Five Life Hacks Every Boox Palma User Should Know

While the Kindle is the most popular e-reader in the world, it’s not the best option for those who want more control over their digital library. If you’re a true e-reader enthusiast, you’ve likely heard of the Boox Palma—an e-ink device with a phone-like form factor that has gained immense popularity on social media.

However, the Palma is much more than just an e-reader: it costs about the same as an Android tablet because that ‘s essentially what it is. You can download e-books to read in its own e-reader app (NeoReader) or install almost any app from the Google Play Store. In short, it can do much more than a Kindle, but that also means customizing it to your needs can be much more difficult. With that in mind, here are five ways to get more out of your Boox e-reader (whether it’s the original Palma , Palma 2 , or Palma 2 Pro ).

Set up your Palma so that page turning is done using the volume buttons.

Unlike all modern Kindles, the Boox Palma still has physical buttons, which is a big plus for those who prefer not to turn pages using the touchscreen. Unfortunately, not all apps are configured to recognize pressing the volume up or down button as a page turn request. Fortunately, this is usually easy to fix, although you’ll have to check a few settings to get it working.

Turn pages using the volume buttons in the Kindle app.

To use the volume buttons to turn pages in the Kindle app: Since Kindle is the most popular reading app, special instructions are needed, especially because they are far from intuitive.

• Open the Kindle app and find any book.

• Tap the center of the screen to open the reading overlay menu, then tap the “Aa” icon to open display settings.

• Go to the Layout tab and make sure the slider next to Continuous Scrolling is turned off.

• Now click the Advanced tab and scroll down until you see the Turn pages using volume controls option and set this slider to On.

Turn pages using the volume buttons in another reading app.

While the specific instructions may vary depending on the reading app you use, there is also a setting in System Preferences that allows you to enable page turning using the volume buttons:

• Long press the app icon on your home screen to open quick settings and tap Optimize.

• Click the “Other” tab.

• Next to the “Button Customization” menu item, you’ll see three icons; tap the leftmost circle icon to set the volume button to “Page Turn” mode. (By the way, if you prefer to use the volume buttons for continuous scrolling, the up/down arrow icon on the right is for that purpose.)

Disable your Palma’s touchscreen by shaking the device to prevent accidental page turns.

If you prefer turning pages using buttons, you may also want to disable the touchscreen to prevent accidental page turns if you accidentally touch the screen or put the Palma in your pocket without putting it into sleep mode. Unfortunately, there’s no such setting at the system or mobile level, but it can be done using a third-party app.

There are many similar apps available on the Google Play Store, but some go too far by disabling physical buttons, while others fill the screen with ads. A better alternative is Touch Protector, but it’s not available on Google Play—so you’ll need to install the Aptoide app store first. Aptoide is a decentralized, open-source alternative to Google Play.

Note: Using a decentralized app store means you’re exposing yourself to greater risk, so look for apps with a green “Trusted” icon, indicating they’ve been checked for malware and compared with apps in other app stores to ensure they’re not counterfeit. You’ll also have to accept the need to ignore some system security recommendations; I wouldn’t do this on a device I use for financial transactions or email, but I only use my Palm for reading. In short, trust your intuition in this matter.

With these caveats in mind, here are the steps required:

• Open the Aptoide app store in your Palm’s web browser, then tap the “More” button in the bottom right corner. On the next screen, tap “Get Aptoide.” (You’ll need to go through several permissions screens, confirming that you understand that downloading an app’s APK file from an “unknown” source carries risks.)

• Once you’ve downloaded the Aptoide APK file, open it from your downloads folder and install it (this will require security confirmation).

• After installation, open Aptoide and search for “Touch Protector” (or use this link ). The first time you use Aptoide, you’ll be asked to grant system permissions to install apps; the corresponding settings menu will open automatically. (If you have a Boox Palma 2 Pro with Android 15, you may also receive a message stating that Touch Protector was designed for an earlier version of Android, but you can install it anyway.)

• Open the Touch Protector app. When you first launch it, you’ll be asked to grant it the “Display over other apps” permission. The settings menu for this option will also open automatically; scroll down to Touch Protector, tap it, and toggle the slider to “On.” (If Android doesn’t allow you to do this here, you’ll need to do it manually: go to Settings > Apps & Notifications > Apps. Find “Touch Protector” in the app list and tap the slider next to “Display over other apps.”)

