How to Fix iBooks not Syncing Between Devices

iBooks is an e-book reader application available for free on the Apple App Store. You can search, download, and purchase books using this application to read on any Apple iOS-powered device. However, users are sometimes unable to synchronize their books between different devices. Due to this issue, users cannot read books comfortably.

What is causing the iBooks not syncing between devices issue?

We managed to discover some common causes that trigger this particular issue by looking at various user reports and the repair strategies they used to resolve the issue. Here is a shortlist of common scenarios that might trigger this particular error:

• Synchronization is disabled: In some cases, settings for synchronization might be responsible for this particular error. You need to enable synchronization on both devices to sync books.
• The user interface is glitched: Another potential cause for this issue is when the User interface of the iBooks application is glitched. Several users in a similar situation have reported that they managed to resolve the issue by refreshing the iBooks content, which can clear out the cache.
• Corrupt Application: If the application you’re using is corrupt or not functioning properly, this might be the issue. In this scenario, you can resolve the issue by reinstalling the application from the App Store.

This article will help you with different methods to resolve the issue. We will start with the most common and simple method and proceed to more detailed solutions.

Method 1: Check Your Synchronization Settings

The first and most important step is to check if your settings are correct for the synchronization of iBooks. Below are the settings for both devices where you can set options for synchronization. Compare your settings with the following steps:

1. Go to your phone Settings, then tap on iBooks and ensure it is ON.
2. Scroll down to find two options named ‘Sync Bookmarks and Notes‘ and ‘Sync Collections‘, and turn them ON so that all activities will be synced.

   

3. To check synchronization settings on macOS, open the iBooks application on macOS.
4. Click on iBooks in the menu bar at the top and choose the Preferences option.
5. In the General tab, check the box ‘Sync bookmarks, highlights, and collections across devices‘ option.

   

Method 2: Reset User Interface of iBooks

This method is applicable when users have their collections of books, but inside those folders/files, they are all empty. You can apply this trick to solve the problem. You can try this several times to see if it works.

1. Open the iBooks application by tapping the iBooks icon on your iPad.
2. Tap on the Featured or My Books button 10 times.

   

3. This will reset the user interface of iBooks, enabling you to access the books within the collections.

Method 3: Switch Off iCloud on the Device

In this method, we will refresh the iCloud synchronization settings to get all the books synced to the device. You can do this by using a simple ON/OFF trick. Turning off the synchronization settings for iCloud and iBooks, then turning them back ON will refresh and restore all your saved files.

1. Go to your phone Settings and tap on iCloud.
2. Turn OFF iCloud, wait for a moment, and then turn it back ON.
3. If this doesn’t help, try toggling off the iBooks option in iCloud, then turning it back ON.

   

4. Now check if your books are syncing to the device.

Method 4: Reinstall iBooks Application on the Device

Sometimes, the culprit can be the application itself. The application can become corrupt or stop working properly due to multiple reasons. Several users in a similar situation resolved the issue by uninstalling the iBooks application on their device and reinstalling it from the App Store. You can do this by following the steps below:

1. Find the iBooks application on your device, tap and hold on it for 2 seconds.
2. You will see an option with a small cross on the icon for removing the application.

   

3. Press the cross and wait for it to uninstall completely.
4. Go to your device’s App Store and search for iBooks.
5. Download and install the application, then check if the problem is resolved.