Common questions.

et al. is a Safari extension for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Highlight text on a web page, add notes, and find everything in your private Library. Search across pages, organize with folders and tags, and filter by color. Export highlights and notes as Markdown or CSV, or create a citation.

I made et al. with researchers, students, and writers in mind, but it works for anyone who wants to save what they read and come back to it.

et al. is made by et al Labs, a small independent studio I run in Baltimore. I have a background in human-centered computing and product design, and et al. is the tool I use every day. You can read more on the story page.

et al. means and others. Writers use it in academic citations when a citation does not spell out every author’s name. The name felt right for a tool about writing in the margins of what you read. The words and others matter to me, too. I want et al Labs to make research tools that more people can access and use.

et al. is free to download and use. et al. Pro is an optional $9.99 one-time purchase that works on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. There are no subscriptions.

No. et al. is free forever. Free includes highlights and notes without plan limits, folders and tags, search, iCloud Sync, Markdown, Obsidian, and CSV exports, print, backup and restore, and one-source APA and MLA citations. et al. Pro adds Chicago and IEEE citations, multi-source bibliographies, BibTeX, RIS, CSL-JSON, Ask on supported devices, and four additional highlight colors.

Yes. A single et al. Pro purchase covers Mac, iPhone, and iPad. If you reinstall et al. or move to another device using the same Apple Account, choose Restore purchases in the app.

Ask requires Apple Intelligence on a supported device running iOS 26, iPadOS 26, or macOS 26 or later. If Ask is unavailable, the rest of et al. still works, including Chicago and IEEE citations, multi-source bibliography exports, and the four additional Pro colors.

A regular highlighter only adds color to text on a page. et al. also saves the passage, note, color, and source in a Library you can search and organize. Free includes one-source APA and MLA citations.

Yes. Open your Library, choose Import from other apps, and pick a supported CSV, Markdown, or JSON file. Preview what et al. will add before anything changes. It reads the file on your device and skips duplicates automatically. See moving your highlights to et al. for the steps from Readwise, Hypothes.is, Obsidian, and other apps.

Yes, with an RIS download. Turn on Highlights and Notes on the source card before you download, and each highlight, with its note, comes into Zotero as a child note under the reference. BibTeX and CSL-JSON downloads stay reference-only. Copying an APA or MLA citation for one source, with your highlights and notes, is free. RIS downloads are part of et al. Pro.

On your device. Safari stores your highlights and notes there, saved with the page they came from so et al. can show them again when you go back. I don’t run any analytics.

If you turn on iCloud Sync, Apple stores a copy in iCloud so it can sync across your devices. It uses the Apple Account you already have, and I don’t receive anything you sync.

Highlighting, notes, the Library, search, folders, tags, and exports work on every supported device. Smart features require a device that supports Apple’s on-device models. Ask also requires Apple Intelligence on a supported iPhone, iPad, or Mac running iOS 26, iPadOS 26, or macOS 26 or later. On other supported devices, et al. hides the smart features and everything else works the same.

No. The smart features run on your device, using Apple’s on-device models built into the system. Nothing about your highlights, notes, or browsing is sent to me or to a server.

Yes. Open your Library to export Markdown, Obsidian, or CSV, print your highlights and notes, or keep a local backup. You can also copy or download an APA or MLA citation for one source at a time for free. Chicago and IEEE citations, BibTeX, RIS, and CSL-JSON exports, and all multi-source bibliographies are included with et al. Pro.

Yes, if you want them to. Your library stays on your device, and iCloud Sync is off until you turn it on. Turn it on and your highlights, notes, folders, and tags also sync across your devices through your iCloud account, so what you save on your iPhone is waiting in your Library on your Mac. You can turn it off again at any time.

Sync uses the Apple Account you already have. There’s no et al. account to create. Apple stores the synced copy in iCloud, and I don’t receive anything you sync.

Yes. et al. includes the same highlighting, notes, and Library on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, with the interface adapted for each device. The Free tier and one et al. Pro purchase work across all three. Turn on iCloud Sync and your Library can follow you between them.

No. et al. is built for Safari. Some of what makes it work, like the smart features that run on your device, is only on Apple platforms, so staying with Safari is the plan.

macOS 12 and later, and iOS or iPadOS 18 and later. The optional smart features need a device that supports Apple’s on-device models. Ask requires Apple Intelligence on a supported iPhone, iPad, or Mac running iOS 26, iPadOS 26, or macOS 26 or later. Everything else works on supported older systems, and where the smart features aren’t supported et al. simply hides them.

The web changes, and et al. tries not to put a highlight in the wrong place. If a page changes a lot, a highlight might stop showing up there. It still stays in your Library with its text, note, and color.

No. When you turn on Safari Reader, Safari rebuilds the page and doesn’t notify extensions, so your highlights aren’t carried over. For now, please highlight the regular version of the page. I’ll revisit this if Apple gives extensions access.

Most ordinary articles, blogs, and documentation work. Pages rendered as a canvas, inside frames Safari cannot share with extensions, or as PDFs may not. The popup tells you when a page isn’t supported.