Sorry Medium — 3 Easy Hacks to View Locked Articles

Get unlimited access to locked articles using any of 3 hacks

premium story or locked story error on Medium-screenshot by Author

When you see an asterisk * with the title of the story on Medium, it means this story is from a Medium Partner and is considered a premium story on Medium. You get 3 free premium or locked stories per month then Medium shows you one of the two error messages. If you are logged in it will ask you to log in, otherwise, it will ask you to become a Medium member as shown in the image above.

Incognito Mode

When you see an article locked, just copy the url of the post. Go to Incognito window in Google Chrome and paste it. You will be able to view 3 more premium stories but what to do if u have consumed those three too. You can close Incognito mode and then open it again you have 3 more stories available now.

Change browser

This is another alternative to access locked stories. You can switch between Chrome, Firefox, and Safari; and that way you will get three stories on each browser. But since people usually like to stick to one browser and switching browsers is hectic, here is a better solution.

My Favorite — Disable Cookies

This one used to be my favorite hack, when I was not a member of course. It is a simple hack and the best one because you can access as many stories as you want later on.

You just have to disable the cookie named ‘medium.com’ in your browser. That’s it. See in the gif below how it is done.

gif of how to unlock and view unlimited premium or locked stories on Medium by disabling cookies-gif capture by Author

By the way, you can read the story in the gif above here.

A Story of Servants in Karachi

Conclusion

Now, these hacks are wonderful. But there is a limitation. You won't be signed in when using these hacks which means you cannot clap, comment, highlight or anything else what a Member can do. Hence, my personal suggestion — even after writing this article — is to become a paid member by giving $5 per month. Secondly, if you are a writer you have to have access to the articles to learn what is going around and improve your own knowledge and writing — Again sign up for the membership. Also, if you cant join membership today, do it later. It is ethically important to use paid membership because the authors of these articles get a portion from members' monthly subscription fees.

Happy Reading and Writing.