Sync iBooks between iPad and iPhone

Question

Level 1

11 points

Sync iBooks between iPad and iPhone

I just bought a book in iBooks on my iPhone and would like to get it onto my iPad but can't figure out how to without purchasing it again. Anyone have any ideas?

Mini & MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Jul 9, 2010 8:52 PM

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Answer 1

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,144 points

Jun 12, 2017 12:33 AM in response to AlecinWales

If it's not an iBookstore purchase (if it is, and if it's still in the store, you can redownload it via the Purchased tab in the iBooks app on your iPad) you could potentially use iCloud Drive for the app (which wasn't available when this thread was started 7 years ago) : Use iCloud Drive or iBooks to access your PDF files, ePub files, and books - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Jul 9, 2010 11:29 PM in response to jacob munson

Connect your phone to iTunes and transfer your purchase to iTunes. Then, connect your iPad to iTunes, go to the "Books" tab, select the book and click the "Sync" button.

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Answer 3

jacob munson Author

Level 1

11 points

Jul 10, 2010 1:09 PM in response to Jim VanLeeuwen

Wow if that's true then apple has a little to do still to catch up to amazons kindle app. I should have bought my last book through amizon. I am on vacation and don't have my desk top to sink to iTunes for the week.

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Answer 4

Jul 10, 2010 6:09 PM in response to jacob munson

iBooks from the iBookstore can be downloaded again as many times as you need, free of charge. To redownload a book, tap Store, then tap Purchases. Find the book you wish to download again and tap Redownload.

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Answer 5

jacob munson Author

Level 1

11 points

Jul 11, 2010 4:29 AM in response to Jim VanLeeuwen

Thanks I completely didn't see that Purchases button. Thanks for the help.

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Answer 6

phwang

Level 1

0 points

Oct 5, 2010 9:45 PM in response to jacob munson

Can I synch my iBook highlights, notes, and pages read between my iPad and iPhone over the air?

I want to be able to seamlessly swap between them during the course of the day depending on which device is more convenient at the time.

Don't want to have to physically synch to a PC to do that.

Thanks!

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Answer 7

Nov 21, 2010 2:17 AM in response to jacob munson

I have yet to see any evidence that iBooks is capable of syncing between separate devices (iPhone 4 & iPad) and the suggestions on this forum have yielded no results. This is something handled perfectly by Amazon's Kindle and leaves me with no incentive to continue with Apple's second rate service.

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Answer 8

Tamara

Level 6

13,738 points

Nov 21, 2010 8:12 AM in response to Chris Portman

My books sync perfectly between my iPad and my iPhone. Which suggestions have you tried?

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Answer 9

dhaun

Level 2

367 points

Nov 21, 2010 12:13 PM in response to Chris Portman

Chris Portman wrote:
I have yet to see any evidence that iBooks is capable of syncing between separate devices (iPhone 4 & iPad)

It's syncing just fine between my iPad and my iPod touch. You only need iTunes in between the two ("over the air", as requested above, is not possible).

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Answer 10

Tamara

Level 6

13,738 points

Nov 21, 2010 12:36 PM in response to dhaun

Actually, bookmarks sync over the air.

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Answer 11

dhaun

Level 2

367 points

Nov 21, 2010 1:13 PM in response to Tamara

Tamara wrote:
Actually, bookmarks sync over the air.

Whoops, thanks for the correction. And indeed it does, even for books that I haven't bought from the iBooks Store.

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Answer 12

Nov 30, 2010 6:33 PM in response to dhaun

So, just to be clear? iBook will not synch bookmarks between ipad and iphone via mobile me over wifi
like Kindle does over wifi, right?

At least I can find no way, short of closing the book in iPhone, synching w/ iTunes, synching my iPad via iTunes and then opening the book on the iPad. Talk about inconvenient and clunky!!! Please tell me this is going to change soon...

Otherwise it's Kindle all the way for me....

(or e-pubs and one of the good basic e-pub readers)

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Answer 13

djteach

Level 1

13 points

Dec 6, 2010 9:47 AM in response to WaltCampbell

To be clear, iBook will sync bookmarks, highlights, notes, as well as keep you on the same page on both devices over wifi. After reading a book on one device, touch library to put it back on the shelf, and then open the book from the library on the other device. Everything will be synced.

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Answer 14

Tamara

Level 6

13,738 points

Dec 6, 2010 10:04 AM in response to WaltCampbell

You have it backwards and you don't need mobileme.

All you have to do is tap the little bookmark ribbon so the red ribbon appears. Once you have the red ribbon, you can pick up reading on another device where you left off.

Some people like the Kindle app because they can read on non-iOS devices with it and stay in sync.

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Answer 15

Dec 13, 2010 10:16 AM in response to djteach

I can't get that to work between my iPhone and iPad. I have turned on sync iBook bookmarks on both devices and the book exists in the library of both devices, but the version on my iPhone has no bookmarks or highlights. I purchased the book originally on my iPad and have synced it to my iTunes library. I have also tried your suggestion of closing the book in the one device by selecting library before trying to open it in the other device. Any suggestions would be helpful!

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