Books app not working since update to iOS 13

I just got mine working. Go into the Settings app, scroll down to Books, and turn off Syncing > iCloud Drive. That immediately caused it to start working. I tried turning it back on, and Books started freezing again.

SOLUTION! -- I was getting this same screen after updating to iOS 13.4.1, found this thread, and tried everything mentioned here without success. I started thinking about what had changed and realized that I'd turned on "dark mode" during the upgrade process. I turned that off (in Settings->Display and Brightness), quit books and restarted, and it moved on to the next screen where it takes a few minutes to update your library. Once that was done, I was able to turn "dark mode" back on and could still access my library afterward. There's obviously a bug in the update process that causes it to crash when dark mode is on when it rebuilds the index for your library. Hope this helps everyone!

SOLVED!! (hope it also works for others!)

I've been having this same problem for a few months. When opening the books app, I get the notice; "Uploads to and downloads from iCloud will require an internet connection." I've tried changing several setting in iCloud and Books on my iPhone. Nothing allowed me to open the Books app.

The only thing that works is turning off wifi in settings (or swipe down from top right to open Control Center and de-selecting wifi). If I do this, the Books app works as expected. I'm using iOS 13.3 on my iPhone Xs Max.

Hope Apple gets this figured out soon! I also hope this helps someone having the same problem because this is just a temporary fix!

Having the same issue with Books after updating to iOS 13. Turning off Syncing > iCloud Drive did not work for me.

I am seeing the following prompt: "Uploads and downloads from iCloud will require an internet connection." I am connected to the internet and all other apps, mail, and browsers are working.

I've downgraded back to 13.3 from 13.3.1. I found 13.3.1 did not fix the Books issue and introduced a comprehensive range of other problems. I'm unlikely to perform any further software updates until I'm satisfied that iOS 13 is fit for purpose.

I never turned on dark mode so that would not have been a fix for me. I just bought a new iPad Pro 2020 and for the first time since iOS 13 was introduced, my iBooks (which consists of PDFs mostly) loaded up beautifully. I don’t know what that means. Maybe you need to wipe your devices, reload the software or just give Apple more money ( only kidding).

Exactly same problem. A Multi billion dollar company should never make such mistakes. Once they do, they should provide the solution right away. I’ve been scrambling to fix this for so long. Yet nothing again

I am having a problem with the same symptoms. I can get to books by long-pressing the app icon from the home screen, but selecting a book from within the app causes it to freeze. I’ve reset my iPad and restored from backup — the problem persists.

Unchecking iCloud Drive syncing made Books unfreeze.

Once it was unfrozen, I re-enabled it and now synced PDF's can be clicked on, they open and scrolling in the Library section is possible once more.

Thanks for the tip!

Same problem, and it’s driving me insane. Books became completely unusable and I can’t access most of my [big] library. Spent hours chatting to Apple Support, nothing they suggested helped. Turning Drive on and off doesn’t help either. Badly done, Apple. Same thing happened to my Voice memos. Wish I never upgraded to iOS 13, and definitely wish I never accidentally turned on iCloud syncing for Books.

I have a lot of books in my library on my desktop. Since probably iOS13 I have been unable to see any books at all on my elderly large iPad2 and most books on my smaller iPad. But nothing new can be persuaded to move to the one of these that allows me to read books. Result, that I am now unwilling to purchase (or acquire by any means, it turns out) books, since one iPad is now useless for that and the other will not accept any changes in the library. I can see very many books on the desktop but nothing transfers by any means suggested on help pages.

I do not want stuff in the cloud for several reasons, the biggest of which is that the ability to read books is most useful when there is no available wi-fi connection. So all routes to a suction via the cloud are irrelevant. There is no problem transferring photos or mail or any other material that I'd want shared across platforms - this is quite clearly a book-related problem.

On the larger iPad I get to see a screenful of books in the library, for about the 30 seconds it takes for the books app to crash and return me to the home screen.

Having been an Apple user since the early 80s, I found this desperately disappointing. The iPad as a reading medium was so good I got rid of a lot of paper. This position makes me feel that was a mistake.

Self-evidently, no posted help yet seen fixes my problems.

I am having this issue on my brand new ipad and nothing i do will make this screen go away. I restarted my ipad and the books home screen showed up for a second before this screen came back. I have a WiFi only ipad, and was hoping to read pdfs of plays on my ipad using books. I am connected to WiFi

This is driving me nuts. Books app on my ipad Mini 4 just won't open........or rather opens then the thingy goes round and round and round and round.....forever. I've tried unchecking the iCloud sync, still no change.

What is apple DOING about this???

This did not work for me. I am so sick of Apple essentially setting things up to push you into the Cloud. I should have the choice of where I want things saved. What is also frustrating is that when backing up to computer, not everything is backed up. Have to back up to Cloud. I don't care how great Apple says their security is, I do not want my iPad or phone contents in their Cloud. I don't have anything to hide but it is just the idea that it is up there and not in my control.

Also, it is infuriating that they give you services, eg bookmarks, pdf's, etc, yet no guarantee you will still have that info after a backup or update. How many times have you bookmarked pages on Safari? I have had things such as pdf's lost when setting up a new phone. Yet Apple could not explain what happened. And most recently had another thing happen.

After the first of year, lost all texts except those from mid-December. Spent too much time with Apple about this but no explanation for how they disappeared. And I did not delete anything. Only realized when I went to look for an older text for info someone sent me months ago. So if Apple cannot create a product that doesn't self-delete, why should I trust info backed up in Cloud won't disappear someday? I don't care how sincere and serious they sound when they tell me not to worry about that or that my data is safe, I don't care.

WTH is “books” in settings? Not anywhere I see on my devices! I’m in 13.3.1 and my books play, but they skip 3-4 times in every chapter, plus the “Chapter # ?” announcement ALWAYS SKIPS so I only know what chapter I’m on by looking at the screen.