from now on. After all, it is my identity :)
With that said, let's jump into the story:
Backstory:
I consume a lot of information - blogs, newsletters (paid and free), books, Quora, Reddit, magazines, podcasts, audiobooks -you name it, I'll be using it.
Given the number of sources involved, I'm always in the lookout for ways to aggregate information so that I have fewer apps to check. I use Pocket for my read-it-later list, Twitter/Facebook/WhatsApp/Telegram for bookmarking (in addition to Pocket), Pocket Casts for Podcasts, and Audible for audiobooks. Newsletters remained the darkhorse as it was difficult to consolidate them under a single app. I no longer wanted them on my primary email, as it was causing a lot of clutter.
I tried various apps before using Stoop. I used self-hosted FreshRSS for a while, but the interface wasn't to my liking, and there was no mobile app to go along. I tried Feedbin for a while, but it was expensive for what it was doing, and the UX wasn't that great either. I tried using a myriad of other services before settling on a dedicated Gmail account just for newsletters. It worked for a while. But I still felt the UX was missing and wasn't comfortable using it.
My Introduction to Stoop:
I then came across this twitter thread thanks to my friend Adi Patil quoting it. I wasn't alone!
What's better? Someone had recommended Stoop in one of the replies, which triggered some memories. I had checked out the app long ago, but for some reason, I didn't go with it and had forgotten about it.
I decided to give it a shot this time and signed up. I fell in love almost instantly because it was closer to my expectations than all the other apps (yeah apparently I have tall expectations so I can never find the perfect app :()
I loved it so much that I went for the Premium subscription within a few minutes of signing up for the free app. Let's dig into some of the features I personally love:
Stoop Features:
Dedicated email address: A no-brainer really. Offering a dedicated email address is a must-have feature for any newsletter/content aggregation service as email newsletter are still in vogue and makes it far easier to aggregate content from this source
Pocket integration: Remember how I mentioned I use Pocket? Well, Stoop makes it easy for me to save newsletters to Pocket, and I use it to save articles for re-read later or for reference.
Folders: I can organize my email newsletters into folders, taking my organization game one level further.
Curated Lists: A hidden gem of Stoop and probably the USP that other apps I explored did not have. The app has a curated list of email newsletters, which makes it easy to find exciting newsletters to subscribe to.
Stoop goes a step further and tries its best to make subscribing to these letters as easy as possible, which is commendable.
Other Features I Haven't Explored:
Discussions: I believe you can use Discussions feature to share articles with other Stoop users and start a discussion. I love the social element, but I don't see myself using it anytime soon unless my tiny circle of friends also begin using the app.
Mail from self: Another feature I haven't explored yet but would love to use in the future. You can send emails to your Stoop email address from your personal email and read it later. Emails would be categorized under Mail from self folder, and you can add more than one email address here.
Videos: Oh, did you think that the app is just for email newsletters? Well, think again. You can also add links to YouTube Channels and watch videos from inside the app. I'm yet to explore this option as I'm not a big fan of videos unless it's a movie or a TV series.
Having used Stoop for a little over a week now, I must say I'm impressed with the thoughtfulness that has gone into it - be it with the Pocket integration or the Curated Lists, it's designed to be a complete aggregator service with great UX, and I'm loving it!
If you are having the same problem as I did, I recommend you check out Stoop. The Premium version is worth the $10 per year price (that's just 2 - 2.5 coffees) (Rs. 850/year if you are in India) as it saves a lot of time.
PS: I love tinkering with products and would be writing about more products in the days to come. Please let me know how I can make this blog more useful by tweeting at me in X/Twitter - @_glnarayanan