How to subscribe to websites with Safari’s Shared Links

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Apple’s Safari browser has a little known yet very useful feature called Shared Links, which basically saves in one central place links to articles that your Twitter followers and LinkedIn contacts post, and those published as RSS feeds.

Most websites, iDownloadBlog included, offer a series of regularly published articles in the form of RSS feeds that can be subscribed to in Safari so that they appear within your Shared Links section.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to subscribe to articles from websites using the Shared Links feature in Safari for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Mac.

In my personal opinion, Shared Links is a much better way of staying on top of news than subscribing to Safari’s Push Notifications from websites, which most people are reluctant to do in order to avoid having alerts pushed to their Notification Center every time subscribed websites publish articles.

As a bonus, you can keep scrolling when you reach the end of an article in Shared Links to view the next shared story, as opposed to having to select it manually.

How to subscribe to websites with Shared Links in Safari for iOS

Step 1: Open Safari on your iOS device.

Step 2: Navigate to a website you’d like to subscribe to.

Step 3: Tap on any article.

Step 4: Long-tap Safari’s Bookmarks button.

Step 5: Choose Add to Shared Links in the menu. You’ll be prompted that this will add articles from the website to Shared Links, as seen on the screenshot below.

iOS 9 Safari Add to Shared Links iPhone screenshot 001

Tip: You must be on an actual article page, not on the homepage, in order for this handy shortcut to work.

You can also navigate to an article and select Add to Shared Links from the Share menu, then confirm by tapping Add to Shared Links, though long-tapping the bookmarks icon is quicker.

iOS 9 Safari Add to Shared Links iPhone screenshot 004

As mentioned, you cannot add a website to Shared Links directly from its homepage, by long-tapping Safari’s Bookmarks button, or through the Share menu. Instead, in your Safari bookmarks tap on the Shared Links button (@), hit Subscriptions and then choose Add Current Site at the bottom of the interface.

iOS 9 Safari Add to Shared Links iPhone screenshot 003

To remove RSS feeds you have subscribed to, choose Subscriptions and then tap the minus sign, or click the X sign in Safari for Mac located next to the item you wish to remove from Shared Links.

iOS 9 Safari Add to Shared Links iPhone screenshot 002

How to subscribe to websites with Shared Links in Safari for Mac

Step 1: Open Safari on your Mac.

Step 2: Navigate to a website you’d like to subscribe to.

Step 3: Click Share in Safari’s toolbar and choose Add Website to Shared Links, then confirm by clicking Add.

OS X El Capitan Safari Add to Shared Links Mac screenshot 004

Tip: Unlike in Safari for iOS, adding websites to Shared Links in Safari for Mac works from both the homepage and article pages.

You can also add a website to Shared Links by clicking Safari’s Sidebar button in the toolbar. Next, click the Shared Links button (@) and then hit the Subscriptions button found at the bottom of the interface.

OS X El Capitan Safari Add to Shared Links Mac screenshot 002

A list of RSS feeds and links shared by your contacts on Twitter and LinkedIn appears. Now click the Add Feed button located at the bottom of the Feeds section.

OS X El Capitan Safari Add to Shared Links Mac screenshot 001

Safari will offer to add the website you’re currently browsing to your Shared Links. Click the Add Feed button to finish, or click Cancel to decline the subscription.

You shall now start receiving articles from the website in Shared Links.

If you don’t see the option to add a website to Shared Links in Safari on your iOS device or Mac, the page you’re viewing doesn’t offer a feed you can subscribe to.

On the Mac, you can search your Shared Links by entering text in the search field above the list of links. You may have to scroll up to see the search field. Searching Shared Links isn’t supported in Safari for iOS.

Learn about other Safari tricks like this by checking out our Safari how-to archive.

Please pass this article to your friends and share it on social media. You can submit your how-to ideas at tips@iDownloadBlog.com.