Apple Books

Category
Books

Description of App

iBooks is an amazing way to download and read books. iBooks includes the iBookstore, where you can download the latest bestselling books
or your favorite classics – day or night. Browse your library on a beautiful bookshelf, tap a book to open it, flip through pages with a swipe or a
tap, and bookmark or add notes to your favorite passages

Download books
• Download best-sellers and classic books from the iBookstore
• Find fully illustrated books, including children's picture books, designed art books, photo books, cook books, and more in the iBookstore
• Experience gorgeous fullscreen Multi-Touch books designed for iPad. These books are filled with interactive features, diagrams, photos, videos, and more
• Read a free sample of any book on the iBookstore before making it a part of your permanent collection

Great ways to read
• Choose from seven beautiful fonts, three easy-to-read page colors, and three useful page layouts—including Book, Full Screen, and Scroll
• iBooks beautifully renders text written in 18 different languages
• Highlight your favorite passages and add notes with the built-in bookmarking features
• Share quotes, or thoughts about your favorite book with friends on Facebook, Twitter, Messages, or Mail
• Find a word, character, or phrase anywhere in your book with the built-in search feature
• Easily adjust your screen brightness to find the perfect lighting for any environment
• Use iBooks with the amazing accessibility features in iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch—such as speaking the words on a given page
• Print PDF documents and notes you've written in iBooks using AirPrint

iCloud features
• Organize your books and PDFs into personal Collections that appear on all your devices
• Keep your bookmarks, highlights, notes, and your current page up-to-date everywhere using iCloud
• See all your iBookstore purchases in iCloud—right on your bookshelf with iOS 6

Supports open standards
• iBooks also opens content published in the ePub and PDF formats
• Add ePub and PDF documents to iTunes and sync them to iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
• You can also add PDF documents from Mail to your iBooks PDF Collection

Requirements
• The iBookstore is available in many countries. The selection of books in the iBookstore may vary by country
• Downloading from the iBookstore or using iCloud features requires an Apple ID and Internet access
• All books created with iBooks Author can only be read with iBooks on iPad
• Books created with iBooks Author require iOS 5 or later. iBooks Author 2 requires iOS 5.1 or later
• Syncing books made with iBooks Author requires iTunes 10.5.3 or later
• Adding books and PDFs from outside the iBookstore to iBooks requires they be DRM-free and synced
  using iTunes 10.5.3 or later
• Some PDF documents may not be compatible with iBooks

 

Version

3.2

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

Not Known

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

9

Accessibility Comments

App is fully accessible from the ability to purchase iBooks in iBookstore to the reading if iBooks in ePub, PDF.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

App Store Link

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks/id364709193?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Recommendations

15 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Karl 1 week ago

Options

Comments

By billip on Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - 05:23

Yesterday, January 19th, Apple announced iBooks 2 with interactive textbooks. Unfortunately, I don't have an iPad to test it out on. I am eager to hear how accessible these new textbooks are because they could be an amazing way to access school books for all ages. Somebody please check it out and let me know!

By billip on Saturday, February 25, 2012 - 05:23

Here is a comprehensive article on the accessibility of text books in iBooks 2. Enjoy! http://www.nfb.org/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=918

By lelia on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 05:23

Hi, I don't know how to use this app can I have some tips? Such as how do I read books? I have a book downloaded in epub format and now I just need to read the book. thanks

just open the app, go into the library, tap on the book you want to read and it will open. You use a three finger swipe right or left to go forward and backwards a page and a two finger downwards swipe to start reading, with a two finger tap to stop reading. Enjoy.

JT thanks guess what? I figured it out after asking the question, thanks I made it harder than it was

By Zack on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 05:23

You can load ePub books onto the iPod in several ways. One is to open iTunes on your computer, go to the file menu, and select, "Add to library." If you're on a Mac you can open this with cmd-o, or on Windows with ctrl-o I believe. Select the ePub file and it will be added. Another way is using an app like DropBox on your iPod. If you open an ePub file in DB, it will let you open it in iBOoks, which will transfer it over and store it there. You could also email the files to yourself, download them in Mobile Safari, or a number of similar tricks. Hope this helps.

