Brilliant things to do on your device
4545BEST APPS FOR... Reading ebooks
Issue 632 • 25 May – 7 June 2022*Contains in-app purchasesLibby by Overdrive
Free
Android http://www.snipca.com/41925
iOS http://www.snipca.com/41926
Why pay for ebooks when you can borrow
them for free from your local library using
Libby? Simply sign in with your library card- or request one – to browse available titles,
then download them to your phone or tablet
to read in the app. Libby alerts you when
your loan period is about to expire so you can
return ebooks and borrow more.
Best For Borrowing ebooks to read for free
FBReader
Free*
Android http://www.snipca.com/41923
iOS http://www.snipca.com/41924
Although FBReader doesn’t have its own
ebook store, it lets you download and read
free stories in formats including EPUB, RTF,
HTML, MOBI and (via a plug-in) PDF. You can
tweak text fonts, size and colour, use custom
backgrounds and day/night colour schemes,
and look up words in external dictionaries.
Best For Customising your reading experienceKindle
Free
Android http://www.snipca.com/41917
iOS http://www.snipca.com/41918
Amazon’s excellent Kindle app lets you
browse and buy ebooks from its store (an
option now dropped from its Shopping app –
see page 49) and read them on your phone
and tablet in high contrast. You can sync your
furthest page read across devices, easily
manage your ebook library and get insights
about your reading habits.
Best For Reading ebooks from AmazoniOS
Eject water from an iPhone
using a shortcut
All iPhones are water-resistant to a
certain degree, which means that
dropping them in the sink, bath or toilet
won’t instantly break them. But moisture
can linger in places such as the device’s
speakers, which can eventually cause
damage, so it’s best to get rid of it as
quickly as possible. Help is at hand from
a third-party shortcut called Water Eject,
which produces sound at a frequency
that vibrates your iPhone’s speakers to
expel any lingering liquid.
To use Water Eject, all you need is the
Shortcuts app on your iPhone – this is
preinstalled, but you can also download it
from the Apple Apps Store at http://www.
snipca.com/41890.
Open your iPhone’s browser, go to
Water Eject’s page in the Shortcuts
Gallery (www.snipca.com/41889) and get
the shortcut by tapping Get Shortcut,
then Add Shortcut. Open the Shortcuts
app, if it doesn’t launch automatically,
and tap Water Eject. In the menu that
opens, select Begin Water Ejection (see
screenshot above). A tone will play for
roughly 15 seconds. Once finished, a
pop-up message will appear to inform
you that the liquid has been successfully
ejected from your speaker.
You can also add the Water Eject
shortcut to your home screen for easy
access, which is handy if you often
submerge your iPhone in water. Tap the
three-dot button in the top-right corner
of the shortcut, then the icon with three
horizontal bars. On the Details tab, select
‘Add to Home Screen’, then tap Add.
iOS
Check your spelling and
grammar in Outlook
The Outlook app for iPhone and iPad
has been updated to help you avoid
making spelling and grammar mistakes
in emails. The app now includes Microsoft
Editor, which underlines words you
misspell in red and grammatical errors
(including poor punctuation) in blue, and
suggests corrections when you tap them
(see screenshot right) that you can tap to
apply. Microsoft says the feature will help
prevent “those pesky little typos that your
thumbs sneak in sometimes” and help
improve your writing style so you can send
emails from your phone with confidence.
Microsoft Editor is already available
in the online versions of Outlook and
Word, and as an extension for Edge and
Chrome, but hasn’t yet been added to the
Outlook app for Android. It’s activated by
default in the iOS app, but is easy to turnoff if you find it annoying or you prefer to
use a different spelling and grammar
checker. Press the three-line menu
button in the top-left corner of your
Outlook inbox, and tap the Settings cog
in the bottom left. Select your email
account and switch off Microsoft Editor
under Account Settings.