If you happen to do a lot of reading on your iPhone or iPad, chances are that you mostly want to minimize distractions, such as related content or any kind of widgets and misc assets a page may have loaded for you. Thankfully, if you're on iOS, there's a well-implemented, robust special mode called 'Reader View', available by default on your built-in Safari browser.
What Reader View does (often refereed to as Reader mode) is pretty simple: eliminate images and other elements that are not essential to the content, usually with great success (read: sometimes it removes assets it should leave alone, as they're a part of the article). Reader View re-flows texts very well, and even desktop sites get re-worked into a mobile-friendly version pretty much flawlessly. Problem is, we often come across people who are not aware of the extra, as it can be a bit hard to spot. This being such a great feature, we obviously felt compelled to share the knowledge with those of you who were unaware of one of the very few perks that Apple's mobile Safari browser brings to the table. Just follow these steps and refer to the screenshots below.
Step #1: Open Safari and load a page with an article in it.
Step #2: Wait for the page to fully load. Once it does, look for a small icon (looks like four horizontal lines) to appear on the topmost left, next to the page URL. The URL bar will also flash with "Reader View Available" for a short time.
Step #3: Click the icon and wait for the page to get reloaded in an easily-legible format. That's it! You can now enjoy Reader View whenever you feel like it.
Reader View with Safari for iOS - before and after.
N.B.! Keep in mind that Reader View is not a bandwidth-saving feature. For the option to become available, the web page needs to first fully load.
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Chris Panayotov is a former mobile tech reviewer of phones, tablets and wearables at PhoneArena. However, his contribution to PhoneArena content includes not just reviews, but all kinds of regular and experimental features, such as news stories, buying guides, and an exclusive column on the most notable phones out of Asia.
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