February 2, 2021

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How to bypass Scientific American paywall 2024

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Last Updated: October 2024

Do you know you can bypass Scientific American paywall with these tips below?

In other words, you can read Scientific American site articles for free.

Welcome to the popular series, DiGiztal Bypass Paywalls Tips.

Back in April 15, 2019, scientificamerican.com announced that readers will receive three articles for free before being asked to subscribe.

If you really want to read the important and exciting research, ideas and knowledge in science, health, technology, the environment and society, then subscribe to Scientific American.

But if you just want to browse an article or two occasionally, then you like to know how to get around Scientific American paywall.

I have more than ten ways to access Scientificamerican.com articles without an account.

How to bypass Scientific American paywall 

  • Clear browsing data, cache and cookies
  • Reader View
  • Open Link in New Private window
  • Temporary Containers extension
  • Bypass Paywalls Clean extension
  • Disable JavaScript
  • Block cookies and site data
  • Google cached pages
  • 12feet Ladder
  • Saved to Pocket
  • Textise
  • PrintFriendly
  • Shackle-free
  • Google Translate

So how do you continue reading the rest of Scientific American articles online without being a subscriber?

Just follow any of these methods how to get over Scientific American paywall below.


Mozilla Firefox Browser:

1. Clear browsing data, cache and cookies

When you reach the blocked article, this is what you do:

Click on "History" at the menu bar at the top of your computer screen.

Then click on "Clear Recent History..."

NOTE: Make sure the "Cookies" under "History" is checked (with a tick in the box).

bypass Scientific American paywall

Click on "Clear Now" button.

Now click on the "Reload current page" icon (next to Firefox Home Page icon)

It will reload the page, and from here you can start reading its free articles again.

Then when you come to the blocked article again, you clear clear the browsing history again.

To keep on reading the complimentary Scientific American online articles, you just clear the browser history, and reload its website.


2. Reader View

You use the "Reader View" tool readily available on the toolbar of the Firefox browser.

This is the gray color icon of the Reader View at the toolbar.

Firefox Reader View Paywall Bypass
This is what you do.

When you come to the blocked Scientific American article, click on the Reader View icon.

Immediately the gray color icon changes to blue color

Firefox Reader View Add-on
.
At the same time, the blocked article will reload itself.

This time, the article appears in full and uncluttered too.

When you come to next blocked article, you click on the Reader View icon again at the toolbar.


3. Open Link in New Private Window

Go to the Scientific American homepage.

Right click on any of the article title, which you want to read.

A context menu drops down, click on “Open Link in Private Window“.

How To Get Over Scientific American Paywall
It will open the full unblocked article in a new window.

NOTE: To read the next article, DO NOT click it from this newly opened Private Window page.

You need to go back to the Scientific American homepage to get your new article.


4. Firefox Temporary Containers extension

This method you install the Firefox extension called "Temporary Containers".

This is what you do:

Install the Firefox Temporary Containers extension.

After you have installed it, you can start reading unlimited free articles right away.

To keep reading the Scientific American articles, just RIGHT CLICK on any of the article title.

A menu pops up next to the article title.

Click on "Open link in new Temporary Container tab".

read Scientific American free articles

Once again, the new article will open in a new tab.

You can keep on reading all the available articles without being blocked by its paywall.

Remember just RIGHT CLICK on the article titles, then click on "Open link in new Temporary Container tab".


5. Bypass Paywalls Clean extension

Just install the bypass paywalls extension by Magnolia to your Firefox browser, and you can get around Scientific American paywall.

For Firefox, refer to this tutorial: How to install Bypass Paywalls Clean extension for Firefox


6. Disable Firefox JavaScript

This is what you do:

Open your Firefox browser.

Copy the following line and paste it into the Firefox address bar: 

about:config

Press on the Enter key.

Next click the blue button: "Accept the Risk and Continue".

Now type: javascript.enabled in the search box provided.

You should see "javascript.enabled" shows under it.

