HT202759: Sync iBooks between devices

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edclark50

Q: can't synch ibooks between ipad and iphone

Have done everything that

HT5826: iBooks: How to sync iBooks between devices, says and still no complete synch between iphone and ipad

iPhone 5, iOS 7.1

Posted on Apr 14, 2014 4:48 PM

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Q: can't synch ibooks between ipad and iphone

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  • by William Lloyd,

    William Lloyd William Lloyd Apr 14, 2014 5:12 PM in response to edclark50
    Level 7 (21,141 points)
    Apr 14, 2014 5:12 PM in response to edclark50

    They don't "sync" between them. If you purchased the books from the iBookstore you'll be able to download them on each device.

     

    Did you buy them from the iBooks store?

  • by edclark50,

    edclark50 edclark50 Apr 14, 2014 5:48 PM in response to William Lloyd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 14, 2014 5:48 PM in response to William Lloyd

    AAccording to Apple my books and other collections including PDF s should synch across platforms

  • by William Lloyd,

    William Lloyd William Lloyd Apr 14, 2014 5:58 PM in response to edclark50
    Level 7 (21,141 points)
    Apr 14, 2014 5:58 PM in response to edclark50

    Can you provide a link? Read it carefully. The collections may sync, but the books in the collections will NOT sync. ONLY data purchased from iTunes is available for download on each device. Other stuff that you load via iTunes will not sync.

     

    Believe me, I wish it did sync right now, but it doesn't, and it's a pain. But Apple hasn't said that you can sync all your PDFs automatically, anywhere that I can see.

     

    Edit: Given you linked from a Kbase article, I read it See how it says you can download purchased books on all devices, as well as sync bookmarks, notes, and collections? That's what syncs, not iTunes-loaded books and PDFs.

  • by Frederick Jackson,

    Frederick Jackson Frederick Jackson Jun 26, 2014 6:30 PM in response to William Lloyd
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 26, 2014 6:30 PM in response to William Lloyd

    Thank you for the clarification, but that is a real bummer, in my opinion.

  • by David Shanahan,

    David Shanahan David Shanahan Jun 29, 2014 9:26 PM in response to Frederick Jackson
    Level 3 (908 points)
    Jun 29, 2014 9:26 PM in response to Frederick Jackson

    Yes it is, but it's also quite understandable. Apple has no way to know where non-iBookstore ebooks originated and whether they're legal copies or not, so they can't risk the liability of making possibly copyright infringing copies of them, automatically sending them to multiple devices. If you do it via manual syncs with iTunes however the legal liability is with you if they're illegal copies. Thus you can't store slide-loaded ebooks in iCloud or have them automatically sent to all your devices like you can with books purchased from the iBookstore.

     

    Maybe one day Apple will be able to convince the publishers to allow them to implement an iBooks Match scheme like the iTunes Match scheme for music, but given the notorious conservatism of book publishers and the difficulty of automatically fingerprinting books with many different editions vs music recordings for matching purposes I wouldn't hold my breath.

  • by Frederick Jackson,

    Frederick Jackson Frederick Jackson Jul 25, 2014 11:26 AM in response to David Shanahan
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 25, 2014 11:26 AM in response to David Shanahan

    Thanks.  That makes sense, though I wish it were otherwise.