Problem backing up ebooks from iPad to iCloud.

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Level 1

9 points

Problem backing up ebooks from iPad to iCloud.

According to my iPad (gen 10) storage data, I have 3.01GB of ebooks on that iPad.

i am using iCloud for back up and, for books, I have enabled background app refresh, purchases on other devices and sync for both home and iCloud however, according to my iCloud storage, only 17.8MB of books are actually backed up. This 17.8MB may relate to books on my iPhone Air as I have only recently started using iCloud to back up my iPad however even that doesn’t make sense as my iPhone storage data shows 179.7MB of books.

this lack of backing up of books from my iPad is clearly of concern but also prevents me from syncing those books across to my iPhone which is what alerted me to this issue.

I have tried manually forcing an iPad backup multiple times but I still cannot get the books to back up.

Can someone please advise me how I can overcome this problem, if indeed there is a solution.

Posted on Sep 10, 2026 8:19 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Lawrence Finch

Community+ 2026

Level 10

241,548 points

Sep 10, 2026 8:27 AM in response to bgtodd

Are these ebooks Apple Books, or some other source of ebooks?

If they are Apple books you should turn on syncing books:

Settings/[your name]/iCloud/Saved to iCloud/See All and turn on Books. Do this on all of your devices.

Note that anything synced through iCloud will not be included in an iCloud backup, because that would be redundant.

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Answer 2

Sep 10, 2026 6:08 PM in response to bgtodd

“Backed up” is useless for the purpose you are asking about. If books are the data of an app on your iPhone they will be included in a backup. But the ONLY thing you can do with that backup is restore the entire backup to the iPhone, overwriting everything on the iPhone. You cannot recover content from a backup selectively.

Go to Settings/[your name]/iCloud, tap See All and review ALL of the apps under Saved to iCloud. ONLY content from the apps that are turned on will be synced. One of those switches should be for Books, but that only syncs Apple Books, no other eBooks. For other eBooks, the app you are using must enable syncing to iCloud. If there is no switch for it then those eBooks will not sync. And Kindle and Nook don’t support syncing books to iCloud. HOWEVER, they do sync to their own servers. I don’t know whether other ereaders sync to iCloud, but if they do there will be a switch for the app in iCloud settings.

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Answer 3

Sep 10, 2026 10:56 AM in response to bgtodd

If the other sources are publishers such as Amazon or Barns & Noble (and probably others) your backup is with the publisher. All of your purchased and downloaded items can be redownloaded.

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Answer 4

Sep 10, 2026 4:18 PM in response to bgtodd

There is a difference between syncing and backup. A backup does not sync; the only thing you can do with a backup is restore it to a device, and it overwrites everything on the device.

Syncing can also be used, but only if the app supports syncing. However, Kindle itself supports syncing between devices, so you might want to look into that. It not only syncs content, but preserves bookmarks, notes, comments and current reading point.

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Answer 5

bgtodd Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 10, 2026 9:00 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

There are a few ebooks which are Apple Books but most are from other sources.

I had already turned on Books in settings on both the iPad and the iPhone as you have suggested.

I realise that anything synced to my iPhone would not be included in an iCloud backup but the books on my iPad would presumably have to be backed up in order to enable those books to then be synced to the phone.

Apart from the syncing, I am concerned about not having the books backed up so as to enable me to recover then in the event of an iPad failure.

I assume that iCloud backups can deal with non Apple ebooks otherwise I would have to revert to backing the iPad up on my windows computer and then manually add all the books to the iPhone via iTunes.

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Answer 6

bgtodd Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 10, 2026 4:09 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

That is true but it still does not give me the ability to synchronise the books between the two devices, including which books I have read vs not read and the position that I am up to on any book that I am currently reading.

My question still is whether there is any way to back up ALL of my ebook library to iCloud to enable syncing to my phone or are backups to iCloud restricted to purchases made through Apple?

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Answer 7

bgtodd Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 10, 2026 5:39 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Ok I understand what you are saying about the difference. From what I have read, the Apple Books app supports syncing and therefore, having turned on the Home and iCloud sync switches, synchronisation between the iPad and the iPhone should be happening but it is not. Do you have any suggestions as to why this might be or how I can overcome this.

As to the backup, do you have any idea why the books are not being backed up?

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