Hi all!
I would like to use the Speak Screen for reading books in the standard Apple Books application. But there are several issues that interfere with the comfortable use of this functionality:
1) As far as I know, after iOS 16 Apple Books application was redesigned, which is why the number of pages left in the chapter is displayed in the top bar. The issue is that Speak Screen also pronounces this number before each page. I tried to hide the controls, but then Speak Screen pronounces the book title before each page.
2) There is a problem when Speak Screen stops at the end of each chapter, its controls, which is displayed on top of the current window, also disappears. To continue reading, it is necessary to unlock the iPhone and re -run Speak Screen. Also, reading does not stop if you do not turn off the screen at all.
I also would like to note that when I read books on the iPhone SE with iOS 14 (or so), not one of these issues was in principle observed, i.e. All of them appeared with some of the updates. Now I am using iPhone 16 with iOS 18.4.1.
So far, I do not want to consider alternative applications for reading books, since I am impressed by the convenience of using Apple Books with Voiceover. Therefore, there are several questions dictated by the problems described above:
1) Is it possible in the pronunciation rules added to Voiceover to use Placeholders in any form (Regex, WildCarts, et Cetera)? I would like to add a replacement like *** pages left in chapter -> . At the moment, it was possible to add a replacement only for pages left in chapter, but the number itself continues to be pronounced. Or, as a less accurate solution, whether it is possible to add such rules by some script, or to import them from an external file - then it would be possible to generate the replacements, say, for the first thousand numbers, hoping that longer chapters would not meet.
2) Do you have a problem with a reading stop at the end of each chapter? It is not always convenient to restart Speak Screen manually; however, it seems that keeping screen constantly turned on not the best solution. Also, perhaps, you have already met with this issue and managed to find any Workaround.
Comments
Why not just use two-finger swipe down?
You have to have the phone on I think, i.e. not locked, but it seemed to work fairly well when I tried it. You might get stops between chapters though, I get that on Mac anyway, at least in some books.
RE: Why not just use two-finger swipe down?
It's VoiceOver built-in feature, which, as far as I know, also announces page numbers and stops between chapters, but in addition it requires to constantly keep screen on. It seems to me that Speak Screen is more convenient for at least the presence of a floating controls and the ability to lock the device.
Hobbled
It's just not as good as it once was. Sad but true.
I think your best hope is to keep the screen on and mute speech from VoiceOver, then use Speak Screen. This gives you a relatively smooth, non-stop reading experience.
But you can't do anything about the announcement of the page numbers, whatever you do, as far as I can see. You might try switching to the scrolling view for making Speak Screen less chatty and less prone to interruption, however if you do that then VoiceOver continuous read just breaks completely.
If your books aren't DRM-protected then there are simply better options. If your books are DRM-protected then you are simply screwed, and should thank the powerful lobbyists who forbid you from breaking DRM, despite the (utterly toothless) WIPO treaty that's supposed to give you the power to read.