Double click anywhere within the javascript.enabled box to change the value from "true" to "false".

Now go to the blocked Scientific American article again, to reload the page by clicking on the "Reload current page" icon in the address bar of that page.

The article should be unblocked right away.

REMINDER: Remember to activate the browser JavaScript function back after used. If not, some websites may not work properly, others may not work at all


7. Block Cookies and site data

Again this method, you set it up once and you can get past the Scientific American paywall.

This is what you do:

Go to your Mozilla Firefox browser.

Click on the three short lines icon (Application Menu) at the top right hand corner of your computer screen.

It drops down the context menu.

Click on "Settings" and a page appears.

Next click on "Privacy & Security" on the left side of the page.

Scroll down a little bit until you see "Cookies and Site Data".

Click on "Manage Exceptions..." button.

A box pops up, titled "Exceptions - Cookies and Site Data".

In the space below "Address of website", type in:

https://www.scientificamerican.com

Click on the "Block" button.

You can see the Scientific American domain listed under "Website" and its "Status" as "Block".

Finally click the "Save Changes" button.

Now go to the Scientific American website to read any articles free from being blocked by its paywall no more.


8. Google cached pages

This is another easy way to get past Scientific American paywall.

This is what you do:

When you come to a blocked article, add the word cache: in front of its URL.

For example, the article URL is:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/massive-crowdstrike-tech-outage-highlights-global-vulnerabilities/

Now add cache: in front of this URL, and it looks like this: 

cache:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/massive-crowdstrike-tech-outage-highlights-global-vulnerabilities/

Press on the "Enter" key, and it takes you to the Google cached page of this article.

Now you can view the full unblocked article.


9. 12feet Ladder 

Two ways to bypass the Scientific American paywall.

Go to 12feet Ladder page, paste the article URL onto space provided, then click "Clean Webpage".

Second method, add 12ft.io/ in front of the article URL.  

Example: 12ft.io/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-psychological-effects-of-the-trump-assassination-attempt/


10. Saved to Pocket

You can use the bookmarking service called Pocket to bypass Scientific American articles.

It works for both Firefox and Chrome browser.

Refer to this tutorial: Bypass paywalls with Pocket to read locked-out articles free


11. Textise

Use the text-only tool Textise to bypass Scientific American paywall

You can view the full text article, but without picture or image. 

This is what you do:

Go to Textise site.

Copy the blocked article URL and paste it in the box provided.

Click on the "Textise" button.

Bypass Scientific American Paywall With Textise

Then you can see the full article on the page, but without any picture.

To view the article, you have to scroll it down.


12. PrintFriendly

To read blocked article, paste its URL in the space provided in PrintFriendly site.

Click the "Preview" button, and the full article appears. 


13. Shackle-free

An easy and fast way how to read Scientific American for free.

Go to Shackle-free site, paste the blocked article URL on the space provided.

Then click the "Read" button, and the full unblocked article appears.  


14. Google Translate

Another super easy method is by using Google Translate.

Again you just paste the article URL and have it translated.

For more details, read this: "How to use Google Translate to bypass paywalls". 


Now let's check out the methods work for Google Chrome browser.

Google Chrome Browser:

1. Clear browsing data, cache and cookies

The tip is similar to what I have explained for Firefox browser.

When you come to the blocked article, click on the three dots (Customize and control Google Chrome) at the top right hand corner of the page.

Place your mouse cursor to "More tools" and move to the left to "Clear browsing data...".

Click on it.

A box pops up and click on the blue color "Clear data" button.

Now go back to the blocked article and reload it.

Instantly you can read the full unblocked Scientific American article.


2. Reader Mode/Reading Mode

There are two versions in Chrome.

If you are still using Windows 8, you can still find the earlier version called Reader Mode.

Currently, Chrome has removed it, and replaced with the Reading Mode.

Anyway, to enable the either Reader Mode or Reading Mode, do this:

Type: chrome://flags into the address bar, and press the Enter key. 

It opens a page with a list of experimental features that you can enable or disable.

