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Books

Reading Books on your Device

Reading on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad

Download and install the Google Play Books app from the Apple App Store to buy books on Google Play via your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. You'll need to have iOS 4.0 or above installed (available for all iOS devices except for 1st-generation iPod touch devices). You'll also need a Google Account to read books on Google Play.

Please note, we aren't able to support iOS beta releases.

Your eBooks

Your iPhone or iPad shows you all the books which you've purchased in the "My Books" shelf, with those read most recently listed first. Whenever you buy books on Google Play they will be automatically added to this shelf and be available in the Google Play Books app on your iPhone, iPad, and any other device or reader you use to read books. New books may take a couple of minutes to appear, but closing the app and re-opening it will show new books immediately.

Removing and restoring books. Tap "Manage" to archive books, which will prevent them from showing on the home screen and free memory on your device. You can restore them by tapping "Archive" at the bottom of the screen.

Reading an eBook

To read a book, tap it. It'll begin downloading if it hasn't already. The book cover will remain dimmed until the download has finished, although you can still start reading. If you're offline and the book hasn't completed downloading, a warning message will pop up to let you know. You will have to go online to complete downloading your book.

Book controls. Tap the center of the screen to bring up or dismiss the menu bar and slider. The "My eBooks" button in the menu will return you to your list of eBooks.

Dragging the marker on the slider allows you to "flip" to another page.

Searching. Tap the magnifying glass icon () in the menu to search your book for a specific word or phrase.

Reading offline


You are able to read your ebooks offline on this app. Just make sure the books you want to read on the go are fully downloaded before you go offline. Books that aren’t downloaded have the words "Tap to download" under the book title. You will not be able to read these books if you go offline.

Once you tap the book cover, they will start downloading to your device. When books are downloading, the Google Play Books homescreen will show "Downloading..." under the title and a spinning circle over the book. You may have issues with reading offline if you get disconnected while the book is downloading.

Any books you've downloaded will remain downloaded to your device until you sign out of the Google Play Books app.

Settings

Use the Settings icon () from the menu to customize your reading experience.

Brightness. Select one of two brightness modes:

  • Day displays black text on a white background.
  • Night shows white text on a black background.

Text display. Some books offer a choice between "Flowing Text" mode and "Scanned pages." Note that the first time you switch between these modes for a book, you'll trigger a download of the other format

  • Flowing Text offers additional options for customizing your reading experience, such as adjusting the typeface, text size, and line height to the size of your screen.
  • Scanned pages let you view images of the original print pages, which may be preferable for structured text such as poetry.

Line height. Choose from three different line height options.

Text size and font. books where the re-flowable text is available to us offer the option to increase or decrease the size of the text as you prefer, in addition to the ability to change the font.

3-D page turns. You can also turn off 3-D page turns if you prefer to see pages slide instead of turn.

Information

Slide down on the home screen and tap on the Information icon () at the top of the My eBooks screen for these options:

  • Sign out
  • Help
  • Manage your eBooks
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

Please note that when you sign out of your account you will have to download your books again upon signing back into your account.

How to Buy and Read an eBook on your iPhone or iPod touch

Install the Google eBookstore

To shop for eBooks, simply install the Google eBookstore on your iPhone or iPod touch using the following instructions:

 

1. Open your Safari web browser

2. Go to the address: books.google.com/ebooks
3. Tap the bookmark symbol at the bottom of the screen

4. Tap "Add to Home Screen"

5. Tap "Add"

To shop in the Google eBookstore, simply tap this icon to access our vast selection of titles, including many of your favorites. Any eBooks you purchase or download will automatically appear in your Google Books app for you to read.

Shopping for eBooks

You can browse through Google eBooks by searching for them, or browsing our categories

Purchase an eBook


Once you have chosen an eBook, you can purchase it by clicking on the blue button featuring the price. You may need to sign into your Google Books account and enter your credit card information to complete your purchase.

Read your new eBook in your app

Once you've purchased a new eBook, a screen will appear with the options to "Keep Shopping" or "Read Now". Choosing "Read Now" will take you directly to your eBook in your Google Books app. If you choose to "Keep Shopping", you can read your new eBook later by simply opening the Google Books app, where your eBook will automatically appear.

How to Buy and Read an eBook on your iPad

Install the Google eBookstore

To shop for eBooks, simply install the Google eBookstore on your iPad using the following instructions:

 

1. Open your Safari web browser

2. Go to the address: books.google.com/ebooks
3. Tap the bookmark symbol at the top of the screen

4. Tap "Add to Home Screen"

5. Tap "Add"

To shop in the Google eBookstore, simply tap this icon to access our vast selection of titles, including many of your favorites. Any eBooks you purchase or download will automatically appear in your Google Books app for you to read.

Shopping for eBooks

You can browse through Google eBooks by searching for them, or browsing our categories

Purchase an eBook


Once you have chosen an eBook, you can purchase it by clicking on the blue button featuring the price. You may need to sign into your Google Books account and enter your credit card information to complete your purchase.

Read your new eBook in your app


Once you've purchased or downloaded a new eBook, a screen will appear with the options to "Read the book" or "Continue shopping". Choosing "Read the book" will take you directly to your eBook in your Google Books app. If you choose to "Continue shopping", you can read your new eBook later by simply opening the Google Books app, where your eBook will automatically appear.