It’s nostalgic to think back to the days when listening to an audiobook required carefully tracking down and avoiding scratches on multiple compact discs. Getting your hands on audiobooks to listen to these days is as simple as picking up an iPhone or ordering a product on Amazon.
The iPhone’s in-house audiobook platform, Apple Books, is a worthy app, despite the fact that there are many great third-party options for doing so.
Here’s how to begin downloading and listening to audiobooks in the Apple Books app if you’re ready to expand your iPhone’s audio library beyond music and podcasts.
How to Listen to Audiobooks on iPhone: Quick Answer
Listening to audiobooks on an iPhone is similar to reading a book. However, you must first locate it in the Apple Books app on your best iPhone.
- From the Home screen, open the Books app.
- Select Library.
- To open the audiobook, tap it. It will start playing automatically.
How to Listen to Audiobooks on iPhone
- On your iPhone, launch the Apple Books app. Swipe right from the middle of the screen to bring up the search bar if you’ve never used it and aren’t sure where it is on your iPhone.
- Select “Audiobooks” from the bottom-of-the-screen menu. You can also go to the same page by tapping “Explore Audiobooks” from the “Reading Now” tab, which appears whenever you launch the app.
- Explore categories like “New & Trending,” top charting audiobooks, or special price deals to find an audiobook.
- If you already know what audiobook you want to download, go to the “Search” tab on the far right and type in the title.
- Tap the book you want to listen to, making sure it’s in the “Audiobooks” category.
- You can preview the book, gift it, add it to a wish list, and do other things. If you’re ready to buy, click the black “Buy” button, which will display the audiobook’s price.
- If you are connected to Wi-Fi, the book will usually begin downloading immediately. Tap “Listen” to begin listening immediately.
If you want to listen to the audiobook again later, you can find it in the “Library” section of Apple Books.
How to Go to a Specific Time in an Audiobook
Underneath the audiobook cover is a playhead. You can move it to a specific point in the book by dragging it. While an audiobook is playing, perform the following steps:
- To go to a specific time, move the playhead left or right.
- To listen, press the Play button.
- To return to the playhead’s original starting point, tap the gray circle.
How to Change an Audiobook’s Playback Speed
If you don’t have the time to listen to a 20-hour audiobook, you can save time by speeding up the playback. Follow these steps in the Books app:
- Tap the audiobook you want to listen to.
- Tap the playback speed button until you reach the desired speed.
The following playback speeds are available: 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x, and 0.75x.
Setting a Sleep Timer on an Audiobook
You’re in luck if reading a good book puts you to sleep. You can do so without draining your device’s battery by using a sleep timer. Follow these steps in the Books app:
- Tap the audiobook you want to listen to.
- Select the sleep timer option.
- Select a number of minutes — or even a custom number of hours and minutes — before the audio stops playing.
The timer will start immediately, and you must tap the play button to start playback.
How to Change the Audio Output for Audiobooks
The audio from an audiobook can be routed not only through the internal speakers of an iPhone or iPad, but also to Bluetooth and — with iOS 15 — to AirPlay 2-enabled devices such as HomePod and your Apple TV. Follow these steps in the Books app:
- Tap the audiobook you want to listen to.
- Select the AirPlay option.
- Tap the device where you want the audio to be played.
Return to the audiobook by tapping on the screen.
10 Best Apps to Listen to Audiobooks on iPad and iPhone
#1. Audible
Amazon powers the Audible platform. It is the world’s largest and most advanced audiobook service. It has the most audiobook titles, including those published exclusively for the platform.
However, audiobooks are not the only thing available on Audible. Original audio shows and short-form narratives can be found here. A-list celebrities, for example, can be heard narrating their favorite stories.
Audible allows you to select your preferred method of receiving the content. You can either buy audiobooks individually or through one of the Audible subscriptions: Audible Plus or Audible Premium Plus. Subscriptions have the advantage of allowing you to download and listen to audiobooks whenever you want without having to switch to a browser to complete the purchase.
When you decide to give Audible a try, you can immediately access everything you downloaded for free or purchased on your iOS Audible app.
Furthermore, the app is ad-free and free of charge, and it syncs audiobooks in your account across all connected devices. Even if you are not connected to the internet, you can listen to audiobooks.
The player also provides high-quality audio without interruptions, allows you to adjust the narration speed, and allows you to quickly advance or backward.
#2. Libby
OverDrive’s Libby is a next-generation application for managing the content you borrow from multiple libraries. Because you can register more than one library card, it is possible.
It only takes a few taps after signing up to find and borrow an ebook or audiobook. You can download audiobooks to listen to them offline, but you can also stream them to save space on your iPhone or iPad.
The best thing about Libby is that all content from different libraries appears in a unified shelf, regardless of format. So, if your connected libraries have audiobooks, you can borrow them the same way you can ebooks. You can also play them within the app.
Libby is a great way to listen to free audiobooks of newly released books and hot bestsellers, as opposed to apps that provide access to free classic books.
Your public library’s catalog of ebooks and audiobooks may not be as extensive as Audible’s (and you may have to wait in line to borrow most popular titles), but it’s a simple, enjoyable, and, most importantly, legal way to listen to audiobooks for free.
