Apple Books lets you buy, rent, and read books, listen to audiobooks (in supported regions), or import and read documents downloaded from other sources. But there are a lot more things you can do in the app than you probably imagine, so let’s dive in and take a look.
1. Check your reading progress
Being aware of your reading progress lets you know how far you’ve read a book and can motivate you to read more. The Books app makes it pretty easy to check your reading progress.
On your iPhone or iPad, open the book and go to the page you’re currently reading. Tap anywhere in the center of the page.
You will now see two numbers; one at the top and the other at the bottom of the page.
The top number indicates the number of pages remaining in the current chapter. Meanwhile, the bottom number indicates how many pages (of the book’s total pages) you have read so far.
2 Set reading goals
If you haven’t read much lately, the Reading Goals feature can help you get back on track. Once enabled, it tells you how many minutes you spend reading each day and the number of books and audiobooks you finish each year.
To turn on reading goals, open “Settings” on your iPhone or iPad and select “Books.”
Scroll down to the “Reading Goals” section and turn on the switch next to “Reading Goals.”
Turn on the “Include PDFs” switch to also include the time you spend reading PDFs to meet your reading goals.
Once you resume reading regularly and want to check your progress, open the Books app and go to the “Home” tab. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you’ll see a section called “Reading Goals” with all your reading stats.
You can also adjust your reading goal from here. To do this, tap “Today’s Reading” and press the “Set Target” button.
Set the time you want to spend reading books each day on the screen overlay. Press “Done” to save.
Similarly, you can scroll down to the “Books Read This Year” section to see how many books you’ve finished this year.
To modify the target, press the “Set Target” button. Next, set the number of books you want to read each year and press “Done” to set this as your new annual reading goal.
3 Customize the appearance of the application
Apple offers several customization options in the Books app to help you personalize your reading experience. You can use these options to change everything from fonts and themes to page-turning animations and line spacing, among other things.
To access them, go to the Books app, open a book, tap anywhere on the page, and then press the menu button at the bottom right of the page.
Select “Themes and Settings.”
You can now change a bunch of things from the “Themes & Settings” overlay screen, including font size, font type, theme, and page-turning animations.
Additionally, you can tap “Customize” at the bottom of the page to open the theme customizer. From here, you can adjust other aspects of the page, such as line spacing, character spacing, and word spacing, among other things, to your preference.
4 Jump to a page
Using the table of contents is one way to navigate a book. However, if it is not available or you want to jump directly to a page in a book or PDF, you can simply use the built-in search function to find the page.
To do this, open the book and tap the menu button in the lower right corner. Select “Search for a book.”
Now, type a number and tap the result to open that page.
You can also use this search feature to search for something specific in a book. Simply type the text you want to search and the app will display all instances of it in the book.
Tap one to skip and read.
5 Add bookmarks (not just one)
When you find something interesting in a book, adding a bookmark will save it so you can revisit it later. To bookmark a page in Apple Books, tap the menu button in the bottom right corner and press the bookmark button.
You will see a bookmark icon in the bottom right corner of the page, indicating that it is bookmarked. The Books app keeps all of a book’s bookmarks in one place. You can access them by tapping the menu button and going to “Bookmarks and Highlights.”
When you want to delete a bookmark, it’s easy. Tap the bookmark icon to open the menu and then press the bookmark button again.
6 Highlight text and take notes
In addition to bookmarking a page, the Books app also allows you to highlight passages of text from a book that you find interesting or that you may need later. You can even add a personal note to something you highlighted to include context or an important detail.
To highlight text in Apple Books, tap and hold a word, and when the grip points show, move them to adjust your selection.
Next, tap the “Highlight” button that appears in the context menu above the text.
Next, choose the color you would like to use for highlighting. Alternatively, you can underline the text by tapping the “U” button.
If you want to add a highlighted note, tap the highlighted text and select “Add Note” from the menu.
Start writing your note and press “Done.” Once you add a note to a highlight, you’ll see a square box next to the text. Tap this box to view the note.
Alternatively, if you have multiple notes on a page, you can view them in one place. Tap the menu button in the bottom right corner of the page and select “Bookmarks & Highlights.” Switch to the “Featured” tab and you will see all the highlights and notes for that book on this page.
7 Keep your books synced across all your devices
One of the best features of the Books app is cross-device syncing, which syncs your content across all your Apple devices. It allows you to take the book or audiobook you are reading or listening to on one device and continue reading or listening to it on another.
In addition to syncing reading progress, Apple Books also syncs and gives you access to all your bookmarks, highlights, and notes, with the ability to create new ones across all your devices.
To enable syncing in Apple Books, open the “Settings” app on your iPhone or iPad and tap your name at the top of the screen.
Select “iCloud.”
Under “Apps that use iCloud,” tap “Show all.”
Here, make sure the switch next to “Books” is turned on.
Lastly, tap “iCloud Drive” and enable it if it is not already enabled.
8 Read and annotate PDF files
In addition to books in your library, Apple also allows you to read PDF files downloaded from other sources in Apple Books. So if you downloaded a document or book from somewhere else on your Apple device, you can import it directly into Books and start reading it. Please note that you may not experience the same reading experience and the app may not show you the same features as the native e-book experience.
To import a PDF to Apple Books, go to the app that contains the PDF document. Open the PDF, and click the Share button. This includes any PDF files you have opened in Safari.
Then, select “Books” on the share sheet.
This will open the PDF in the Apple Books app. You can now read the PDF or annotate it using the markup tools.
9 Create a wish list of books you want to read
If you’re always looking for new books, the Books app offers a nifty feature called Want to Buy that lets you create a wish list of all the books you’d like to read. The app syncs your wishlist across all devices, so you can add new items to your wishlist from any of your devices.
Adding a book to your wish list is easy. When you find an interesting read while browsing books in the “Bookstore” tab of the Apple Books app, tap the book to expand its details. Then, press the “I want to read” button below the “Get” button to add the book to your wish list.
When you want to access your wish list, go to the “Home” tab. Find the “I want to read” section and tap on it. Here you will see all the books you have saved and can view their samples or purchase them.
Since the Book Store is so comprehensive, you can use this feature to keep track of books, regardless of whether you want to read them digitally (or on the Apple Books service).
10 Read without being disturbed
App notifications can be annoying, especially when you’re trying to concentrate. Fortunately, there is a solution to silence your iPhone or iPad while reading that you can use to read books without interruptions. It involves using the Focus feature, which allows you to limit or turn off notifications to reduce interruptions (while letting the really important things, like phone calls from family members, slide through).
The tips above will help you use Apple Books like a pro and improve your reading experience on your iPhone or iPad. As you spend more time in the app, you’ll explore more of these tips and features and get more out of it.
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