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How to Use Reader Mode in Safari for Distraction-Free Browsing

17th May 2024

1:36

iPad | QuickTips

| Safari
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11" iPad Pro (2nd Generation)
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iPadOS 17.5
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Jacob Woolcock

17th May 2024

Jacob Woolcock

165 views

1:36

| Safari
ipad_no_button
11" iPad Pro (2nd Generation)
ipados-17-icon
iPadOS 17.5

nothing to see here!

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Description

In this how-to video, I demonstrate the use of Reader Mode in Safari, a straightforward yet powerful accessibility feature that significantly enhances your web browsing experience by removing distractions like adverts and extraneous links.

I’ll guide you through activating Reader Mode, customising your reading environment with different background colours and fonts, and using the text-to-speech function for auditory assistance.

Additionally, I’ll show you how to take full-page screenshots and save annotated content as PDFs.

This tutorial is especially useful for students and researchers who need to organise and highlight online information efficiently, ultimately improving digital literacy and maximising productivity and accessibility.

Transcript

Reader Mode in Safari is one of the simplest accessibility features to use, but in my opinion, it provides a significant benefit to its users. When you’re on a website and browsing an article or blog post, you’ll often find there are lots of adverts or other links around the page. This can be distracting and clutters up what you’re looking at.

In the address bar, if Reader Mode is available, you can tap on the two A’s icon and choose “Show Reader”. This will immediately transform the page into a written post with the main images and body text in a clean and easy-to-read format. There are no adverts to distract us anymore, and no links to other pages. Everything you want is there to see.

At the top, if I press that double A button again, I can change the background colour and the font to make it easier to read. There’s even an option here to speak the page, and the iPad will read it out loud to you. Simply tap the double A again and then pause reading when you want to stop.

One other cool thing you can do in Reader Mode is to take a full-page screenshot of all that content. Simply take a screenshot as normal and, at the top of the screen, tap on “Full Page”. This will create one long PDF document of everything that you can see in Reader Mode. Of course, you can use the markup tools if you want to annotate and highlight what you found, which is great for students doing research.

When you’re done, you can save that either as a photo to your Photos app or, more usefully in my opinion, as a PDF to the Files app. From there, you can highlight the text, have it read aloud again, and have all the options available to you just like you would with any other PDF.

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About Safari
The Safari app is Apple's web browser, designed for fast and efficient internet browsing on iOS and macOS devices. It offers features such as intelligent tracking prevention, reading mode, and iCloud syncing, providing a secure and seamless browsing experience across all Apple devices.
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Video Details

This QuickTip video was recorded on an 11" iPad Pro (2nd Generation)
running iPadOS 17.5.

Thank You

All of my content is completely free to watch. However, to create these videos I require a steady stream of caffeine!  If you’ve found this QuickTip helpful then please do consider buying me a coffee. Thank you.

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Additional Information

The content used in this video is intended for educational and informational purposes only. All rights to the images, music, clips, and other media used belong to their respective owners. I do not claim ownership over any third-party content used. This video has not been authorised, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc.

Files, iPad, iPadOS, Photos and Safari are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions. Whilst I have done my best to list all applicable trademarks for this video, in the (hopefully unlikely) event that I have missed any you can find a full list of trademarks registered to Apple Inc. here.

Finally, please note that whilst every effort has been made to ensure the information contained within this video was correct at time of publication, please be aware that as future updates and software changes occur some or all elements of this video may become outdated. I will endeavour to remove videos which are completely obsolete so as not to cause confusion!

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