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iOS 10 deletes books (iBooks)

RiderX

RiderX

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 9, 2012
173
74
I have my iBooks in the iCloud. Whenever internal disk space gets nearly full (less 1GB free), iOS deletes some of my bigger books from the device. Without any warning.

Of course I can download them from the cloud again. But it is very annoying. Seems the books bigger than 100MB are first targets to be shot down.

Any idea how I can prevent this?
 
Last edited:
I'm not sure what's happening in your case but something(s) to double-check -- if you have your device set to sync with a Mac through iTunes and you've deleted books off of the Mac, the next sync will remove the books from your device. The same concept is possible if you have devices syncing through the cloud.

Another sync issue to check is -- see if you're using iCloud Drive and Optimize Storage on your Mac. They might be automatically deleting content that subsequently gets reflected on your device after a sync.

[...]5. Maximize iCloud

When using macOS Sierra, you have access to identical backup of everything you have on your HD stored in the cloud. This backup can be accessed on your Mac and you can also download and use it on another Mac elsewhere. The remote access and unlimited nature of this storage is something to maximize by simply storing some of the data in the cloud and freeing up your disk space. You can always retrieve the data and files when need for their use arises. However, an external offline backup is often more preferable especially since the cloud backup automatically syncs and may choose to lose some data if unused for quite a long period of time.

iCloud.png
[...]
Click to expand...
http://techsviewer.com/macos-sierra-slow-fixes/


I know there's an optimize storage setting for music and photos in iOS 10 (I'm on 9.x.x), I haven't seen any reference to one for iBooks.
 
It has nothing to do with the Mac. The books are still in the cloud and locally on the Mac. Nothing gets deleted there.

These problems started only with iOS10, and I have experienced the deletion of some larger books on the iPad a few times already. Happens always when the iPad is almost full, and needs more disk space. It doesn't delete the caches etc., it starts deleting books.

Problem is, when I'm on the road, I don't have always proper internet access to redownload the books.
 
I did a search and couldn't find anything similar to this regarding iBooks. Hopefully someone else will add some insight. Maybe this is one of those hidden features that sometimes appears.

If it were me, after awhile if I couldn't find a solution or explanation I'd consider a reinstall.
 
It's been happening to me. It's a feature, that doesn't play well with 16gig iPad and phones. I wish there was a way to turn the feature off or lock certain books on the device.
 
I found one reference to this at ASC. A community specialist answered, I'm pretty sure that title still designates someone as being an Apple employee, and didn't say that it's a feature. The final suggestion offered was to uninstall the iBooks app and then redownload from the App Store.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7677780
 
rshrugged said:
I found one reference to this at ASC. A community specialist answered, I'm pretty sure that title still designates someone as being an Apple employee, and didn't say that it's a feature. The final suggestion offered was to uninstall the iBooks app and then redownload from the App Store.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7677780
Click to expand...
That post references books missing from the app. The books aren't missing. There are available to download, as long as you have internet. The issue is books that were already downloaded, being deleted, by the os, to open up space on the device. It seems that iBooks are one of the first things purged, because they are easy to recover. This is a totally 1st world problem. It gets annoying having to constantly re-download books and I've run into times, where I have no internet and can't download them.
 
StonewallBrown said:
That post references books missing from the app. The books aren't missing. There are available to download, as long as you have internet. The issue is books that were already downloaded, being deleted, by the os, to open up space on the device. It seems that iBooks are one of the first things purged, because they are easy to recover. This is a totally 1st world problem. It gets annoying having to constantly re-download books and I've run into times, where I have no internet and can't download them.
Click to expand...
I read at as the user having books being deleted by the app, or the OS, on its own. Maybe I misunderstand.

Aartur:
HI! I have iPhone 5s 16 GB with iOS 10.0.1 on the board and i have a problem with ibooks app. iBooks by itself deletes (removes from iPhone) some of my recently readed books. I noticed that it happens without my permission and interverion. Sometime it happens when I'm downloading music from Apple Music. Does someone know how to solve this problem?
Click to expand...
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7677780
 
Good to see that others have the same problem. Totally unacceptable to automatically delete books from the device. While bookmarks are stored in the cloud, the last reading position is not. Start at page 1.

I have to check it, but the only solution may be to switch off icloud for books and sync old style via iTunes. At least when I'm out travelling and need my travel guide books.

Ugly.
 
I never lose my place. That's a new one to me. Placeholders and bookmarks should sync over. That said, I only have knowledge with ePub, might be different with PDF.
 
If you want to quickly test the deletion of books, use an app like "Battery Doctor" which fills disk space to the limit to "clear caches". It will do what it said and free up lots of Gigabytes, but your icloud books will be gone too.

The only reliable solution is: no more icloud books. The moment you switch off icloud for books, all books are gone on your device. But from now, you can import books the traditional way. I copy my books to Dropbox and move over what I need. These books never get deleted even if disk memory fills up. I have tested this.

If you have a iphone/ipad with lots of GB free, you won't experience all those things. You can then use icloud for books as designed. I believe, Apple developers all have a 128GB device where they never reach the limits.

But I wonder if the new concept "delete locally what is in icloud when memory fills up" happens with other apps too. I have the feeling, this is a feature, not a bug.
 
This issue still exists!

Has anyone figured out a way to turn this “feature” off?
 
DipDog3 said:
This issue still exists!

Has anyone figured out a way to turn this “feature” off?
Click to expand...

And Here we are, few years later - still the same. No one cares at Apple about this issue. It does not affect books bought via iBooks so why fix it... Looks to me like their strategy - books and pdf from other sources will irritate users and will constantly be unloaded from the ibooks, but the books from OUR platform will stay and be reliable.

How they can't fix this thing since iOS10?
 
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Hegiel said:
And Here we are, few years later - still the same. No one cares at Apple about this issue. It does not affect books bought via iBooks so why fix it... Looks to me like their strategy - books and pdf from other sources will irritate users and will constantly be unloaded from the ibooks, but the books from OUR platform will stay and be reliable.

How they can't fix this thing since iOS10?
Click to expand...

The issue is still here on iOS 13 beta 4...
 
Just left for a long car ride. Books played audiobook perfectly. Day later, audiobook is gone. Can still search for it in spotlight search on the phone but nothing in Books shows it’s there. iPhone 11 Pro iOS 13.5.1.
 
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