How to customize iBooks for iPhone and iPad

Don't like the page color? Change it! Font face or text size? Change it! iBooks lets you not only read what you want, but how you want.

Updated March 2017: Added information about cellular data and notifications.

Unlike a printed book, with Apple's built-in iBooks app for iPhone and iPad, you're not stuck on one paper style, font choice, or text size. You can customize your reading experience however you like and, better still, change it whenever you like!

How to change text size
How to change page color
How to control brightness
How to change the font
How to give iBooks access to your Contacts
How to enable or disable cellular data
How to customize notifications

How to change text size

The page layout for each ebook you read will be a little different, and as such, you may need to adjust the text size for a book. You can change the size at any time, and iBooks will automatically apply that size to the entire book.

Launch iBooks from your Home screen.
Tap My Books at the bottom left of your screen.
Tap the cover of the book you want to read.
Tap the letter button at the top of your book (it looks like a small and large capital A).
Tap the large A to increase the text size, or tap the small A to shrink the text size.

To exit the drop-down, tap anywhere on the page.

How to change page color

The default page color for iBooks is white. You have a few other options for page colors.

Tap the letter button at the top of your book.
Tap on one of the four colored circles to change the page background. If you choose gray or black, your text will appear white.

When you're satisfied with your color choice, tap anywhere on the screen to exit.

How to control brightness

Don't want to blind yourself while reading? Here's how to adjust the screen brightness.

Tap the letter button at the top of your book.
Tap and hold the slider. Moving it left will dim the screen; moving it right will make the screen brighter.

Tap anywhere on the screen to go back to reading.

How to change the font

When you select a different font, your preference will be applied library-wide to all of your ebooks. That said, you can change that font at any time from the book you're currently reading.

Tap the letter button at the top of your book.
Tap Fonts in the drop-down screen. Tap a font and a checkmark will appear next to your choice.

Tap anywhere on the screen to exit.

How to give iBooks access to your Contacts

Certain widgets inside multimedia iBooks may require access to your contacts to function. To authorize or remove access to this feature, you need only flip a switch.

Launch Settings from your Home screen.
Scroll down and tap iBooks.
Flip the switch next to Contacts, under Allow iBooks to Access.

How to enable or disable cellular data

Many multimedia iBooks choose to reference videos stored online rather than embed them inside the book; if you're reading them on a cellular connection, you'll need to grant iBooks access to your cellular data to view them. In addition, if you're trying to download new books on your data connection, you'll need to enable cellular data.