The iPad, no matter which model you get, is a highly useful reading device. In the age of the Internet, you can read on the iPad much like you read a book, magazine or newspaper. And since the release of the device, hundreds of reader apps have been developed that help users archive and manage a plethora of reading material made available for download, nonstop.

One of the classic reading apps for the iPad and iPhone is Instapaper, which still shines above all others for its unique tilt scrolling and page flipping features. This well-designed app is supported by dozens of other iOS magazine and RSS feed reader apps like Zite, Flipboard, and NewsRack, which enable you to save selected articles to your Instapaper account for later reading.

The User Interface

Marco Arment, the developer of Instapaper, has constantly improved upon his app’s user interface, not only to make it easier to use, but to make it stylishly attractive. There is nothing amateur about this app. Even the available font styles—including Elena, Lyon, Meta, and Dyslexie—(some of which are not even available in the Mac OS X system) were carefully chosen for distinct reading purposes.

Downloaded content to the app is presented in two columns, including the title and lead paragraph for each article. Selected content opens in a distraction-free reader format which strips web pages of surrounding ads and other unnecessary images.

In the menu bar, the font style and size for web pages can be quickly changed, as well as the margins and line spacing. The selected backgrounds including white, sepia, and black for nighttime reading.

In the most recent update of Instapaper, the developer added what is called, Automatic Dark Mode. When enabled, this setting uses location data to change the brightness of the app according to the time of day. So you can enable it to use for example Twilight Sepia which changes the background to a subtle sepia tint in the morning and evening, before switching to dark mode at night. No other app that I know of has this kind of user convenience.

Tilt Scrolling Feature

The classic tilt scrolling feature, when enabled for each article, slowly scrolls the webpage down as you tilt the iPad slightly backwards from its original position. This is another feature that performs a user action so that you don’t have to.

In the app’s Settings you get the option to put Tilt Scrolling in reverse mode.

Other Features

Now in its 4th version, Instapaper includes several other handy features for archiving and organizing downloaded webpages and sharing them to social networking sites, as well as other iOS apps including Tweetbot, GoodReader, Chrome, and Atomic Web Browser.

Instapaper also includes its own social networking feature which allows you to browse and read articles posted by your contacts on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr. In addition, there’s a list of Editor’s Picks curated from the Instapaper community’s most-saved articles.

The app also includes a built-in web browser from which articles can be saved to your account.

You can download up to 500 articles from your iPad and iPhone to your Instapaper account. It is one of the most recommended apps for these devices, and it has received high customer ratings since it was first released.

If you are long time iPad user, you no doubt already use Instapaper, so let us know what you think of it. If you’re a new user of the iPad, definitely check out Instapaper.