Shortly before the release of the iPhone Duo, an iPhone that unfolds like a book, Apple is revamping the reading view in its Books app. In the third beta of iOS 27.2, progress bars, buttons, and menus have been rearranged. The changes affect only the reading experience itself.
The changes are included in the third beta of iOS 27.2, which has been available to developers since October 5th. Unlike many code discoveries of the past few days, they are already active there.
Apple Books, installed on the iPhone as the Books app, now features a cleaner reading view in the style of Liquid Glass. The remaining new features of this point version are summarized in the overview for iOS 27.2.
Key Facts at a Glance
- In Apple Books' reading view, new progress bars show how far you are in the book.
- The menu in the bottom right corner has a new icon with three dots and follows the Liquid Glass design of other apps.
- The bookmark has been removed from the menu and is now located as a separate button in the top right corner.
- The close button moves to the top left, the back button to the bottom left and becomes larger.
What changes in reading view
The most noticeable new feature is the progress bars. They show you where you are in the book while reading.
The menu in the bottom right corner now features a three-dot icon and is implemented as the default menu in the Liquid Glass design. This means it behaves like the menus in other iOS 27 apps, instead of having its own unique design.
Buttons in new places
The bookmark was previously hidden in this menu. In Beta 3, it's now a separate button in the top right corner and can be accessed with a single tap. The button to close a book is now located in the top left corner.
The back button moves to the bottom left and is larger than before.
Matching the iPhone Duo
The timing is perfect for the iPhone Duo: The iPhone Duo will be released on October 23rd, and a video released on the same day already shows how the device's file preview displays PDFs with two pages side by side.
A device that opens up to resemble a book makes reading one of its most obvious uses. A reading view that is clearer and shows progress is a natural fit.
Small changes with a noticeable effect
I consider the removal of the bookmark function to be the most useful change. Frequent readers constantly set bookmarks – having to open a menu each time was an unnecessary extra step. The progress bars answer the most common reading question without requiring any searching.
It's not a major overhaul, more of a cleanup. For the iPhone Duo, a dedicated double-page view in Apple Books would be the logical next step, in my opinion.
Do you read books on your iPhone in Apple Books or do you prefer another app? Tell us in the comments how you do it.