By Lucas Radaelli on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 05:23

Is it possible on ibooks to jump directly to a page on the book? I don´t know why, but I was reading, at page 750, and from no where I was taken to page 300. To come back nto 750, page by page, was annoying.

By AnonyMouse on Thursday, October 25, 2012 - 05:23

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
What's New in Version 3.0

Introducing iBooks 3

• See all your iBookstore purchases in iCloud—right on your bookshelf with iOS 6
• Scroll vertically through your books with the flick of a finger using the new Scroll theme
• Receive free updates to purchased books—including new chapters, corrections, and other improvements
• Look up definitions for words in German, Spanish, French, Japanese and Simplified Chinese with iOS 6
• Share quotes or thoughts about your favorite book with friends on Facebook, Twitter, Messages, or Mail

By Sammy on Tuesday, December 25, 2012 - 05:23

Considering getting this, but will I be able to put the books I buy on my computer too? What file types are the books that you buy?

Hi Sammy. Provided that you've set up iTunes to do this, any books you buy using iBooks can also be downloaded to your Mac or Windows PC automatically. However, I don't think there's a Mac or Windows version of iBooks, so you'll only be able to read them on an i device. Books you buy from the iBooks store are in the epub format.

By Sammy on Tuesday, December 25, 2012 - 05:23

Thank you, I'll give it a try. If it doesn't work, at least I can read the book on my iPhone I have a program that converts EPUB files to other file types, so I'll give it a try. Thanks again

By Eirik the Red on Tuesday, December 25, 2012 - 05:23

Hi, Sammy. Regarding converting epub files which you buy through iTunes or iBooks, they're very likely to be protected by DRM, so you might or might not be able to save them into a different format.

so I just wanted to start off by saying I love love love iBooks! I use it often, and love reading with it. However, right now I'm dealing with something totally wierd. When I open iBooks, it immediately closes. I've done all the necessary stuff like close it in the app switcher, and restart my phone. Someone told me to delete and reinstall, but will all my books still be there? I haven't used iCloud yet. Thanks in advance. Never had an app crash like this. Usually if they crash, it won't be for long.

By Faerie on Friday, January 25, 2013 - 05:23

If you uninstall and reinstall, all your books are on your apple account like apps, so when you sign in to your account, all your books should be there. I don't know why it would be crashing like that, sorry. The best thing would be to uninstall and reinstall.

By Sammy on Friday, January 25, 2013 - 05:23

Thank you so much! I just backed them up on my computer as well, so my next step is to delete and reinstall. Thanks for your help!

By Faerie on Friday, January 25, 2013 - 05:23

You're quite welcome, glad I could help

By Felix on Friday, January 25, 2013 - 05:23

Hello! I found it impossible to copy text from iBooks. Does anyone experience this problem or maybe I do something wrong? Best regards Felix

By AnonyMouse on Monday, March 25, 2013 - 05:23

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

What's New in Version 3.1

 

- The iBookstore in Japan now has hundreds of thousands of books available for purchase, including fiction, manga, light novels and more.
- This version of iBooks also includes a number of improvements for reading Asian language books.

By Kelly Sapergia on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 - 05:23

I was reading a sample of a book in iBooks on my 5th Generation iPod Touch, when I noticed that Voiceover kept taking me to the Page Chooser slider immediately after a page was turned. I tried changing the theme to Scrolling instead of Book, but some text got skipped the next time a page was turned. Has anyone else had this problem?

By Michael Hansen on Sunday, August 25, 2013 - 05:23

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
iBooks version 3.1.1 is now available: "What's New in Version 3.1.1 This version of iBooks improves compatibility with iOS and iCloud."

By Misty Dawn on Saturday, January 25, 2014 - 05:23

All right. It appears that adding bookmarks in iBooks is quite accessible/easy/intuitive, but, how does one *access* bookmarks that one has already added? Is this even accessible with VoiceOver?

By Misty Dawn on Friday, March 25, 2016 - 05:23

It appears that, with the latest version of iBooks, iBooks/Apple have now partnered with Audible to offer the ability to purchase Audible's audiobooks through the iBooks app.

This appears to be completely accessible.

The only problem is, I can't find a way to set bookmarks when I am done reading so I can come back to where I left off later.

