Media player

The first button in the media player is Minimize if audio is playing. If video is playing the first button will be Picture in Picture. Either of these buttons will close the full-screen media player, but will not stop either audio or video from playing.

The Close button in the top right corner will both close the player and stop audio and video from playing.

The percentage slider tells you what percent of the file has been played. It can also be used to change where you are in the file. VoiceOver users can swipe up or down on this control to change the number by 10 percent. Make sure to double tap the slider after you have finished adjusting it to make it skip to that position. It is only possible to use the slider while playback is paused.

Note: It is possible, but quite tricky to adjust sliders by a smaller percentage. It is necessary to double tap and hold 1 finger on the slider, and without lifting your finger slide it left or right very carefully. Usually when you lift your finger the number is no longer exactly what you last heard and were aiming for. Doing this can still be useful in some cases. Again double tap the slider when you are finished adjusting it in order to skip to that position.

After the slider the name of the media playing is shown. The word "Streaming" will be in front of the title if the media is streamed instead of downloaded.

Next the time elapsed in the file is shown in comparison to the entire length of the file.

The play button is in the bottom left corner of the screen. After the play button are the most useful controls. The Back and Forward buttons. These give much more precise control than the percentage slider.

The Previous and Next buttons go to the previous or Next chapter, lesson, song, Etc.

There is a mute button just because that makes the interface pretty much the same for either audio or video. I can't imagine any reason for muting audio that is playing.

The last button on the bottom right of the screen is a more recent addition I love. It is a Settings button.

When you double tap the Settings button the first thing you'll find is the Done button. Use it when you are finished changing settings. It will bring you back to the player screen.

The Share button will let you send a link to this audio file found on jw.org via text message, Email, Airdrop, or various other methods depending on what apps you have installed. More details can be found on this page about Sharing.

When video is playing there will be a Subtitles button. Use it to display text captions of the words spoken in the video.

The Speed button shows the current playback speed of audio or video. Double tap the speed button to change it. Maybe you would like to have audio played at 1.2 times normal as I do, or you are learning another language and slowing the audio to something far less than normal is helpful. The speed control will close once you double tap the speed option you want.

Note that the speed setting is for the media player in general, not just the audio being played right now. The setting will hold until you either switch it to a new speed setting, or JW Library is completely closed. Meaning it no longer is in the task switcher. Remember this if you go from listening to something yourself to sharing a video with someone you meat.

When video is playing there will be a quality button that wil display the current resolution of the video. If the video is downloaded that resolution cannot be changed here in these settings. The resolution of a video being streamed can be changed on the fly. As soon as you double tap the newly chosen resolution playback will resume.

The Shuffle button is nice for playing music, because it will cause songs to play in random order.

The repeat button will cause the current media to play again and again. Guess it is for when a new song is released and you either can't get enough of hearing it or want to memorize it.

Last is the Airplay button. If you have a Home pod, Apple TV, or some other Airplay compatible device you can play the media on it. You can also go back in the settings to switch back to the iPhone or iPad.

Gestures and Keyboard Commands

There are gestures to control the media player, but they will not work while VoiceOver is on. That is because Voiceover uses those gestures for itself.

You can turn Voiceover off once the media player is opened, Meaning taking up the whole screen not just the little strip of controls, and then use these gestures to try to control it.

Tap with 2 fingers to play/pause. Swipe up/down for volume. Swipe left/right for Previous and Next. Double tap at the right or left of the screen to go forward or back.

I'm always a little afraid of what I might do while Voiceover is off.

The left and right arrow keys on a bluetooth keyboard will go back/forward respectively. Up/down arrows will control the volume. Spacebar will play/pause. Voiceover can be on, but Quick-Nav must be off.

Use the Previous link at the bottom of this page to read about playing audio from within a publication.

Under the heading "Audio" in the Library tab section of this guide you can read about finding and playing audio-only publications.

Read this article for more tips on playing videos.