Phones

Apple Books redesigns reading in iOS 27.2 ahead of iPhone Duo

Small but welcome changes to bookmarks, page numbers, and reading progress arrive in the latest beta.

Apple is rolling out design updates to its Books app in iOS 27.2, just as the company prepares to launch the iPhone Duo, which is expected to make reading more popular on its devices.

The changes, spotted in the third beta of iOS 27.2, focus on the reading experience itself. 9to5Mac reports that bookmarks are now more prominent, no longer hidden in a previous menu. Progress bars have also been added throughout the app, giving readers a clearer sense of where they are in a book. Additional tweaks include updated page number displays and new visual flourishes for the reading interface.

These are minor adjustments, but they address long-standing complaints from users. The bookmark change in particular has been a frequent request. The updates arrive as Apple appears to bet on the iPhone Duo, its upcoming dual-screen device, becoming a popular e-reader.

The iPhone Duo is not yet released, but anticipation is building. If it proves successful, it could give Apple an opportunity to invest more heavily in the Books app, which currently trails Amazon's Kindle in the e-reader market.

  • Apple
  • Apple Books
  • e-books
  • iOS 27.2
  • iPhone Duo
  • reading

About Ryan O'Neill

Ryan O'Neill writes Should I Upgrade? and the site's phone and laptop buying guides. He opened his own phone-repair shop in Salt Lake City in 2019 and has repaired or traded in about 15,000 devices since. He lives in Salt Lake City with his fiancée. He carries one iPhone and one Android phone, and keeps 40 older phones in a drawer for side-by-side tests.