How to Use Safari’s Reader Mode in iOS 7

Reading is one of the most popular activities to do, especially on an iPad with a Retina display. The text looks sharp and clear – almost like a real book. This makes it ideal for reading any iOS device with a Retina display. But browsing the web and reading articles in the Safari web browser can be a different story.

Websites of all types have incredible content to read. However, if you really want to dive into the content but are paying the bills, the ads can sometimes distract you so they don’t disappear anytime soon. However, Safari in iOS 7 has a small feature called Reader Mode. Reader Mode can actually take a web article and turn it into a page with text only and accompanying photos and videos. Here’s how to enable it.

Enabling Safari Reader Mode

The button to enable Reader Mode is clearly hidden if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Follow these super simple and quick steps to make it happen:

1. Open the application.
2. Go to a website with articles (preferably Moyens I/O.com, because I heard they have really great content).
3. Click on an article you want to read.
4. A small button with multiple parallel lines should appear to the left of the address bar and to the right of the Share button (pictured below). Click on it!

This will instantly turn the web page into a distraction-free palette that your eyes can read in peace. All photos and embedded videos included in the article. Here’s the before and after of what Reader Mode looks like:

There’s a pretty big difference, and it’s a great feature if you want to read a long-form article of any genre. Unfortunately, Google Chrome doesn’t have this feature on iOS, so if you want to take advantage of Reader Mode, you’ll have to do it in Safari.