Reading in Apple Books with iOS Voice Controls

Last updated: March 5, 2024

Moving through pages of the book is easy especially if you use the “Turning Pages” method, rather than scrolling up and down through book pages. Scrolling through the pages with voice commands makes tracking your reading position in the book harder. If you choose to scroll through the book, the instructions are below.

Turning Pages

To advance to the next page, say, “Swipe Left”. To turn back a page, say, “Swipe Right”. You can also use the “Scroll Right/Left” commands, but they work in the opposite direction, so say “Scroll Right” to move forward one page and say “Scroll Left” to go back a page.

Scrolling Through Pages

The best way to scroll through a book is to use the “Swipe up” command to move forward or the “Swipe Down” command to move back.

Note: The “Scroll Up” and “Scroll Down” commands advance the page too far to allow you to find where you left off and your next position on the page. The “Pan Up” and “Pan Down” commands do not advance the page enough to be useful for reading through the book.

Note: For instructions on how to change the reading mode from “Turning Pages” to “Scrolling” or from “Scrolling to “Turning Pages”, see “Layout Button” below (under “Opening and Using the all-important Menu”.

Opening and Using the Apple Books Menu

When accessing the “Menu”, it may be easier to use the “Show numbers continuously” command rather than the “Show names continuously” command. The menu is small, and the button names displayed side by side clutter up the screen.

Open the menu from any page in the book

Say the number at the bottom right corner of the page to make the menu icon visible. It is a small icon with two straight lines above three dots. If you are using names, say “Tap Menu”.
When the word “Menu” appears again, or a new number appears, say, “Tap Menu”, or say the new number immediately. The menus should now appear.
If at any point you want to close the menu, say, “Go Back”.

Using the Menu

Note: The instructions for the menu items below assume that the menu is currently open and displayed. If it is not, follow the instructions above.

The first item that you will see on the menu is “Contents” and a percentage number, then, “Search Book”, “Themes and Settings”. Below that, there will be an “Upload” icon (a square box with an arrow pointing up from the middle of the box) and a “Bookmark” icon (a rectangle with an indented triangle at the bottom).

Note: If you add a highlight or bookmark to a page, “Bookmarks and Highlights” will appear below “Contents” as the second item on the list.

Table of Contents (“Contents”)

To open the book’s Table of Contents (TOC), say the number next to the “Contents” label. The TOC will open and display the book’s contents. From here, say the number next to the Chapter or part of the book you want to move to.
If you want to close the TOC, say the number next to the “X” at the top right corner of the page, or if using names, say “Tap Close”.

Search

To open the “Search” window, say the number next to the “Search Book” label on the menu.
When the “Search” page opens, type the search term(s) into the field at the top of the page. Using voice commands to type information into a field, such as in the “Search” field, does not always work well. You can use the voice commands on the onboard keyboard as a workaround. See the “Logging In and Signing Up “section for instructions.
You can close the search results page by saying the number next to the “Cancel” button or, if you use names, by saying “Tap Cancel”. if you want to start a new search, say, “Tap Clear Text” or say the number next to the “X” at the top right of the screen.

Viewing your Bookmarks and Highlights

If you have added a Bookmark or Highlight, you can view them here. Adding a bookmark is covered below under “Bookmark Icon”.

With the menu open, say the number next to Bookmarks and Highlights or say “Tap Bookmarks and Highlights”.
The page that opens will have the title of the book you are reading at the top of the page and, under that, a number or name for viewing the bookmarks or highlights in the book. For this step, using the “Number” command is much easier. To view the bookmarks, say the number next to the word “Bookmarks” or say “Tap Bookmarks”. To view the “Highlights”. say the number next to “Highlights or say “Tap Highlights”. Only the bookmark title will appear if you don’t have any highlights.
From here, go to the location in the book where the Bookmark or Highlight is, say the number next to the chapter title line of the bookmark. If you are viewing your highlights, say the number at the beginning of the text of the line you previously highlighted.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a way to create a highlight using Voice Control.

Themes and Settings

When you open the menu, you will see the “Themes and Settings” button.
1. To open “Themes and Settings”, say the number next to the button or say, “Tap Themes and Settings”.
2. You should now see an “Original Options" button and several icons below.

Original Options (Text and Layout Options)

To open “Original Options”, say the number next to “Original Options” or say “Tap Options”. A window will open displaying several options:

Text
Accessibility and Layout Options
Customize
Full Justification
Allow Multiple Columns
Reset Theme

Text

There are two options under “Text”. The first is “Font”, and the second is “Bold”.

To change the font type, say the number next to “Aa Font” or say, “Tap Font”. You will be taken to a page with a long list of font choices.
Say the number next to the font you desire or say, “Tap” and the font name you choose. For example, “Tap Palatino”.
Close the menu by saying the number next to “Close” at the top right of the page, or say, “Tap Close”.

To make your current font bold, assuming you are back on the “Original Options” menu, say the number next to “Bold Text”, or say, “Tap Bold Text Bold Text”. Saying it twice is correct.

Accessibility and Layout Options

Under this heading, you will see several named buttons, including “Customize”, “Full Justification”, “Add Multiple Columns”, and “Reset Themes”.

Customize

Oddly enough, the adjustments under “Customize” for line, character and word spacing do not seem to be adjustable using Voice Control.

Full Justification

To turn “Full line justification on and off, " say the number next to it or “Tap Full Justification”.

