I already mentioned using the iPad as a makeshift Internet radio (in French) but, as much as I decided to steer away from proprietary e-readers for their lack of privacy and for our lack of real ownership of the ebooks we ‘purchase’, the main reason I still use an iPad is that it’s an excellent PDF reader. If not the best.
I regularly read out-of-print editions, or simply real old books of many centuries ago, that would cost too much to own a physical copy of but that are legally available as PDF files.
I know there are dedicated e-ink devices with a paper-like screen that are better to the eyes for long reading sessions, but I’m not a fan of their ergonomics and of their software. Reading is supposed to be an immersive experience. A regularly flashing e-ink page is not immersive. At least, it is not to me.
So, how do I use that iPad? Not that much to be honest. I mean, I don’t use the iPad to take notes (I take my notes by hand, on index cards). I just open the PDF and flip through its pages like I would with a print version—and that’s why I so much love using the ipAd: it’s teh closest thing to an actual book.
- It has a great and bright touch screen. Mine is also fitted with a one of those mate screen protector that removes all the annoying light reflections of the default glossy screen, and make it feels almost like paper. Almost, don’t get me wrong ;)
- iPadOS is good. Well, to long time user me (I have owned an iPad since the very first model was introduced) it looks like it’s getting worse from one update to the other but it’s still ok to use. For example, it’s easy to invert color and reduce white point in order to reduce contrastand make it (a lot) less tiring when reading for hours. It’s also very fluid (immersive) and has great zoom capability, even on very large and heavy PDF.
- It’s also very easy to make it distraction free.
- It has a decent battery life. Here again, more recent versions seem to behave worse than older ones (I could last at least a couple days of real use with my old 1st gen iPad pro, whereas this iPad Air M1 I now use will hardly last a day).
- It has some of the best apps available. The default PDF app is fine but I prefer once called ‘PDF Viewer’, by Nutrient. They have a ‘pro’ subscription-based option with more advanced editing features but the free version is more than enough for my basic needs (it comes with a few annotation & highlighting tools, if one needs that).
What about privacy and ownership? I did quit using e-reader devices and ebooks for that very reason, right? So how do I manage that with Apple controling ‘my’ iPad? The answer is simple, I don’t. Allow me to explain.
Ownership? I do own the PDF files I read on the iPad and I keep a copy, somewhere on my Linux computer. But I also consider that any PDF I copy on that iPad is just that, a copy, a temporary working copy that could vanish without any warning and… without any consequence as what only matters to me is not that PDF file but the notes I take while I’m reading it, notes that I write on good old index cards—that no one can take away from me and that no one can read over my shoulder, not even Apple.
Privacy? I don’t trust Apple, that’s simple. So, like with my smartphone I store as little personal info as I can on that device. To me the real question should be what’s the privacy respecting alternative to the iPad? I know I can read print books instead of ebooks and therefore I don’t need a to use any e-reader or ebooks, but I know no such simple to use device to read PDF. Sure, I can read all my PDF on my Linux PC, it’s very simple, but it only works when I’m at my desk in front of my large screen and it’s still cumbersome (and, imho, way less practical to actually read). It’s also not a solution when I’m not sitting at my desk… which happens often.
Pierre de Lancre, 1613, “Tableau de l’inconstance des mauvais anges et démons, Où il est amplement traité des Sorciers, et de la sorcellerie” (On the Inconstancy of Witches). The PDF is legally available for free on Gallica.
Published: 2025/10/18