Apple has quietly introduced a new tvOS app for kids called "iBooks Storytime," designed to allow children to read along with interactive books on their television sets.

iBooks Storytime features a selection of children's books from the iBooks Store that feature Read-Along capabilities. Read-Along books are audio-enhanced with different character voices, vivid sound effects, and word-for-word narration that children can follow along with.

ibooksstorytime
Parents can purchase Read-Aloud books chosen by App Store editors directly from the Apple TV and control the voice narration with the Siri Remote or turn on an automatic reading feature.

Some of the Read-Along titles include Lava, based on the Pixar short film, Green Eggs and Ham, Meet Tracker, The ABCs of Cookies, The Little Red Hen,
and Goodnight Moon. Apple is offering Dora's Big Buddy Race Read-Along Storybook as a free title for testing the feature.

Read-Along titles are also available on the iPhone and iPad, and previously-purchased selections will show up on the Apple TV. iBooks Storytime is a free download on the Apple TV. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

Zedcars Avatar
105 months ago
Call me a Luddite, but I don't think it's healthy for young kids to be staring at a TV screen right before they go to sleep. Even Apple acknowledges the issues of too much blue light entering the eyes at night by featuring Night Shift. But, it's not just that, health experts advise parents to limit screen time for their children.

I think the old-fashioned way with a book is much more intimate and healthier too.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pakaku Avatar
105 months ago
Read-Along books are audio-enhanced with different character voices, vivid sound effects, and word-for-word narration that children can follow along with.
If I could get Kermit the Frog as a Siri alternative, I would be all over that.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Thunderhawks Avatar
105 months ago
If nature adapts human eyes will eventually have the shape of TV/monitor screens.

As for books, what is wrong with just reading a book as it is?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Thunderhawks Avatar
105 months ago
Nothing? We're entering the future. Accept it. People like you is what is dragging us down to enter the future
People like you seem to think the future just has to be better, no matter what. There are a lot of conveniences, but are they really necessary at all cost?

Not everything about the future is beneficial or positive for humans and why needs there to be a thoughtless race into it?

A book, does not need batteries or a wifi hook up and can get many uses out of being passed on.
It may rip, but does not have broken glass or needs to be taken care off as much as anything you have to do on a computer device. There are kids books with plastic pages that can be taken into the bath tub. Try that with an iPad or so.

Especially kids books which come in many different sizes, diecut shapes, things to pull on, pushing on etc. enhance learning. To tap onto a computer screen is just not the same.

Any action which includes passively waiting for something to happen, does not stimulate what if thinking.

You can tell by the pages you can turn when the book is finished.

A books pages do not put glare into ones eyes and snuggling up with a child reading a book together at night is one of the best experiences one can provide.
If you have ever had a child coming to you with her favorite book asking you to read it, you know what I mean.

Books were a big thing when my kids were growing and my now 30 year old daughter was delighted that I saved all her children's books, which she is now reading to my grand daughter (Who is loving it)

You go into the future without me, it is never wrong to think before jumping into the latest fads.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
toph2toast Avatar
105 months ago
Is their really a need and/or demand for a service like this. Kind of takes the intimacy of reading a book to your child away...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
toph2toast Avatar
105 months ago
Nothing? We're entering the future. Accept it. People like you is what is dragging us down to enter the future
The future is not reading a book to your child? Seems a bit odd...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

airtag purple

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch Next Year With These New Features

Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development. Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag. Timing Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Magic Mouse Next to Keyboard

No, Apple CEO Tim Cook Didn't Say He Prefers Logitech's MX Master 3 Over the Magic Mouse

Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false. The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

18 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Wednesday November 13, 2024 2:09 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 next month, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well....
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Rumored to Surpass iPhone 6 as Thinnest iPhone Ever

Monday November 18, 2024 1:07 pm PST by
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick. "We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote. If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
iPhone 7 Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter

Apple Seemingly Discontinuing Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter Introduced Alongside iPhone 7

Sunday November 17, 2024 12:33 pm PST by
It appears that Apple is discontinuing the Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter that it released alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in 2016. The adapter was recently listed as "sold out" on Apple's online store in the U.S. and most other countries, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The adapter remains available from Apple in only a handful of countries, such as...
Apple TV 4K hero 221018 feature

It's 2009 Again: Apple is Apparently Reconsidering Making a TV

Sunday November 17, 2024 5:27 am PST by
Between around 2009 and 2011, it was repeatedly rumored that Apple would be releasing a TV, but that obviously never happened. Now, a decade-and-a-half later, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the idea is back on the table. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman briefly mentioned that Apple has been "evaluating" the "idea of making an Apple-branded TV set." He did not provide any further...