Last updated: April 24, 2023
As stated above, the best way to browse is on the “Kobo Plus” tab. As its name implies, it only includes books included in the “Kobo Plus” subscription, but since you can’t purchase books with the iOS app anyway, it would make more sense to use the Kobo website to browse books which aren’t included.
Buttons for various genres are at the top of the “Kobo Plus” tab screen. These are by far the best way for a VoiceOver user to browse. Further down the tab are lists for recommended and top reads, but if you swipe through these lists, you’ll notice VoiceOver saying a lot of nothing. The books listed here only show their covers with no accessible text. If you want to explore these lists, you can double-tap the word “All” next to the list's name, opening a new screen where the books have text labels. This is still inconvenient because there are no headings or other ways to quickly find the start of each list on the “Main” tab, so it takes a lot of swiping or exploring to find them.
After selecting a genre, you can sort and filter the list of available books. The controls to do this are at the top of the screen, but identifying them can be tricky. If you swipe right from the top of the screen, you will encounter a control where VoiceOver says nothing, followed by the word “Filters,” followed by another control with no text. If you have enabled the “Image Descriptions” setting for VoiceOver on your device, VoiceOver may speak some short, unhelpful descriptions for these unlabeled controls. Double-tapping the first silent control will open the sort options, and double-tapping “Filters” or the silent control after it will open the filter options.
The “Sort” and “Filter” screens are similar, with options which can be double-tapped to set them. VoiceOver won’t tell you which one is currently selected, but double-tapping one does set it correctly, so you can be confident of how books are sorted and filtered once you make your selections. When you select a sorting option, you’ll be returned to the list of books. There are multiple filters which can be set, so you have to double-tap the “Apply Filters” button to set them and close the screen. The sort order you select and filters you apply will be used for every genre you browse, so you don’t need to set them every time you switch genres.
You will also find more buttons labelled with genres on each genre's browse screen. These allow you to filter by categories within that genre, such as “Historical Fantasy” or “Space Opera,” which are categories within the larger “Science Fiction and Fantasy” genre. The same sort and filter controls are also present on these sub-genre screens.
Books of your selected genre will be listed based on the selected sort order and subject to any filters you’ve applied. The listings don’t specify if they are ebooks or audiobooks, but again the presence of a narrator is a pretty good hint regarding which ones are audiobooks. Unlike when searching, audiobooks will list both the author and the narrator. You can double-tap a book to open its details screen, where you can read its synopsis or add it to your books.
Demonstration. Browsing for content in Kobo with VoiceOver.
Instruction Summary
- Double-tap the “Kobo Plus” tab to switch to that tab.
- Select a genre by double-tapping its button near the top of the screen.
- If you want to sort or filter results, navigate to the top of the screen and swipe right. Double-tap the first control with no text to sort, or double-tap the word “Filters” to set filter options—double-tap to select your desired sort or filter criteria. If setting filters, double-tap the “Apply Filters” button to confirm.
- If desired, select a sub-genre by double-tapping its button near the top of the screen.
- Browse the list of books by swiping or exploring the screen.
- Double-tap a book you’re interested in.
- Double-tap the “Add To My Books” button to add it.
Related Tutorial Pages
- Using the Kobo Books app for iOS with VoiceOver
- Accessing Kobo
- Searching for Content
- Reading Ebooks
- Reading Audiobooks
- Browsing your Bookshelf