iBooks on my iPhone wont sync

iBooks only syncs books purchased on the iBook Store. To sync other books and PDFs, you need to use iTunes.

I purchased a book from the iBook store (coincidently, it is Becoming Steve Jobs 😉) and have checked Synch across all devices on both my MBP and iPhone 6+ and they still are not synching even when I bookmark the page on either device before I go to the other device. Any other recommendations you can offer? Thanks!

USe iTunes on your computer. If the book is on your phone transfer it to computer. If it's on your computer sync to phone.

I have a kind alike problem as the OP ... just bought a book on my iMac (in the iBook store) and it simply doesn't show up on my iPhone(6) .... this should sync (iCloud) without interference of iTunes, shouldn't it?

I've verified every setting w.r.t. syncing (e.g. "Hide iCloud Books" disabled in Collections-tab on iPhone) .... the book simply doesn't show up.

What does the book's requirements say on its description page in the store ? Some ibooks (e.g. those created via iBooks Author) can only be read on iPads and Mac computers, not on iPhones (or iPod Touches)

I must admit that the "Requirements" for this particular book indeed make notice of an iPad explicitly (and not an iOS device) ..... didn't notice that at first. Thanks for pointing this out.

But ... even though this particular book seems not to be suited for iPhone I checked whether other books (previews), opened in iBooks on my iMac, do show up on my bookshelf on my iPhone as well. Well, they don't!!! (This time I made sure that it is suitable for every type of iOS device)

Something is very strange: I do notice that I have a notification (red circle with a '1' in it) in iBooks (iPhone6) on the Purchased button (lower right corner of the iBooks app) but selecting this purchased section doesn't tell me what is new nor what to do. It only shows the list of purchased items but not the new item ... the notification remains, no matter what I do. Seems like the app does know that I bought this book but doesn't know what to do about it.

Books that aren't compatible with iPhones shouldn't show on the bookshelf in the iBooks on your phone for redownloading, nor in the store, only those that can be read on it should be shown.

The '1' on the Purchased tab means that one of your books that you have in the app has an update available for downloading, not that there is new purchase. Is there an Updates tab on Purchased, or does one of the book's have update against it : About iBooks book updates - Apple Support ?

Hi "King_Penguin",

First of all thanks for your advises, really appreciated!

I double checked whether or not some other books (of which I downloaded the previews within iBooks on my mac) were supposed to be compatible with my iPhone (and not only a iPad), which they were. Still they don't show up on my phone.

W.r.t. the '1'-notification on my purchased button (on iPhone): I can't see what it is I'm being notified about ... returning back to my iBooks app on my Mac however I notice that indeed there is an update to one of my purchased items (I followed the steps as the document "About iBooks book updates" explains).

I initially tried to do the update but somehow it failed twice (near the end of the download a pop-up window tells me so, without any explanation what exactly went wrong). Deleting the book from my bookshelf and then downloading again solved the problem - the update now downloads without problems.

As the '1' still showed up on my iPhone I decided to download that very same book on this device as well (even though there was no hint whatsoever what exactly needed an update!) This indeed did make the notification go away.

I still have the idea that both environments are not synced though but maybe I am wrong (assuming that previews should also sync) on this ... as I just noticed that my bookmarks on those books I do see on both devices do sync correctly!

I'll keep an eye on it.

Once again thanks for your feedback.....

Jan.

I had a similar problem. The way I solved it was to go to iBooks on my Mac where it showed me a similar red circle. I was then able to click update and the suspect books were updated.

Well, I didn't get that "red circle" in iBooks on my Mac but I did notice that one of my books needed an update ... after removing the book first and then downloading it again (the latest version) I noticed that the notification on both, my Mac as well as my iPhone, were gone.