Apple Books for iPhone

Enjoy reading on your iPhone or iPad

iBooks is an app that makes it easy to obtain and read eBooks on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The app includes access to the iBookstore, where you can browse and purchase recent bestsellers or download free samples to try before buying.

Reading experience and navigation

Tap any title on the shelf to open it full screen. Rotate the device to landscape to see a two-page layout, which mimics the feel of a physical book. Pages turn with a quick flick of your finger, and the page-turn animation is smooth and lifelike.

Reading controls and display options

• Change the font style and size to suit your preference
• Modify screen brightness directly from the reading view
• Search within the text to find a specific word or phrase

iBooks also offers three different display themes for different lighting and reading tastes.

Tools for interacting with text

• Perform a web search for a selected passage
• Save your place with a bookmark
• Look up words in the built-in dictionary
• Highlight passages for later reference

Store, samples, and your virtual shelf

The built-in iBookstore is useful for finding both popular fiction and nonfiction. Free sample downloads let you preview books in the app before purchasing. Browsing has had usability issues in the past, but recent updates make it easier to find titles by author or by genre.

Your library is represented by a virtual bookshelf that stores all purchased and downloaded titles. Some users prefer the earlier, warmer bookshelf appearance; the newer flat or iOS 7–style presentation shows book covers as thumbnails against a gray background, which some find less appealing.

Limitations and missing features

iBooks lacks a few conveniences that some readers expect, such as the ability to change the page background color and pinch-to-zoom for images or text.

Summary

Overall, iBooks provides a comfortable reading interface and access to a large catalog of books. While the core reading experience is strong, the store browsing and bookshelf presentation could benefit from further refinements.