Type: Reader Mode or Reading Mode into the search box above.

Now you can see either Reader Mode or Reading Mode in the list.

Next to it is a menu, click on "Enabled".

Then click on the "Relaunch" button. 

Reader Mode

If you have the Reader Mode, you can see its gray icon of a book with three lines at the toolbar. 

 When you come to the blocked article, click on the gray color Reader Mode icon at the toolbar.

The gray color icon will change to blue color, and the blocked article now appears in full.

Reading Mode

To get the Reading Mode, click on the three dots menu on the top right corner of  screen.

A menu appears, go to "More Tools", and a sub-menu appears.

From there you can see Reading Mode.

Chrome Reading Mode Bypass Paywalls

For ease of use, you can pin it onto the toolbar.

Click on the push pin icon.

Chrome Reading Mode

The Reading Mode icon (an opened book symbol) appears on the toolbar.

Reading Mode Chrome Bypass Paywalls

When you come to the blocked article, click on the "Reading Mode" icon.

Instantly the full article appears right next to the blocked page.

For easier and clearer viewing, you can widen the side panel by dragging it with your mouse.

Besides changing its font type and size, you can also change the color scheme, and the line height.


3. Open link in incognito window

The step is the same as Open Link in New Private Window for Firefox.

Go the blocked article, right click on the title.

A context menu pops up, click on "Open link in incognito window". 

Chrome Incognito Window Paywall Bypass


4. Bypass Paywalls Clean Extension

Again this method is the same as explained in the Firefox above.

For Chrome, refer to this tutorial: How to install Bypass Paywalls Clean extension for Chrome


5. Disable JavaScript of Chrome browser

Go to Google Chrome browser.

Click on the three dots on the top right hand side of the address bar.

A menu drops down, click on "Settings".

Next click on "Privacy and security" on the left side of the page.

Scroll down a little, and click on "Site settings".

It opens a new page, scroll down until the "Content" section.

Click on "Javascript".

Under "Customized behavior", go to "Not allowed to use Javascript".

Click on the "Add" button.

A box pops up, type in this line.

[*.]scientificamerican.com

Click on the blue "Add" button.

Now go to the Scientific American website to read all the articles free of charge and free from from its paywall.


6. Block cookies of Chrome browser

This is what you do:

Go to Google Chrome browser.

Click on the three small dots (Customize and control Google Chrome) and the context menu pops up.

Click on "Settings".

When you come to settings page, click on "Privacy and security".

Now click on "Cookies and other site data".

Scroll down to the last option "Sites that never use cookies".

Click "Add" button

A box pops up for you to add the site domain.

Type  [*.]scientificamerican.com

Then click the blue color "Add" button.


7. Google cached pages

This method also works for Google Chrome.

As I have explained above for Firefox, you add cache: in front of the blocked article URL.

Then press the "Enter" key to reload it.

Example: cache:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/project-2025-plan-for-trump-presidency-has-far-reaching-threats-to-science/


8. 12feet Ladder

This easy way to overcome Scientific American paywall also works for Google Chrome.

Go to 12feet Ladder page, paste the article URL onto space provided, then click "Clean Webpage".

Another way is add 12ft.io/ in front of the article URL.


9. Textise

This tool also works with Google Chrome. 

The procedure is the same as explained above for Firefox.

Paste the article URL in the box provided in the Textise website, and then click on the "Textise" button.

These are techniques how to get over Scientific American paywall that work.


10. PrintFriendly

The steps are the same as what I have explained above for Firefox.

Paste the article URL to the PrintFriendly site, and click the "Preview" button.


11. Shackle-free

Again this technique is the same as mentioned above for Firefox browser.

Paste the blocked article URL , and click the "Read" button.


12. Google Translate

Refer to the tip explained for Firefox at #14. 


RELATED TIPS:


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DISCLAIMER: I do not publish or host any of the books here. They are copyrighted to their respective owners. All content cited is derived from their respective sources. I do not claim ownership over any third-party content.