Apple Moves Audiobooks into iBooks App, Adds Chapter Select in iOS 8.4 Beta - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple Moves Audiobooks into iBooks App, Adds Chapter Select in iOS 8.4 Beta

by

Earlier today, Apple seeded the first iOS 8.4 beta, which includes a revamped Music app, to developers. MacRumors forum user pazimi has found that Apple has also made changes to how it handles audiobooks in the new beta, moving playback from the Music app to the iBooks app.

audiobooks8.4

Audiobooks in iBooks in iOS 8.4 beta.

Currently, in iOS 8.3, a users' audiobook library is divorced from their ebook library, forcing users to use two different apps to access their entire digital book library. The new update consolidates all books in Apple's iBooks app and also fixes another longstanding issue with audiobooks on iOS. Since iOS 7, audiobook listeners have been unable to view chapter titles or even select them. However, pazimi points out that while chapters are now selectable in iOS 8.4, they do not list the actual chapter titles, as they're listed as "track numbers".

Finally, Apple has added a new fast forward and fast rewind feature, allowing users to easily scrub through an audiobook chapter. Users simply have to drag the book cover art to the left or right and hold to jump back or move forward further within the audiobook.

Update: iOS 8.4 also adds a standalone Audiobooks app to the CarPlay interface.

Related Forum: iOS 8

Top Rated Comments

The Doctor11 Avatar
143 months ago
That's where it should have been in the first place. Glad it's fixed now.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
arn Avatar
143 months ago
MacRumors could have credited the first person to bring this up in the other thread.

They chose not to.

Garry - we did. pazimi posted it before you did. He/she also submitted it via the tips@macrumors.com email, which also gave us a heads up on it.

arn
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
garylapointe Avatar
143 months ago
App store app.

Now if we could get an App Store app and get the apps out of iTunes.

I wouldn't mind getting iTunes U out of there too....

Gary
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Icaras Avatar
143 months ago
Awesome, glad to see Apple cleaning up it's stores. This makes so much more sense now.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jeaz Avatar
143 months ago
Hopefully this means audiobooks are covered by iCloud now. Oddly the last remnant that you can't easily redownload.

Something like WhisperSync would be an awesome addition.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dugbug Avatar
143 months ago
Next app: videos. Oh please fix the videos app
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
ios 26 4 pastel

iOS 26.4: Top 10 New Features Coming to Your iPhone

Friday March 20, 2026 2:44 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 isn't the major update with new Siri features that we hoped for, but there are some useful quality of life improvements, and a little bit of fun with an AI playlist generator and new emoji characters. Playlist Playground - Apple Music has a Playlist Playground option that lets you generate playlists from text-based descriptions. You can include moods, feelings, activities, or...
Related Apple News: Iphone | Opinion | Travel | Technology | Lifestyle