iPad iPadOS 14: Books in Portrait mode - imposes two columns

[timothevs]

It seems like with iPadOS 14, Apple has forgotten that portrait orientation users of the iPad exist.

I read voraciously on my iPad Pro 12.9 3rd Gen. My eyesight is perfectly fine, and I like my fonts 'normal' sized. Till iOS 13, I could read one page at a time on Books, as I expected. I have consumed nearly 78 books this year in Books, thanks to how awesome the whole experience is. I expected to reach 100 by December. Considering I read 10 books last year, this was going to be a personal achievement.

Come iPadOS14 I see TWO columns in the portrait mode, and no way of switching that off, unless I make my fonts so large that it negates the whole experience of reading on a large screen. I wonder why this decision was taken? Sure Apple can default it to two columns in landscape mode, but please give us an option to switch it off.

I am curious, did anyone ASK for this to be the default behavior? does anyone know how to switch it off...?

 

[xnyed]

Hi I just registered an account to reply to your post. I too am having this problem! A quick search on google of "ipad books two columns" hasn't returned anything that can solve the issue (that's how I found your post) but I did find a reddit post 4 years ago with our exact same problem. Hopefully it will be fixed with the next app update. Anyway, if you do find a solution to this please share it!

Edit: I forgot to add that changing the format to Vertical Scrolling "fixes" the problem, but obviously I would like to turn the pages forward and back with the side taps.

 

[timothevs]

Thanks! I will. In the meantime I've submitted my feedback on the Apple Support site. Not that I think anyone will listen. :-/

I too discovered the vertical scrolling 'fix', and I agree, it completely detracts from the Books experience. I'd rather switch to a different application than turn to vertical scrolling.

I'd really hate to have to switch to my Kobo Forma (can read ePub), but till this is fixed, I don't think there's an alternative. Color me disappointed, but I am glad I am not the only one.

 

[timothevs]

Well, color me happy. Seems like Apple doth listen. I updated to 14.2 and my portrait mode single column is back. Whee!