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Apr 12, 2001
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Safari for iOS has a nifty built-in "Reader" feature that's designed to allow Safari users to read online articles with a distraction-free design that tucks away ads and other visual clutter on supported sites.


You can tap the Reader icon whenever you're reading through an article to activate this mode, but there's also a way to turn it on for all articles on a specific website or all supported articles on the web.

  1. Open up Safari.
  2. Navigate to a favorite website like MacRumors.com.
  3. Click on an article.
  4. In the navigation bar at the top, where it says "Reader View Available," tap and hold on the icon that looks like three lines.
From here, you'll see a pop that says "Automatic Reader View," with options to either enable Automatic Reader View on the website you're currently visiting or on all websites.

With this feature enabled, all articles that you click on for a specific website (or all websites if you chose that option) will be displayed in Reader View by default.

You can also use Reader View on the Mac too, and your Automatic Reader preferences for Mac can be accessed by going to Preferences in the Safari Mac app and choosing "Reader" under general. You can also turn Reader on for all articles on a particular webpage by right clicking or clicking and holding on the Reader icon while visiting a website.

Article Link: How to Enable Automatic Reader View in Safari for iOS
 

John.B

macrumors 601
Jan 15, 2008
4,192
705
Holocene Epoch
I turned this on once in Safari on one of my Macs for a website that (a) doesn’t have reader view enabled on their home page but (b) does on all of their linked articles, and, try as I might, I’ve never been able to get it turned back off on my iPhone. I’ve disabled reader view in Safari on my iMac, my Mac mini, and MBP and they all work normally now (as does my iPad) but every article on my iPhone continued to open in reader view and I had to turn it off each time to see the normal page. What I needed was a way to disable automatic reader view in iOS.

Long story short, long-pressing reader view on one of the afflicted webpages finally let me turn it off. You learn something new every day. Props to Juli and the MR crew!
 
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JosephAW

macrumors 603
May 14, 2012
5,886
7,747
I like that Twitter has an automatic news feature option when clicking a link. Too bad it couldn't be set on all the time or for specific sites.
 

Jeaz

macrumors 6502a
Dec 12, 2009
677
1,147
Sweden
Love this feature and acts as my “ad block” as it clears all ads from the article.

Worth mentioning that I couldn’t see in the article is that you can also have it enabled on all sites and the disable it for single sites, so reverse of the default mode. This is how I use it, reader mode wherever possible but some sites, like Wikipedia, I still want the normal view.
 

kklaus

macrumors newbie
Feb 6, 2010
21
61
I had just discovered this in MacOS yesterday and was wondering if there was a way to turn this on in iOS. Great timing!
 

JonnyBlaze

macrumors 6502
May 5, 2008
281
272
UK
thanks for the reminder. i knew about this, but have never really used it - not sure why though, because after reading this i've enabled it on a few sites and I love it. keep the tips coming!
 

CrystalQuest76

Suspended
Dec 14, 2015
640
717
West Cost A Lot
Tutorials like this combined with what is posted on MacMost.com have increased my productivity. So many of us get caught up in the habit of using the same tools we often don't take the time to explore and see if there are better or alternative ways of doing things. Sometimes making changes do cause downstream issues and disrupt previously efficient work practices.
Getting more use out of existing tools is always a great way of saving money. And saving money is not a crime.
 

wheelyweb

macrumors newbie
Apr 3, 2013
2
0
Sydney, Australia
I turned this on once in Safari on one of my Macs for a website that (a) doesn’t have reader view enabled on their home page but (b) does on all of their linked articles, and, try as I might, I’ve never been able to get it turned back off on my iPhone. I’ve disabled reader view in Safari on my iMac, my Mac mini, and MBP and they all work normally now (as does my iPad) but every article on my iPhone continued to open in reader view and I had to turn it off each time to see the normal page. What I needed was a way to disable automatic reader view in iOS.

Long story short, long-pressing reader view on one of the afflicted webpages finally let me turn it off. You learn something new every day. Props to Juli and the MR crew!
[doublepost=1542239118][/doublepost]I've been trying to turn this off as it seems to be active whenever I follow a link from twitter. I see the option use on all websites so I selected that, then went back and selected "Stop Using on All Websites". no change. how do I kill that feature!
 

Go_hawks

macrumors newbie
Jul 14, 2019
1
0
I turned this on once in Safari on one of my Macs for a website that (a) doesn’t have reader view enabled on their home page but (b) does on all of their linked articles, and, try as I might, I’ve never been able to get it turned back off on my iPhone. I’ve disabled reader view in Safari on my iMac, my Mac mini, and MBP and they all work normally now (as does my iPad) but every article on my iPhone continued to open in reader view and I had to turn it off each time to see the normal page. What I needed was a way to disable automatic reader view in iOS.

Long story short, long-pressing reader view on one of the afflicted webpages finally let me turn it off. You learn something new every day. Props to Juli and the MR crew!

Awesome! I HATE reader view, and really had no idea what it even was, all I knew was that something was terribly WRONG with safari, and it was HIGHLY frustrating!!! Glad that nonsense is gone for good!!!
 

carolined

macrumors newbie
Feb 16, 2009
12
28
Unfortunately reader view is not gone at all.
Always when I go from twitter to safari, it falls into reader view... It is impossible to turn it off.
So... I am totally not interesting in enabling but utterly interested in disabling. I think the feature is basically okay, but only when I want it certainly not as always on. Can imagine that some hate this feature.
Everything I tried upto now in disabling this feature, which is about all the common advices, has failed.
 

John.B

macrumors 601
Jan 15, 2008
4,192
705
Holocene Epoch
Unfortunately reader view is not gone at all.
Always when I go from twitter to safari, it falls into reader view... It is impossible to turn it off.
So... I am totally not interesting in enabling but utterly interested in disabling. I think the feature is basically okay, but only when I want it certainly not as always on. Can imagine that some hate this feature.
Everything I tried upto now in disabling this feature, which is about all the common advices, has failed.
If you are seeing reader view on many (all?) websites, go to Settings... Safari... Reader, then scroll to the bottom to see if reader is turn on for "Other Websites". Any other websites that have been set previously will be in that list. HTH
 
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