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

[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!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by softwaredude

I was thinking this could also be helpful for readers with mobility challenges or disabilities who find swiping difficult but can easily press buttons.

Personally I find a dedicated ereader with physical page-turn buttons a much better option than a tablet or a phone, let alone a tablet/phone combination. As to whether an app on your phone would be better than a bluetooth remote, I imagine using such an app would drain your phone battery pretty nicely. But YMMV, as always.

[salamanderjuice]

Is that really needed? There's already apps that will let you use a phone as a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse and so long as the reading app supports paging with the arrow keys or some other physical key it should already be doable. Some of those apps allow custom key layouts too.

[jackm8]

I've one of those clip on page turners. I was very doubtful before purchase, and since that I've learned to rely on it a lot. Right now, I've no interest in using a phone to turn pages. Battery life concerns, and my preference for reading while phone is as far away from me as possible, are opposing the idea. But who knows what would happen, if an app was available for it. I guess an old phone could be utilised.

I was also looking at KOReader Page Turner project on github. But it only works in Koreader and, and it requires Wifi as well.

[Quoth]

My tablets and phones have volume buttons that work to turn the page.

If I was in arctic climate I might use a BT page turner. There are dedicated ones that are a mechanical finger for ereaders that don't have BT. But all Apple products you can read on have BT.

I can't imagine using phone as a remote for a tablet.

[softwaredude]

Thank you everyone for your replies, you saved me from spending countless hours building an app that no one would use. I guess the app doesn't solve a common problem.

Do you have any problems with your e reader or e reader technology in general that an app or software could solve ?

If you had a magic wand and could solve one pesky problem with the technology you commonly use what would it be ?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by softwaredude

Do you have any problems with your e reader or e reader technology in general that an app or software could solve ?

With my Kobo readers, not really. They can already be patched, they work well with Calibre and you can install other reading apps on them (e.g. KOReader). Their biggest problem is bugs in the software, but I don't think that's something that anyone outside Kobo can solve.

If you had a magic wand and could solve one pesky problem with the technology you commonly use what would it be ?

Well, eink is still pretty slow compared to computers and tablets. I'd like it to be faster, but then again, I only ever use eink for reading books, so it's not like I really need the speed.

[softwaredude]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Is that really needed? There's already apps that will let you use a phone as a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse and so long as the reading app supports paging with the arrow keys or some other physical key it should already be doable. Some of those apps allow custom key layouts too.

Do you have a rough idea of how popular using the Bluetooth keyboard/mouse to flip pages within the E Reader community ? From my understanding it seems as if only a small number of readers use that setup.

I have also heard of people using a stand for their reading device and then controlling it with a remote / keyboard / mouse.

I don't believe Apple's Book app supports Bluetooth mouse or keyboard ?

[softwaredude]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

With my Kobo readers, not really. They can already be patched, they work well with Calibre and you can install other reading apps on them (e.g. KOReader). Their biggest problem is bugs in the software, but I don't think that's something that anyone outside Kobo can solve.


Well, eink is still pretty slow compared to computers and tablets. I'd like it to be faster, but then again, I only ever use eink for reading books, so it's not like I really need the speed.

Ahh I see, too bad I don't work for Kobo and I could help you out with that. The speed of the eink could be due to the physical device and how fast it can render the information.

I was thinking more along the lines of a software product, I am not in the position to create a super fast eink hardware.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by softwaredude

If you had a magic wand and could solve one pesky problem with the technology you commonly use what would it be ?

My custom BT keyfob.
I use it even when my ereader is in my other hand.
I use it when my ereader is on a stand on my desk.
I use it when my ereader is on my bathtub stand.

A US quarter is between the size of a 1 € and a 2 € coin.

[tbergman]

I realize this thread is a little old but I just rran across it and wanted to respond.
It's pretty easy to set up voice control to change pages. So, when I say "next page", the page turns. This can be done with built in iPad features.
I have to say that speaking is almost as annoying as turning the page by hand but some might find it useful.
Here are some notes I took at the time I set this up. Not exactly well designed instructions but probably useful. I use this primarily on the iPad Kindle app but since it just executes a "Swipe Left" (or right) it should work with any reading app.

The notes:
First step is to set up voice control. As soon as voice control turned on, the iPad should understand “swipe left” or other built in gestures. There will likely be a bunch of extra stuff displayed like numbers for every screen object. Turn off most of the voice control options

To get “next page” to work, add a custom command that you specify and have this apply the swipe left gesture.

This will, by default, work everywhere once voice control is on. As I don’t want this on for every app, I added some shortcut code to turn voice control on/off when the kindle app starts/stops.

[drofgnal]

I've used my apple pencil with my iPad pro to turn pages just to keep the screen clean.

[svenlind]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I've used my apple pencil with my iPad pro to turn pages just to keep the screen clean.

I use a friendly swede

[Renate]

Originally Posted by svenlind

I use a friendly swede.

No, you are wrong.
This is a friendly Swede.

[JSWolf]

Page turning on an iPad is trivial. Just swipe the screen with your finger or a stylus.