Reading habits

How to read more on your phone without hating it

The phone is not the enemy of reading — the notifications are. Four settings changes turn the worst reading device you own into a usable one.

By bookish.worldAugust 28, 2026

Most reading advice tells you to put the phone down. Realistic advice accepts that the phone is the device you actually have on you at the moments you could be reading.

Kill the notifications, not the device

A reading app with notifications off and a focus mode attached to it is a genuinely decent reader. The interruptions are what makes phone reading feel shallow, not the screen.

Make the text bigger than looks right

Fewer words per line means fewer places to lose your position. Turn the size up two steps past what looks correct and see how the pace changes.

Pick text-only sources

Anything with images and infinite scroll competes with the reading. A plain text feed does not — which is one reason bookish.world has no pictures in it at all.

Use the commute, not the evening

Phone reading works best in the ten-minute gaps. Save the long sessions for paper if you have the choice.

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