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Google Play Books
Choose from millions of titles on Google Play including new releases, New York Times best sellers, up-and-coming authors, and free books. Easily personalize your reading experience, pick up where you left off on your phone, tablet, or computer, and get reading today
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Here are the latest news about Google Play Books:
01.06.25. Google, Kobo and Kindle now allow to easily buy books on iOS
Google Play Books, Kobo Books and Amazon Kindle app have received updates to allow users get “Get Book” option, where they are automatically redirected to their website to complete the transaction and then brought back to the app, where the book will be available for reading right away. Before this, buying books on iOS was less than ideal. You had to open Safari browser manually, find the book you wanted to purchase and buy it, manually open the ebook app again and sync. Apple has allowed the update due to a recent court battle, in which they lost. In the US and Europe, they must enable apps to use third-party payments and can be redirected to the company’s website to complete the final transaction. This has been a boon for the e-book space, as well as audiobooks.
2025. Google Play Books purchases on iOS now can be done without App Store’s commission
Google has managed to wrangle permission to sell its e-books and audiobooks directly through its Google Play Books app on iOS. This is, of course, a bit like being given permission to breathe, but only after filing the appropriate paperwork in triplicate. Historically, iOS apps have been allowed to display content you purchased elsewhere—like a book you heroically hunted down on the vast and treacherous plains of the internet—but actually directing users to a website to make a purchase has required a special dispensation from Apple, presumably written on parchment and delivered by a messenger on horseback. Now, thanks to an announcement that was likely drafted with a certain amount of quiet glee, Google has revealed that users will be able to click a handy little “Get book” button, which will whisk them away to the Google Play website, where they can finalize their purchase using their Google Account and saved payment details, all while carefully sidestepping Apple’s infamous 30% toll. This, naturally, is a development that Apple will watch with the enthusiasm of a cat observing a rival feline encroach upon its sunbeam.
2024. Google Play Books to offer audiobook previews on YouTube
Google Play Books has been provided an update that introduces several new features to the app. That includes integration with YouTube where users will be able to listen to audiobook previews for free. This would be in addition to the audiobook previews that are already available via the Play Books app for Android, iOS and the web. As it is, YouTube enjoys a huge userbase and it is only natural Google will like to leverage it to seek better exposure for its audiobooks as well. In any case, Google has been restructuring its media business of late and several of its services such as Play Music and Podcasts have been brought under the purview of YouTube. Among the other changes introduced to Play Books include the addition of the new Upcoming tab at the top of the Library section. So, you will now have Your books, Shelves and Series along with the newly added Upcoming tabs at the top under Library. This, as Google explained, will show “all your pre-orders in one location on a calendar that can be filtered based on specific series or authors.” You will also be provided updates on authors and series that you might have shown interest in, which can be like titles that you may have searched or viewed.
01.06.25. Google, Kobo and Kindle now allow to easily buy books on iOS
Google Play Books, Kobo Books and Amazon Kindle app have received updates to allow users get “Get Book” option, where they are automatically redirected to their website to complete the transaction and then brought back to the app, where the book will be available for reading right away. Before this, buying books on iOS was less than ideal. You had to open Safari browser manually, find the book you wanted to purchase and buy it, manually open the ebook app again and sync. Apple has allowed the update due to a recent court battle, in which they lost. In the US and Europe, they must enable apps to use third-party payments and can be redirected to the company’s website to complete the final transaction. This has been a boon for the e-book space, as well as audiobooks.
2025. Google Play Books purchases on iOS now can be done without App Store’s commission
Google has managed to wrangle permission to sell its e-books and audiobooks directly through its Google Play Books app on iOS. This is, of course, a bit like being given permission to breathe, but only after filing the appropriate paperwork in triplicate. Historically, iOS apps have been allowed to display content you purchased elsewhere—like a book you heroically hunted down on the vast and treacherous plains of the internet—but actually directing users to a website to make a purchase has required a special dispensation from Apple, presumably written on parchment and delivered by a messenger on horseback. Now, thanks to an announcement that was likely drafted with a certain amount of quiet glee, Google has revealed that users will be able to click a handy little “Get book” button, which will whisk them away to the Google Play website, where they can finalize their purchase using their Google Account and saved payment details, all while carefully sidestepping Apple’s infamous 30% toll. This, naturally, is a development that Apple will watch with the enthusiasm of a cat observing a rival feline encroach upon its sunbeam.
2024. Google Play Books to offer audiobook previews on YouTube
Google Play Books has been provided an update that introduces several new features to the app. That includes integration with YouTube where users will be able to listen to audiobook previews for free. This would be in addition to the audiobook previews that are already available via the Play Books app for Android, iOS and the web. As it is, YouTube enjoys a huge userbase and it is only natural Google will like to leverage it to seek better exposure for its audiobooks as well. In any case, Google has been restructuring its media business of late and several of its services such as Play Music and Podcasts have been brought under the purview of YouTube. Among the other changes introduced to Play Books include the addition of the new Upcoming tab at the top of the Library section. So, you will now have Your books, Shelves and Series along with the newly added Upcoming tabs at the top under Library. This, as Google explained, will show “all your pre-orders in one location on a calendar that can be filtered based on specific series or authors.” You will also be provided updates on authors and series that you might have shown interest in, which can be like titles that you may have searched or viewed.
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