BOOX Tappy: A Wireless Button for Reading on Tablets

Onyx International released the BOOX Tappy on May 8, 2024. It is a small wireless remote that connects to BOOX e-readers and tablets via Bluetooth. The remote lets you turn pages, scroll, change screen brightness, and control music playback without touching your device.

What It Does

Think of the Tappy like a TV remote for an e-reader. You pair it wirelessly with a BOOX device, and then you have a simple handheld control with buttons for the tasks you do most while reading: turning pages forward and backward, scrolling through longer content, refreshing the screen, and adjusting how bright the display is.

The remote also works with audio. If you are listening to an audiobook or music on your BOOX tablet, you can skip to the next or previous track without picking up the device. This works because BOOX tablets run Android — the same system that powers most Android phones — so they can do much more than just display books.

According to BOOX's product listing, the Tappy controls page turning, screen refresh, and brightness — the functions people use most often while reading.

Why This Matters

The main benefit is simple: you don't have to hold or touch your device to read. That sounds small, but it solves real problems.

Imagine reading while eating lunch. Or propping a tablet on a stand in the kitchen to follow a recipe without getting the screen dirty. Or setting up a tablet as a teleprompter for a presentation. Or using an e-reader during physical therapy when you need both hands free. In all these cases, a wireless remote means you can control what is on screen without interrupting what you are doing.

E Ink screens — the technology used by BOOX devices and e-readers — have a real advantage: they use very little battery power and do not glow in your eyes like a phone or laptop screen. You can read them comfortably in bright sunlight or for hours without getting tired. The Tappy keeps that advantage while letting you control the device from a distance.

How It Connects

The Tappy works using Bluetooth, the same wireless technology that connects headphones and smartwatches to phones. It pairs with BOOX devices and sends simple on-off commands — like pressing a physical button — when you push its controls.

BOOX chose to make the Tappy work only with BOOX devices, not with any Android tablet or phone. This means the remote can do things designed specifically for e-reading, like triggering a screen refresh or adjusting brightness in ways that make sense for reading. The trade-off is you cannot use the Tappy with other brands of tablets.

If you work in a business or organisation that uses BOOX tablets — for example, to display documents, manage digital signs, or provide reading devices for people with accessibility needs — the Tappy is worth considering as part of how you set up those devices. Being able to change what is on screen without touching the tablet can make a real difference in how people work.

Why Physical Buttons Matter

There is a pattern I have noticed over my years covering technology: whenever a task happens a lot and needs to be quick and reliable, people prefer a physical button over a touchscreen. This happened with video game controllers, it happened with camera remotes, and it happens with e-readers. Turning a page is exactly that kind of task — you do it dozens of times while reading, and you want it to work every single time without thinking about it. A real button is more dependable than tapping a glass screen.

The bigger picture is that BOOX tablets have evolved beyond being simple e-readers. They now run Android software, support stylus pens for writing and drawing, and come in all sizes from phone-sized to large tablets for note-taking. The Tappy is a sign that BOOX is building out a whole ecosystem of add-on devices around these tablets — treating them more like specialized computers than simple e-readers.

Whether this ecosystem grows into something meaningful will depend on how many uses BOOX can find for targeted add-ons before larger companies like Google and Apple push harder into the tablet market. For now, the Tappy fills a specific gap that other tablet makers have largely ignored: a reliable wireless button for reading and other tasks where you need your hands free.

The device is available through the BOOX online store, listed under Bluetooth accessories.