https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/21/23471306/apple-books-ios-16-page-flip-animation-sucks
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Apple changed how reading books works in iOS 16, and I may never be
happy again
Apple changed how reading books works in iOS 16, and I may never be
happy again
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Flipping through the pages of a virtual book that you bought from
iTunes is now absolutely charmless. Yes, I am going to complain about
this for 600 words.
By Mitchell Clark
Nov 22, 2022, 12:00 AM UTC|
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Nilay Patel holds an iPhone 14 Pro in his hands.
Am I being dramatic? Yes. Has this change made me read on my phone
less? Also yes. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Apple Books has been my main reading app for years for one very
specific reason: its page-turning animation is far and away the best
in the business. Unfortunately, that went away with iOS 16 and has
been replaced by a new animation that makes it feel like you're
moving cards through a deck instead of leafing through a digitized
version of paper. And despite the fact that I've been trying to get
used to the change since I got onto the beta in July, I still feel
like Apple's destroyed one of the last ways that my phone brought joy
into my life.
For those unfamiliar with Apple's Books app (formerly known as
iBooks), I'll try to explain the hole that's suddenly been punched
into my reading life. Before iOS 16, the app would play a
page-turning animation whenever you tapped or swiped on the left or
right edge of your device.
Gif of Apple Books on iOS 15's page flip animation, showing what
happens when you simply tap on the right side of the screen, and when
you manually flip it with your finger.Gif of Apple Books on iOS 15's
page flip animation, showing what happens when you simply tap on the
right side of the screen, and when you manually flip it with your
finger.
What this GIF can't capture is just how good this feels to use in
real life.
It wasn't just a cheap, pre-baked animation, though; it was one of
the pinnacles of the skeuomorphic aesthetic that used to rule Apple's
mobile OS. The animation is different based on whether you swipe from
the top, middle, or center of the screen, and it tracks your finger;
if you swipe from the bottom and then move up, the "page" will curl
upwards instead of flipping to the side. If you start to swipe, then
change your mind and move your finger back to the edge, the "page"
falls back down, unturned.
GIF of Apple Books on iOS 16's swipe animation, which dims the
screen, and swipes the page off like a card.GIF of Apple Books on iOS
16's swipe animation, which dims the screen, and swipes the page off
like a card.
iOS 16's swipe animation. It feels like I'm reading a PDF, not a
book.
As far as I can tell, that experience is completely gone in iOS 16,
replaced by an animation that wouldn't feel out of place in a Tinder
rip-off or a PDF-viewing utility app. I've searched through every
screen in Books and Settings that I can think of and haven't found
any way to get the old flipping animation back. The only option I've
found to change the page-turning experience is the one that
eliminates it completely by turning the book into a single vertically
scrolling page, which I somehow find even more offensive than the new
animation (though, to be clear, that was also in the old version of
the app as well).
Now I'm not going to sit here and critique why all the other reading
apps I've used fall short of Apple's version in its glory days -- how
they either don't bother including a page flip animation or don't
capture the nuances of shadowing and how a real page reacts to your
touch. Not because I don't want to, of course, but because I feel
like it's better to just show you a series of GIFs so you can see for
yourself.
Libby, which lets you rent e- and audio-books from your local
library, opts to just slide the page over.Libby, which lets
you rent e- and audio-books from your local library, opts to just
slide the page over.Google Books has an animation, but it's
the same every time; it's not actually reacting to what you're doing.
Google Books has an animation, but it's the same every time;
it's not actually reacting to what you're doing.The Kindle
app is heart-breakingly close to being okay, but its shading doesn't
look quite right, and it stutters every. single. time.The
Kindle app is heart-breakingly close to being okay, but its shading
doesn't look quite right, and it stutters every. single. time.
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1/3
Libby, which lets you rent e- and audio-books from your local
library, opts to just slide the page over.
E-reader fans might say that I should be doing my reading on a
dedicated device that's not as subject to ever-changing software --
and I admittedly have found that a physical page turn button
scratches the same itch that Apple's animation used to, even if the
transitions on e-ink displays are usually pretty eh. But even if I
were to buy a Kobo or Boox or something, that wouldn't help me with
the dozens of books I've already purchased on Apple's platform.
Related
* The Libby app put a refuge in my pocket when I needed it most
I'm sure there are plenty of people thinking that this is an
absolutely ridiculous thing to complain about; I can just feel people
typing out "wow, slow news day?" comments. And yeah, I'll fully admit
that this may be a slightly petty article about a very small thing
that probably won't matter to very many other people. But it
genuinely was a feature that made me choose to buy e-books on Apple's
platform instead of anyone else's -- and given how same-y most book
stores and reading apps are in the broad strokes, it really is the
details that get you locked into an ecosystem. The iOS 16 version of
the books app does have some genuinely good upgrades, but it's no
longer a joy to use; and to me, that's a real shame.
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