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Table of Contents

Read books in the Books app on iPhone

In the Books app , tap Reading Now to see the books you’re currently reading, those you recently purchased, and personalized recommendations. Tap Library to see all of your titles.

The Reading Now screen in the Books app. At the bottom of the screen are, from left to right, the Reading Now, Library, Book Store, Audiobooks and Search tabs.

You can sync your Reading Now collection across your iOS devices set up with the same Apple ID. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud, and turn on both iCloud Drive and Books. Then go to Settings > Books, and turn on Reading Now.

Read a book

Tap the Reading Now or Library tab, then tap a cover to open a book. Use gestures and controls to navigate as follows:

Turn the page: Tap the right side of the page or swipe right to left.
Go back to the previous page: Tap the left side of the page or swipe left to right.
Go to a specific page: Tap the page and move the slider at the bottom of the screen left or right. Or, tap and enter a page number, then tap the page number in the search results.
Close a book: Tap the page to show the controls, then tap .

The page of a book open in the Books app with buttons at the top of the screen, from left to right, for closing the book, viewing the table of contents, changing the text, searching, and bookmarking. There’s a slider at the bottom of the screen.

Change text and display appearance

Tap the page, tap , then do any of the following:

Adjust the screen brightness: Drag the slider left or right.
Change the font size: Tap the large A to increase the font size or tap the small A to decrease it.
Change the font: Tap Fonts to choose a different font.
Change the page background color: Tap a colored circle.
Dim the screen when it’s dark: Turn Auto-Night Theme on to automatically change the page color and brightness when using Books in low-light conditions. (Not all books support Auto-Night Theme.)
Turn off pagination: Turn Scrolling View on to scroll continuously through the book.

The appearance menu showing controls for, from top to bottom, brightness, font size, font, page color, auto-night theme, and scrolling view.

Bookmark a page

When you close a book, your place is saved automatically—you don’t need to add a bookmark. Bookmark pages you want to return to again.

Tap to add a bookmark; tap it again to remove the bookmark.

To see all your bookmarks, tap , then tap Bookmarks.

Highlight or underline text

Touch and hold a word, then move the grab points to adjust the selection.
Tap Highlight, then tap to choose a highlight color or to underline.
To remove a highlight or underline, tap the text, then tap .

To see all of your highlights, tap , then tap Notes.

Add a note

Touch and hold a word, then move the grab points to adjust the selection.
Tap Note, use the keyboard to enter text, then tap Done.

To see all of your notes, tap , then tap Notes. Swipe left on a note to delete it.

Share a selection

You can share text selections using Mail or Messages, or you can add the selection to Notes. If the book is from the Book Store, a link to the book is automatically included. (Sharing may not be available in all regions.)

Touch and hold a word, then move the grab points to adjust the selection.
Tap Share, then choose a method.

To share a link to the Book Store only, tap a page, tap , then tap .

Sync notes and highlights across devices

You can sync your reading position, collections, notes, and highlights across your iOS devices and Mac when you’re signed in to iCloud with the same account.

Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud, turn on iCloud Drive, then turn on Books.

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iPhone User Guide