Allow Multiple Columns

To turn “Multiple Columns” on and off, say the number next to it, or say “Tap Allow Multiple Columns”.

Note: You will only see multiple columns of text when the font size is relatively small.

Reset Theme

To reset the theme to the default settings, say the number to the left or “Tap Reset Theme”.

Reduce and Increase Text Size

Assuming that the “Themes and Settings” menu is open at the bottom of the page (see “Themes and Settings” heading above), to reduce the text size one increment, say the number next to the small “A”, or say, “Tap Reduce Text Size”. To increase the text size, say the number next to the large “A”, or say, “Tap Increase Text Size”.

Layout Button

To change the reading mode from "Turning Pages" to "Scrolling Pages" or from "Scrolling Pages" to "Turning Pages":

Assuming that the “Themes and “Settings” menu is open, say the number next to the “Layout” icon (a vertical rectangle with small black lines in the center), or say, “Tap Layout”. This will change the reading mode from scrolling to turning pages or from turning pages to scrolling pages.

Appearance Options

To open the “Appearance Options” menu, say the number next to the “sun” icon, or say:

“Tap Appearance Options”. A menu should open with the choices “Light”, “Dark”, “Match Device”, and “Match Surroundings”.
You can make your choice by saying the number next to the option you want or saying “Tap” and the name of the option you want, for example, “Tap Dark”. The menu will close after you make your choice.

Note: The “sun” icon will change to reflect your chosen option.

Theme Choices

At the bottom of the “Themes and Settings” menu, there are several theme choices that offer different typefaces and background shades with names such as “Original”, “Quiet”, and “Paper”. To choose a theme:

Say the number next to the theme you want to switch to or say “Tap” and the theme name, for example, “Tap Paper”.
To close the menu, say the number next to the “x” at the top right of the menu or say, “Tap Close”.

Share Icon

This feature provides a convenient way to send someone a message or email about the book you are reading, directly from the Apple Books application.

With the Menu open, say the number next to the Share icon or say, “Tap Share”. This will open a new page with the name and the author of the book you are currently reading at the top of the page. Below that, you will see icons for “Messages” and “Mail”. When you create a message or email, the book title and author name are automatically added to the subject line.

To Send a Message

Open a new Message by saying the number next to the message icon or say, “Tap Messages”. A window will open with the cursor in the “To” field, ready to accept a contact name.

There are a couple of ways to enter your contact info:

First, you can use dictation to speak the contact’s name. This should open a window with a list of one or more contact numbers and/or email addresses. If you see the contact’s name and only a single item, such as an email address for the desired contact, Say the number on the far right of that contact’s information or Say, “Tap Expand Options” to reveal other contact information.
Now, say the number next to the contact information you want to use, or if using names, say “Tap” and all the information shown next to that contact. For example, “Tap David 555-555-5555 mobile”.

The other way to add the name of your contact into the “To” field is by:

Saying the number next to the “+” icon or say, “Tap Add Contact”.
When the “Contacts” window opens, say the number next to the person to whom you want to send the message. You may have to say “Scroll Down” to see the name you are looking for. Say the number next to the contact’s name, or say, “Tap the person’s name”. Remember, you can say “Scroll down” or “Scroll up” to move through the list of contacts.
A window will open with the contact’s information. Say the number next to the word “message” or say, “Tap message”, and then say the number next to the phone number associated with that contact’s messaging phone number or say, “Tap” and the contact number, including any words such as “Home” or Mobile” that appear before the number.

To Send an Email

Say the number next to the “Mail” icon or say, “Tap Mail”.

Say the number next to the “To” line or say, “Tap To”. The text cursor should now be active in the “To” address field.
First, you can use dictation to speak the contact’s name. This should open a window with a list of one or more contact email addresses. Choose the desired contact by saying the number next to the contact, or if using names, say “Tap” and all the information shown next to that contact. For example, “Tap John Doe Johnd@somemail.com”.

The other way to add the name of your contact into the “To” field is by using Dictate.

Say the contact name or say the number next to the “+” icon or say, “Tap Add Contact”.
When the “Contacts” window opens, say the number next to the person to whom you want to send the email, or say “Tap” and the person’s name as it appears in the menu. Remember that you can say “Scroll down” or “Scroll up” to move through the list of contacts.
If the contact only has one email address, it will automatically be placed in the “To” field. If the contact has multiple email addresses, a window will open with the contact’s information. Say the number next to the word “mail”, which may be a few items down the list, or say, “Tap mail”, and then say the number next to the email address that you want to use for your contact or say, “Tap email” and the email address. For example, “Tap email david@mymail.com”

There is a “Copy” link that takes you back to the page in the book you are reading so that you can copy and paste parts of the book into your message or email. However, there does not seem to be a way to do a “Copy” with Voice Control.

Bookmark Icon

To add a Bookmark to the page you are currently on, with the “Menu” open:
Say the number next to the “Bookmark” icon (a vertical rectangle with an indented triangle shape cut out of the bottom) or say, “Tap Bookmark”. You should now see a red circle containing a white bookmark icon at the bottom right of the page. The page is now bookmarked.
To remove a Bookmark, say the number just above the bookmark icon at the bottom right of the page, or say “Tap Menu”.
When the menu opens, say the number attached to the bookmark icon or “Tap Bookmark”. Your bookmark should disappear.
Remember, you can say “Go Back” to close the menu.

National Network for
Equitable Library Service

The Canadian Accessible Library System

Tutorials