💡 WiseUp! Vol. 65 — The social life of books, your own Wikipedia, and how to export to Capacities
This week, we're featuring a piece about how books went from being the most solitary activity in the world to the reason strangers are meeting up in cafes, parks, and wine bars.
We’re also showing you how to create your own Wikiwise, following a guide from our co-founder, Tristan.
On the app side, we've added direct OPML sharing to Reader on iOS and a new view in mobile for browsing your highlights by tag. Read on for all the details or check out our log of weekly improvements.
Before we get into the tips…
📍 Let's start with a reading recommendation
The social life of books, and what it says about attention
Kait, our research lead, sent over this piece on how reading is becoming more social. A shift we've been thinking about a lot. 🤭 "What was once private is becoming social. The book is no longer just an object to consume; it’s a reason to gather, a way of showing what matters to you and connecting with others who share that passion."
From the support inbox
Have questions about using Readwise or Reader in your workflow? We'd love to be your guide! Reply to this email with your question and you might be featured in an upcoming issue. Even if your question isn’t featured, we’ll respond to every message.
❓ A Readwise question from Andrew P:
Can I export my highlights to Capacities?
Keep your best highlights organized in Capacities by sending selected Readwise documents there when you need them. You can connect Readwise from the capacities settings, then sync a document by tagging it capacities in Readwise or importing it from Capacities. New highlights added to already-synced documents will be added there too.
❓ A Reader question from Georgios K:
Can I edit and customize the PDF metadata for titles when they’re incorrect?
If a document title looks off, it’s usually coming from messy metadata behind the scenes. You can change it anytime by opening the Info sidebar and selecting Edit Metadata, or using Shift + M. It’s a handy way to keep your documents labeled in a way that actually makes sense to you.
📖 New help doc of the week
Highlight tag views have come to mobile in Reader
Tag now, browse later… even on mobile! If you’re tired of needing to switch to Readwise to browse your tagged highlights on mobile, this update is for you. With tagged highlight lists now available in the Reader app, Cayla updated the docs to show how to peruse and revisit highlights by tag wherever you are.
🎬 New video of the week
A Wikipedia just for you
In case you missed it, you can now create your own personal Wiki with clusters of knowledge, intelligently pulled from your Readwise highlights. Here’s how.
📰 Apr 18 - Apr 24 updates
What's new in Reader and Readwise
📥 NEW! OPML Import via Share Sheet — Arek added direct OPML sharing to Reader on iOS. If you're moving from another RSS or podcast app, you can now export your subscriptions as OPML and share them straight to Reader without needing to swap to a computer for the upload.
🏷️ NEW! Tagged Highlights List — Mati added a new view in Reader mobile for browsing your highlights grouped by tag, making it easier to revisit everything you've marked with a specific label.
🟡 Fixed Duplicate Highlights — Artem fixed a bug where EPUB documents were generating duplicate highlights in some cases. Highlights should now only save once.
🔐 Fixed iOS Share Sheet Login — Tristan fixed a regression where the iOS share sheet told users to "Log in to Readwise Reader" even when they were already signed in. You can now share links into Reader from iOS without the false login prompt.
📡 Fixed Feed Sidebar — Tristan fixed two Reader iOS regressions caused by a recent upgrade: the RSS folder chevron was rotated wrong, and the Feed row in the sidebar wasn't rendering. Both are back in place.
✨ Fixed Reader Onboarding — Artem restored the share-onboarding image and fixed icon alignment on Reader's onboarding screen, both of which had regressed after a recent change. New users should see a clean onboarding flow again.
👆 Fixed Highlight Tap — Adam fixed a bug where tapping a highlight caused the annotation bar to flash on and off. Highlight taps should now feel steadier.
🛜 Parsing Updates — Krzys improved how Reader handles documents from thurrott.com and howtogeek.com, tightened custom-domain mapping to avoid false positives, and made Reader's parser more reliable on long-running sessions.
👍 Three featured finds from the CX team
From CX specialist Romi
Something to read 📖
Romi is close to finishing Famesick by Lena Dunham, a raw, introspective memoir about addiction, the cost of fame, and how narcissistic patterns can develop over time. Dunham tracks her rise from selling the Girls pilot to the present in three acts, and what emerges is a genuinely uncomfortable look at what happens when ambition, chronic illness, and an endless supply of drugs collide. Time for a Girls rewatch!
Something to focus 🌶️
Romi has been putting Lao Gan Ma on everything and it's saving her serious time in the kitchen. With cucumbers, red onions, and cilantro it becomes a fresh salad in minutes. Mixed with sour cream over crispy smashed potatoes, it's an incredible side dish. A jar of this is basically a kitchen cheat code.
Something to unwind 👽
Romi is watching Margo's Got Money Troubles on Apple TV+ and loving it. A fun, witty story that follows a single mom (Elle Fanning) discovering how far she's willing to go to provide for her son. The cast is stacked (Michelle Pfeiffer, Nick Offerman, Nicole Kidman) and it's sitting at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Convinced yet?
💬 From the Readwise group chat
Let Earth spell out your name
Angie shared with us this fun website by NASA, and of course we tried it with our names, our pets' names and...
Warmly,
the Readwise customer support team