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StoneSoup Author

Level 1

49 points

How to undo an iBooks conversion and revert back to iTunes

Apple listens if enough people complain. If you hate the current implementation of iBooks, send Apple feedback here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ibooks.html

I'm starting this thread as a central place to collect ways of either:

A. Preventing a conversion from iTunes to iBooks

B. Reverting back to iTunes after a conversion

Here's what I've seen in the community so far:

Kevin Edgecomb's solution for reverting back:

Re: Not impressed! No edit info, no library management!

Andy Epprecht's solution for reverting back, building on Kevin's:

Re: Not impressed! No edit info, no library management!

Any other solutions for prevention or reversion?

Posted on Oct 26, 2013 8:03 PM

112 replies

Xyzzy42

Level 1

54 points

Oct 26, 2015 7:37 AM in response to craigriches

I think it has to do with file removal...instructions might need to be modified.

My first install was a clean install with migrated settings and data. Did the uninstall of iBooks and iTunes, forced install of iTunes 11.4 with Pacifist, but could not log in to iCloud on restart. Scratched that install. I never opened iTunes 11.4 to see if I could access my account, so I couldn't tell you if I could access my iTunes account. I'd also done some housecleaning on another process (GamEd Kit) and wasn't sure if I had removed something necessary when iCloud login failed.

In my second test of ElCap install, I used AppZapper to dump iTunes and iBooks, emptied my trash, and then used Pacifist to install iTunes 11.4. I was able to log in to my account and iCloud okay. This was an upgrade install.

i've seen reports of iCloud login failures elsewhere the last few days, so I think it might be unrelated to the iTunes revert procedure.

Xyzzy42

Level 1

54 points

Oct 26, 2015 12:33 PM in response to Xyzzy42

Forgot to mention: After the upgrade install, before deleting iTunes 12, etc., I rebooted to the recovery partition and disabled SIP through Terminal using "csrutil disable; reboot".

StoneSoup Author

Level 1

49 points

Nov 6, 2015 2:06 PM in response to craigriches

Hi, Craigriches,

I didn't have any issues with OS X 10.11.1 and iTunes 12.3.1.23 -- the latest available as of today. I think that the issues you encountered might either be unrelated to this procedure or caused by the iCloud outages.

Here's the procedure that I followed successfully:

1. Boot into Recovery Mode using CMD + R, then select Utilities from top menu

2. Select Terminal, and then type following and Enter

3. csrutil disable

4. Then Reboot system

5. Using Terminal:

pkill com.apple.BKAgentService

sudo rm -r /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BookKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com. apple.BKAgentService.xpc

7. Remove iBooks with AppZapper or similar utility [you may need to enable deleting Apple apps in the preferences]

8. Using Finder: deleted

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iBooksX

9. Emptied Trash

10. Restarted iTunes

11. Boot back into Recovery mode using CMD + R, back into Terminal and then typed csrutil enable, to enable SIP again

StoneSoup Author

Level 1

49 points

Nov 23, 2015 12:01 PM in response to StoneSoup

Warning: something in the procedure above causes a small problem with iTunes 12.3.1.23 on El Capitan. Clicking the "Buy" link in the iTunes Store results in a greyed-out button but no popup requesting Apply ID authentication appears. Clicking on the "Redeem" option in the menu under my user name in the iTunes menu bar is also disabled (i.e. nothing happens when clicking on it).

I reinstalled iTunes. This did not fix the problem.

I reinstalled El Capitan. This fixed the problem. I was able to purchase a test song successfully. I executed the instructions above, and now my "Buy" and "Redeem" links are disabled again.

Steven

StoneSoup Author

Level 1

49 points

Apr 1, 2016 2:15 PM in response to StoneSoup

The procedure documented above still works with OS X 10.11.4 with iBooks in iOS 9.3.1.

The Authors tab on my iPad is still wonky, though. As near as I can fathom, it sorts my side loaded books (i.e. books not purchased from the iBooks Store) by first name, and Apple ePubs purchased from the iBooks Store by last name.

And, my usual gripe still exists: the gridded Books view is completely random.

Aug 10, 2016 9:53 AM in response to StoneSoup

I cannot sign in to my itunes store account on my macbook anymore. Might be another side effect.

Dec 17, 2016 12:42 AM in response to StoneSoup

Is anyone having issues with doing the iBooks conversion with the new version of iTunes ?

I bought a new phone and iPad and now and i get this message when I try to update my new iPad and new iPhone.

" The iPad “Baby Pro” cannot be used because it requires iTunes version 12.5 " and I get the same with my iPhone.

I really hated iBooks and have to many books to use it successfully.

So does the conversion work on the newer version of iTunes 12.5.4 ??

wendy

How to undo an iBooks conversion and revert back to iTunes