When iOS 16.0 was still in early beta, Apple teased us with many new Books actions in the Shortcuts app, but none of them were implemented in iOS 16.0 or 16.1. This is changing with Apple’s latest iPhone software update.
The only shortcut Apple Books action you’ll see in iOS 16.1 and earlier is:
- Add PDF to Books
Teasing activities in early 16.0 betas that Apple eventually dropped include:
- Change theme
- Open book
- open collection
- Open tab
- Change text size
- Book Search
- Switch Page
In iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 (currently in beta), you’ll see many of these teasing actions (with different names), but “Change Text Size”is missing. There’s also a brand new one we haven’t seen before for page navigation. Here’s everything available for Books actions in iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2:
- Add PDF to Books: Open PDF input in Books. This action cannot be started on Apple Watch.
- Change Book Appearance: Changes the look and theme of the reading.
- Change Page Navigation: Changes the style of page navigation between page turning and continuous scrolling.
- Change View: Opens a specific tab or sidebar view.
- Open Book or Audiobook: Opens a specific book or audiobook.
- Open Collection: Opens a specific standard collection.
- Play Audiobook: Plays a specific audiobook.
- Book Search: Search for books and audiobooks in your library and save by author and title.
- Turn Page: Move to the next or previous page.
Please note that these actions are not backwards compatible. If you try to use the Books shortcut with anything other than the Add PDF to Books action in iOS 16.1 and earlier, those actions will show up as Unknown Actions.
