Struggling with page turning while reading on my iPad. Would a remote control app be

[Renate]

Swiping is stupid. Tapping makes a bit more sense. The goal is minimal movement.

You know what? I'm going to build an ear wiggling sensor.
That's probably the least muscular movement that I can get away with.
It actually looks like an EMG (muscle EKG) would work.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Renate

Swiping is stupid. Tapping makes a bit more sense. The goal is minimal movement.

You know what? I'm going to build an ear wiggling sensor.
That's probably the least muscular movement that I can get away with.
It actually looks like an EMG (muscle EKG) would work.

Tapping can leave more fingerprints then a simple swipe. Unless you use a stylus to tap.

[DJUNGELSKOG]

OP you can just connect a Bluetooth controller to your iPad and then enable the assistive touch option in the accessibility settings. From there you can select the “use game controller” option. This would let you control a cursor on your iPad with your controller’s thumbstick and then all you need to do is to press the “x” button to turn the pages. You don’t need to build any apps for this.

[lumping-sugar66]

Bluetooth page-turner enthusiast here! I’ve developed the Bluetooth page-turner add-on for KOreader (Kobo KOReader which you can find on this forum), and I use my trusty 8BitDo controller with KOReader every single day.

I usually read in two modes. The first is my casual reading mode, when I just want to sneak in a few pages during the day, this is done using the reader directly, no remote. The second is what I call my “trance mode,” where I spend hours reading while lying down, completely immersed.

In trance mode, I set my e-reader on a tablet stand, get a blanket on and with the Bluetooth controller, I can operate everything without ever leaving the comfort of my blanket. This is usually how I fall asleep.

I’m not sure how many people enjoy this kind of “trance reading,” but I’ve had multiple users reach out to thank me for making the plugins public, so I know there are at least a few kindred spirits out there.
As you can tell, I see a lot of potential in remote reader control. My faith in touchscreens, however, is very low. Here’s why:

Before going through all the trouble, I actually tried using a Wi-Fi page turner for a while (check out the thread “A Wi-Fi Remote Control Page Turner for Kobo e-Readers” on this forum). It’s essentially the same concept with yours, but designed for Kobo devices, and it works from a browser that you make fullscreen on your phone.

For proper remote control, you really need at least two buttons: previous page and next page. If you only have next page, I can almost guarantee you’ll misclick more often than you’d like,and eventually, you’ll need to intervene manually. But once you add a second button, precise control becomes the next challenge.

If you’re trying to operate your reader without looking directly at the controller, a non-tactile surface like a smartphone touchscreen becomes incredibly frustrating. Your finger will slide around, you’ll lose position, and you’ll start misclicking again.

I think anyone who’s willing to go through the effort of setting up a proper remote control will probably already own some kind of e-ink device, and for those, good remote solutions already exist. On an iPad, though, maybe a simple wireless keyboard plugin could still be a practical and tactile option.

For those who use kobo but not koreader, I highly recommend tsowell's kobo-nickel plugin that can be found here for similar remote device support.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by lumping-sugar66

Bluetooth page-turner enthusiast here!

No! I'm a Bluetooth page-turner enthusiast!

When I read about "WiFi page turners" I presumed that they were talking about some tiny thing based on an Espressif ESP32 controller with WiFi. WiFi is inherently more battery intensive than Bluetooth LE on both the ereader and the remote. Using a smart phone seems really pointless.

I collect and build all things Bluetooth but I haven't got around to getting any 8bitDo yet. I have a a 4 button keyfob (my normal ereader remote), a 4 button foot switch (based on the iRig BlueBoard enclosure) and a single button foot switch. 4 buttons gives me forward/back, menu (for a quick check of time) and "swap" that toggles between text and footnotes. In winter especially I like to keep my hands under the covers.

[lumping-sugar66]

Originally Posted by Renate

WiFi is inherently more battery intensive than Bluetooth LE on both the ereader and the remote. Using a smart phone seems really pointless.

That's quite true. Specially in Kobo, the wifi and bluetooth chip are one device, so there's really no turning bluetooth on without WiFi. As a result, running my remote with the kobo's built-in bluetooth drains the battery 3% per hour. The bluetooth device is alright, though.

Originally Posted by Renate

I collect and build all things Bluetooth but I haven't got around to getting any 8bitDo yet.

Oh I highly recommend it, specially for e-reader control, it has just the right amount of buttons for proper navigational features.

This picture shows the button layout of the 8BitDo micro and I have mapped them to the following functions:

R2: Increase font size
R: Decrease font size
L2: Turn 90 degrees CCW
L: Toggle Dark/Light mode
(-): Decrease brightness by 10%
(+): Increase brightness by 10%
d-pad-up: Set bookmark
d-pad-left: go to previous bookmark
d-pad-right: go to next bookmark
d-pad-down: go to the latest set bookmark
A: next page
Y: previous page
X: previous chapter
B: next chapter
star: Toggle alt navbar (koreaner feature)
home: Turn off bluetooth and disconnect

Since I hold the remote like a car key (and it's the right size), this layout works perfectly for me. The only thing I'm missing honestly is the control of the warm lighting but I haven't cared about that enough to do something about it yet. Instead of doing brightness adjustment with - and + signs, I could probably add banks of different control commands, and I can paginate through pages and pages of different controls.

Just wanted to expand on my use case in case the original poster is interested in a real life user story.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by softwaredude

Hi mobile read community. I'm a computer science student who loves reading, but I keep running into this problem when I'm reading on my iPad while cozy in bed or on the couch, I am constantly reaching over to swipe pages and it breaks my reading flow. I'm thinking of building an iPhone\Android app that connects to your Tablet and lets you turn pages on your iPad with simple button presses on your phone. I was thinking this could also be helpful for readers with mobility challenges or disabilities who find swiping difficult but can easily press buttons.

Does this resonate with anyone else? Would you actually use an app like this instead of buying one of those Bluetooth page-turning remotes? I'm curious if the convenience of using your phone (which you already have) would be better than getting another device, or if there are specific situations where remote page control would be genuinely useful. Not trying to sell anything - just want to make sure I'm solving a real problem before diving into this free project!

I like using keyboard/trackpad when my iPad is on a surface and docked in Magic Keyboard case, like it was a laptop.

But if I am holding it in my hands, which for me is more usual, I'm perfectly comfortable using tap or swipe to turn pages. Any external control (or app) would just get in the way. I'm not a fan of physical page turn buttons, as using these restricts how I can hold the device quite a bit.

Another option I use is scrolling mode, which many reading apps support: paragraphs aren't split between pages etc.

Voice control is also easy to set up, if you don't mind saying 'swipe left' to turn pages.

Reading apps that support text to speech will also advance pages without needing to touch the screen.