At some point today, Apple quietly introduced a new app on the tvOS App Store that brings iBooks to the platform, but in a form appropriate for children. Dubbed iBooks StoryTime, the app is designed to aid children in improving their reading skills through feature like interactive audio, a feature called Read-Aloud, and more.
Read-Aloud is a feature that displays on-screen subtitles of sort synced to narration audio. The feature is similar to that of karaoke, teaching the children how to decipher the word and correctly read it. With this feature enabled, the pages of the book turn automatically as the narration moves forward, but with the feature turned off, users can use the Siri Remote to skim a book.
At this point, iBooks StoryTime doesn’t support a huge selection of books, likely due to the optimization it takes to display a book on a large-screen platform. As of now, the iBooks StoryTime app is limited to a selection of children’s selections including:
- Green Eggs and Ham
- The Little Red Hen
- Goodnight Moon
- Chicka Chicka ABC
- Big Brother Daniel
- The ABCs of Cookies
- Meet Tracker
To promote the new iBooks StoryTime app, Apple is offering users a free download of “Dora’s Big Buddy Race Read-Along Storybook.” The iBooks StoryTime app is available for free on the tvOSApp Store now.
