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Books not syncing across iCloud

My books are not syncing across iCloud. My guess is that it's an Apple ID issue. In particular I put a non-DRM eBook on my Mojave Book and it won't show on my iPad.


For historic reasons (long ago things worked this way) I have an Apple ID for purchases and a different Apple ID for iCloud. Per Apple recommendations our Family Sharing group includes the Purchase Apple ID.


On both my Mojave MacBook and my iOS 14.4 iPad the Apple ID for purchases and iCloud are in use.


Any clues on fixing the sync issue? In preferences I have Book configured to sync collections and the like.

Posted on Feb 9, 2021 5:24 AM

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Posted on Feb 9, 2021 2:10 PM

Yes, that fixed it. Mojave and iOS 14.4 will sync non-DRM non-Apple Store EPUB files even when the iCloud Apple ID is not the same as the Store Apple ID.


In my case the fix was to "buy" a free Apple Store Book, once that was done the "download new purchases automatically" setting in Mojave Book Preferences was no longer grayed out. I don't think I needed it on, but the purchase process fixed the disconnect that was disabling sync.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 9, 2021 2:10 PM in response to jfaughnan

Yes, that fixed it. Mojave and iOS 14.4 will sync non-DRM non-Apple Store EPUB files even when the iCloud Apple ID is not the same as the Store Apple ID.


In my case the fix was to "buy" a free Apple Store Book, once that was done the "download new purchases automatically" setting in Mojave Book Preferences was no longer grayed out. I don't think I needed it on, but the purchase process fixed the disconnect that was disabling sync.

Feb 9, 2021 5:39 AM in response to jfaughnan

I just had a nasty thought on this. The settings only mentions synchronizing PDFs via iCloud. I wonder if it's possible that Apple does not support syncing ePUB files in Books.app! Perhaps ePUB will only sync if purchased from the Apple Store.


This particular ePUB is DRM free but not purchased from the Apple Store.


At first it seems bizarre that non-Apple Store ePUB would not sync, but that's how Apple Music works. Only tunes that are part of the Apple Store can sync (there is a mechanism for 'grandfathering' in old music however).


I have a bad feeling about this.


(I actually store all my library on a Google Drive and there's a way to manually move books to my iPad that way.)

Books not syncing across iCloud

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