Whether you want to push yourself to read more or are just curious how much you actually do read, here’s how to set up Reading Goals in the Apple Books app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The Apple Books app can help if you ever thought of keeping track of how much time you spend reading each day or how many books you read in a year.
A handy feature built right into the Books app lets you set reading goals. Reach your goal each day and share your achievements when you do. You can also set a goal for the number of books you want to read in a year.
Your daily and yearly reading goals sync via iCloud to all your iOS, iPadOS, and macOS devices where you have the same Apple Account.
Enable Reading Goals on iPhone or iPad
- Open Settings, tap Apps from the bottom, and select Books.
- Turn on the toggle for Reading Goals.
- Enable Include PDFs if you want PDFs to apply to those goals.
Note: You’ll also see a link to Clear Reading Goals Data. This is just something to keep in mind if you want to remove that data down the road.
See your reading goals
When you open the Books app on your iPhone or iPad, you should see a Reading Goal icon at the top of the Home tab. It displays your daily reading goal in a small font, along with the number of minutes you have read for the day in the center.
Set up your daily reading goal
The default reading goal for a day is 5 minutes, but you can change it as shown below.
- Open the Apple Books app and tap the reading goal icon at the top of the Home tab. You can also just scroll down the Home tab to the Reading Goals section.
- Tap “of your 5-minute goal,” followed by Adjust Goal from the next screen.
- Select from 1 minute per day to 1440 minutes (i.e., 24 hours) per day and tap Done.
As you read books (or PDFs) in the Books app, you’ll see how close you get to your goal each day. And if you achieve it, you’ll see a notification. You can also share that achievement by tapping “of your n-minute goal” and then Share.
Set up a yearly reading goal
You can set up a yearly Reading Goal as well. This will include the number of books you read and is directly below your daily Reading Goal. The default number is 3 books a year, but you can change it to up to 365 books!
- Open the iOS Books app and go to the Reading Goals section of the Home tab.
- Tap “3 more books to reach your goal,” followed by Adjust Goal.
- Set your yearly book reading goal from 1 to 365 books and tap Done.
As you finish books (or mark them as finished), they will display in the yearly Reading Goal area for easy tracking. And like with daily goals, you can tap the yearly goal and hit Share to let others know you’re accomplishing your objectives.
Reading Goal features
Each time you open the Books app, you’ll see how close you are to reaching your daily goal right at the top of the Home tab. And if you have days in a row where you’ve reached your goal, you’ll see that too. Plus, you can pick up right where you left off with your current book by tapping the “Keep Reading” button in the Reading Goals section.
Reading Goals in Apple Books on Mac
The macOS Books app also has reading goals. Just like iPhone and iPad, it’s enabled by default. If you turned it off, enable it by following these steps:
- Open the Books app on Mac.
- Click Books > Settings from the top menu bar.
- Check the box for “Enable Reading Goals.”
You can see your daily and yearly progress by scrolling down to the Reading Goals section of the Apple Books Home tab. And to adjust your daily reading goal or yearly books goal, click the settings icon at the top right and change them accordingly.
Setting goals is what drives and motivates us, and reading is no different. Reading stimulates our minds, educates us, improves our vocabulary, and enhances focus and concentration. So if you’d like to start reading more, check out the Reading Goals feature in Books and be proud of your accomplishments!
Are you going to try out the Reading Goals option in Books? If so, let us know what kind of goals you set for yourself!
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