• Now you need to configure Touch Protector settings to choose how you lock and unlock the touchscreen. I recommend tapping “Shake,” which allows you to turn this option on or off by gently shaking the device. (Yes, you can adjust the shaking force to prevent this from happening accidentally.)

After all this, you can temporarily disable the touchscreen in any reading app you’re using by shaking your Palm. Shake it again when you want to re-enable touch.

Set up one-touch refresh to instantly get rid of ghosting on your Palm.

Like any e-ink tablet, Boox devices sometimes suffer from “ghosting,” or visible afterimages after turning pages. While the device automatically refreshes after a certain number of screen taps, and you can configure it to refresh more frequently, I prefer a one-tap refresh that can be initiated at any time. This is convenient because some types of content, including any content with images, require more frequent refreshes than others. There are two ways to set a manual one-tap refresh: a button or a gesture.

• Use a single-tap button for quick refreshes: While you can assign this function to any button, it’s most logical to use the Palm’s “smart button” for this—it’s the button in the upper left corner of the device, and it can perform different actions depending on whether you press it once, twice, or hold it. On my Palm, I assigned a manual refresh to a single press of the “smart button” since that’s what I do most often (a long press takes me back to the home screen). To reassign the “smart button,” open the Settings app and tap “Smart button.” Select the desired option (“Short press function,” “Double press function,” or “Long press function”) and select “Full refresh.”

• To update with a single tap, use a gesture: open Settings and scroll down to System Navigation. Under Bottom Navigation, tap More Options. Select the area of ​​the screen you want to update by swiping between the left, center, or right sides of the screen. Tap Custom, then select Full Update from the list of available options.

Customize sleep settings to listen to audiobooks or podcasts while your Palma screen is off.

Listening to audiobooks or podcasts on your Palm can be inconvenient, especially if you have a case with a magnetic lid that puts the device to sleep when closed, as this also pauses audio playback. However, this can be fixed by adjusting a few settings.

• The first thing you need to do is configure the settings so that audio-playing apps continue to run in the background. To save battery life, Palma OS disables this setting for every app downloaded from the Google Play Store, but you can change this. First, long-press any app icon on the home screen. This will bring up a menu with several different options. Tap “Optimize.” In the next pop-up menu, select the “Other” tab, then make sure the slider next to “Keep active in background” is set to “On.”

• Next, you’ll need to “unfreeze” background apps so they don’t try to refresh when not in use. You can make this change globally or for each app individually. Unfreezing apps improves battery life, so consider this when making your decision. To unfreeze an individual app, open Settings and scroll down to Apps & Notifications. Tap “Freeze Settings,” find audio apps in the list of installed apps, and toggle the slider to “Off.” To unfreeze all apps, in the same menu, toggle “Don’t unfreeze background apps (audio, input methods, etc.)” to “On.”

• The last thing you need to do is prevent your Palma from turning off Bluetooth and losing the connection to your headphones after the device goes to sleep. To do this, open Settings and scroll to Power. On the next screen, tap Bluetooth Status After Sleep and select Stay Connected from the pop-up menu. (I’d also recommend enabling Always Turn On Bluetooth When Device Starts in this menu so you don’t have to manually turn Bluetooth on every time you want to connect your headphones—although this will also impact your overall battery life.)

Set up your Palma device’s location settings so it can be found if you lose it.

You might assume that since your Palm device is logged into Google Play and active on your account, searching for it (or activating search mode) will work. However, you’ll also need to enable location services at the system level, otherwise you’ll be out of luck. To do this, go to Settings and scroll down to the Location Information section. Turn on the toggle next to Access My Location. Then, you can tap Location Permissions for Apps to adjust settings for any apps you don’t want tracking you, while still allowing your prized e-reader to remain easily accessible.

Please note that for your device to be discoverable, it must be turned on and connected to the internet. For the Palma 2, this means that whoever finds it will need to turn it on and connect to Wi-Fi; for the Palma 2 Pro with an active SIM card, the device must also be turned on and not in sleep mode.

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