#3. Google Play Books
After adding audiobooks to the Google Play Store in January 2018, Google’s iOS reading app has evolved into an all-in-one tool for digesting various types of digital content, including ebooks, audiobooks, textbooks, and comic books.
The Google Play Store’s book and audiobooks catalog is smaller than that of Amazon and Audible, but it is larger than that of Apple Books on the iPhone. One significant advantage is that you can purchase audiobooks individually rather than as part of a subscription.
If you were previously using Google Play Books on Android, install the iOS app on your iPad and iPhone, sign in with your Google or Gmail credentials, and all of your previous content should begin to sync.
Audiobooks are also synced. You can begin listening to an audiobook in a browser on your laptop and continue from where you left off in your iPad’s Play Books app. I tested it with a free audiobook from the Google Play Store, and it works flawlessly.
The Google Play Books app now allows you to control audiobooks directly via CarPlay, which is great news for those who enjoy listening to audiobooks in their car.
#4. Kobo
In September 2017, Kobo added audiobooks to their ebookstore. This means that ebooks (including comic books and textbooks) and audiobooks are now available in a single online location. And Kobo for iPad and iPhone is a single app that contains everything you’ve bought from the Kobo online store.
The app functions similarly to other ebook-audiobook combos. With the shared library, it’s either a book reader or an audiobook player. It’s important to remember that audiobook playback isn’t perfect. Audiobook-related issues are being addressed in new app updates.
The audiobook player in the Kobo app is well-designed and simple to use. With just one tap, you can navigate through the book thanks to a nice slider. The player shows how much time is left to finish, and you can slow or speed up the narration at any time.
#5. Nook Audiobooks
There is a special app designed to play Nook audiobooks for those who are adamant about sticking with the Barnes & Noble ecosystem. It is, however, a separate app from the standard Nook app for reading books.
To put it another way, unlike Google, iBooks, or Kobo, you’ll need two Nook apps to access digital content from the Barnes & Noble store.
Having a dedicated audiobook app, on the other hand, should ensure a smooth, error-free experience. According to several user reviews, the Nook Audiobooks app is not reliable or stable enough.
In terms of features, the Nook app connects you to the Nook audiobook store, which offers over 100,000 books, some of which are discounted. Most audiobooks allow you to test them out by downloading free samples.
#6. LibriVox Audio Books
LibriVox is a volunteer-run service that provides free audiobook versions of classic books that have become public domain in the United States.
A different company (Book Design LLC) created LibriVox Audio Books for the iPad and iPhone. However, it also provides free audiobooks from the LibriVox catalog.
The app is a great way to see if you like audiobooks. LibriVox is a free service that provides unlimited access to over 50,000 free audiobooks.
You can find audiobooks recorded in over 30 languages in the LibriVox catalog. The app is known for its literary classics, but it also includes biographies, history books, short stories, and poetry.
With 50,000 titles at your disposal, it’s easy to become disoriented. That is why LibriVox includes a powerful search function. You can search for audiobooks by keyword, title, author, or genre, or browse recently added audiobooks.
The app includes a sleep timer (in case you like to listen to audiobooks before bed) as well as an unlimited number of bookmarks.
#7. Audiobooks.com
Over 100,000 premium-quality audiobooks are available on the Audiobooks.com platform. Over 8,000 are available for free download. According to the company, hundreds of new audiobooks are added to the catalog each week.
All of your tracks are accessible via the iOS Audiobooks.com app, which is optimized for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch (no CarPlay support is currently available).
The application allows you to change the narration speed and set a sleep timer. The app’s distinguishing feature is the ability to live chat with customer service from within the app.
The service provided by Audiobooks.com is subscription-based. After the 30-day free trial period, you will pay $14.95 per month (the same as Audible).
#8. Scribd
Scribd is an intriguing subscription-based digital content platform.
If you’re looking for Audible alternatives, sign up for Scribd and try out the platform for free for 30 days.
Scribd provides unlimited access to various types of digital content, including ebooks, audiobooks, newspapers, and magazines, for a single flat monthly fee starting at $8.99.
And the Scribd app for iPad and iPhone allows you to read anything you want, regardless of format. It could be the most recent audiobook or a New York Times feature article. It implies that the app is more versatile than Google Play or Kobo, which do not provide access to newspapers and magazines.
Paid subscribers, according to the platform, can listen to an unlimited number of audiobooks per month. “Occasionally, we have to limit the titles that you’re able to access within a specific content library in a 30-day period.”
#9. Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle is one of the most popular book-reading apps for iOS, consistently ranking in the top three of the “Books” category.
The app does not have an audiobook player feature, but it does provide another exciting solution that allows the user to listen to books.
Unlike Google Play Books or Libby (which can function as both a book reader and an audiobook player), Kindle provides a much more versatile experience. It’s aimed at people who aren’t big fans of audiobooks.
You can buy an ebook and then add an audiobook companion later in the Kindle Store for a fraction of the audiobook’s regular price. As a result, you have one book in two formats.
With a few taps, Whispersync for Voice technology allows the user to switch between reading and listening. The location of your last read is synced between book versions and your devices. You can read on your iPad on your way to work and listen to music on your iPhone in the evening.
A Kindle app that allows you to add audiobook companions is a good solution not only for readers who want to be able to choose the format that best suits their mood, but also if you share your Kindle library with family members.
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How to Listen to Audiobooks on iPhone: References
