- Google has rolled out “Book Insights,” a new reading assistance feature, for the iOS version of the “Google Play Books” app.
- Built using Google’s AI “Gemini,” this reading companion feature has already been rolled out to the web and Android versions of the “Google Play Books” app.
- The lineup of e-books compatible with “Book Insights” has also been significantly expanded, making the feature available for over 1 million titles, including popular bestsellers and free titles.
On Wednesday, September 2, 2026 (local time), Google rolled out “Book insights,” a new reading support feature, for the iOS version of the “Google Play Books” app.
“Book insights” is a reading companion feature built using Google AI “Gemini,” and it has already been rolled out to the web and Android versions of the “Google Play Books” app. Now, it has finally started rolling out to the iOS version of “Google Play Books” as well.
At the same time, the lineup of e-books compatible with “Book insights” has been significantly expanded, making the feature available for over 1 million titles, including popular bestsellers and free books. That being said, “Book insights” is primarily designed for English-language environments.
“Book insights”
“Book insights” is a reading support tool that includes a “Catch me up” feature to review what you have read so far, as well as the ability to ask questions about themes, backgrounds, and characters while reading, allowing you to dive deeper into the book.
By simply tapping the lightbulb icon in the upper right corner of the screen and pressing the “Catch me up” button, it will summarize the story so far. This means that even if you haven’t read a book for a while, you don’t need to re-read past chapters.
Additionally, if you come across something you are curious about while reading, highlighting the relevant text will automatically display suggested questions to help you understand the content. If none of the suggested options fit what you want to know, you can also type your own question into the “Ask Play Books” field.
For example, if you forget details about a character in a long novel, you can ask, “Has this character appeared before?”, and it will provide an explanation based on the context. Another key feature is that answers in “Ask Play Books” are generated by referencing only the content up to the point you are currently reading, incorporating a mechanism to prevent spoilers.
Furthermore, detail pages for e-books compatible with “Book insights” feature a “Tools” badge, making it easy to see at a glance which AI tools are available.
“Google Play Books” App Links
Source: Google (https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/google-play/book-insights-ios-million-ebooks/)