If I am reading a book, pause it, and then come back to it a short time later, I am able to resume from where I left off. However, if I don't use the iBooks app fro some time, say, for a few days or so, when I bring the app back up, the book I was reading defaults back to the beginning and looses the position where I left off.

So, is there any way that I can actually set a bookmark in the iBooks app for audiobooks so that I am guaranteed never to lose my position in the audiobook where I left off?

I have heard from other sources there there is not (yet?) a way to do this, so, if this is the case, is there any other app I can use to make bookmarking possible?

I have heard that the Audible app itself allows one to physically mark one's place in an audiobook and that you can look under your iTunes library option within Audible in order to find audiobooks you've downloaded through iBooks? Is this true? Has anyone ever tried it? Does it work reliably?

Also, ifthis is true, how much does downloading the Audible app cost? Do you have to take a subscription to Audible in order to use the app to view individual books you've purchased through iBooks?

Thanks much.

By tunmi13 on Friday, March 25, 2016 - 05:23

Hi,

iBooks now comes with iOS 9, and cannot be deleted. This means that Apple has discontinued updating the app for iOS 9 users, but Apple looks like there're making updates for people below iOS 9.
I am gessing this from my perspective, correct me if I'm wrong.

By DMNagel on Friday, March 25, 2016 - 05:23

For years now, the south african iBooks is still only allowing us to download public domain books. I wish to pay for modern books through my apple ID. Can this be so hard? How do you wake a sleeping giant?

By Paul Hunt on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 05:23

I'm using iBooks 4.7 and IOS 9.3 on my iPhone 6S. I cannot see my list of purchased books. Here are the steps to reproduce this bug.
1. Launch the iBooks app.
2. Select the Purchased tab.
3. Access the Books button.
4. Access either the All Books or the Not on this iPhone.
The categories such as All Books and recent books show on the screen but Voiceover doesn't speak them. You must make a selection
I reported this bug to Apple Accessibility and I hope that others will also report it.

Hello Paul,

I'm having the same problem in iBooks. I have also reported this issue to Apple Accessibility. They replied with "Hello, Thank you for your email and for bringing this to our attention. I will file a report regarding this with the appropriate people."
This issue is also present on my IPad 4 gen, but here thanks to the spilt screen view, the inaccessible list is on the left and all books are shown on the right. So there it's "useable". But I also use an iPhone 6s, here it's a no go. The only way I have found to get into the purchases (a sighted friend helped with this, apparently under the all books and the not on phone buttons there is a list of categories. The first item is all books.) is to do the following:
1. tap on either all book or not on phone button
2. drag my finger slightly down and raise finger
2. turn Voiceover off and tap on the screen where I draged my finger down.
3. turn voiceover back on and all books are shown.
This is really fiddle work, but it works. Maybe this can work for you until they fix this really annoying bug.
Have a great day,

Fritz

By Kristen on Thursday, August 25, 2016 - 05:23

Is the "Preview" mode at all like what the actual reading experience is once you buy a book? I've never used iBooks before.

Trying to decide if I can tolerate this before spending $18 on the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child eBook.

It would seem I can navigate line by line, though not by word or character if I want to confirm a word. Is this the same in the normal reading mode or is it just like this because it's a sample?

I may need to alter the speaking rate of Voice Over and try again - I usually have it at 100% but this is a bit too fast for a reading of a book/script, especially if I can't navigate by word or character.

By Use Small Words on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 - 05:23

I just tried previewing an audiobook on Apple Books and was unable to pause the sample using either the play pause button on the lock screen or the two finger double tap. Has anyone else come across this and is there a way around it? Thanks.

By Jo Billard on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 05:23

How do you get Voiceover to read a book from the books app? I just learned that one can read sample chapters, so I set it up and all I'm getting is a picker of page numbers and Voiceover won't read anything.

By Guinea pigs an… on Saturday, September 25, 2021 - 05:23

Hello has anyone else had a problem with the continuous read feature. Since the latest update. It seems to read one page and then stops. Many thanks

By AppleGirl1985 on Monday, September 25, 2023 - 05:23

I had to get rid of Apple books last year because it wasn't letting me read books properly, both with VoiceOver and with my braille display. The page turning feature didn't work very well either, which meant that words were running into each other, despite me not using auto#hyphenation. I personally don't like Apple Books. I feel like I'm reading a webpage rather than an actual book.