All iPads What is the minimum/earliest operating system I can wirelessly send iBooks/ePub files to my iPad?

[HappyDude20]

I am considering purchasing an iPad. The only iPad I’ve ever owned is the 1st generation from way back in 2010.

I want an iPad primarily to read books. I have hundreds of ePub files that I’ve collected throughout the years and want to be able to read them on my iPad.

I remember on iPad Gen 1 I would have to connect my iPad to my Mac in order to sync media and this time around I don’t want to do that. Ideally I want to either AirDrop the files to my iPad, or if need be, email them to myself and open them up on my iPad.

considering I’m wanting an iPad primarily for this reason I don’t need the latest and greatest. I would guess an iPad 4th Gen or even a 1st Gen iPad Air would suffice, but am not sure.

 

[ericwn]

I think an Air is a safe bet, not sure how capable earlier stuff is today.

While not advocating for the latest and greatest, I’d look at it from a display perspective. If you want to read for a long time, get the best you can for your eyes.

Today’s entry level iPad is occasionally on sale, and it will likely run circles around these old things. Potential pencil use for notes and markups?

Have you also considered straight E-book devices like Kobo etc that you can just attach via USB and fill via the file manager of your OS?

I occasionally load my epubs via email or iCloud Drive (via Documents app) and share from there to books app as needed.

 

[rui no onna]

I recommend getting at least an iPad 5th or 6th gen. I don’t have experience with Macs but at least for iOS to iOS, AirDrop can become finicky on a device with an older iOS version.

The iPad 4th gen supports iOS 10 max and the Air iOS 12 max.

If you’re in the US, the 7th gen has often gone on sale for $229-249 and imho, it’s worth the extra $50-100 versus a used, older model.

Personally, I just use Dropbox and/or iCloud Drive to copy ebooks to my iPad.

 

[AutomaticApple]

I think an Air is a safe bet

The original iPad Air?

 

[HappyDude20]

I think an Air is a safe bet, not sure how capable earlier stuff is today.

While not advocating for the latest and greatest, I’d look at it from a display perspective. If you want to read for a long time, get the best you can for your eyes.

Today’s entry level iPad is occasionally on sale, and it will likely run circles around these old things. Potential pencil use for notes and markups?

Have you also considered straight E-book devices like Kobo etc that you can just attach via USB and fill via the file manager of your OS?

I occasionally load my epubs via email or iCloud Drive (via Documents app) and share from there to books app as needed.

you know a dedicated ePub reader like a kindle would be so much cheaper but I don’t know. I like that I wouldn’t be staring at a computer screen as I would be with an iPad but I also don’t wanna carry around a micro usb cable when my car and home are geared with lightning cables already.

 

[Joplin]

If you are planning to read fiction or non-fiction that's not pdfs or richly illustrated please do your eyes the favor of buying an e-ink device. They provide a much better reading experience. Do not let people tell you otherwise, go and try out a Kindle or Kobo in a store and see for yourself.

The frontlights on modern ereaders are not tiresome for your eyes as opposed to reading from LCD screens.

iPads are great for reading magazines or pdfs, but they are not the right tool for reading regular books. I use my iPad a lot but I'd never use it to read books. I read a lot and my Kindle is the device for that (extra bonus: no distractions).

 

[rui no onna]

you know a dedicated ePub reader like a kindle would be so much cheaper but I don’t know. I like that I wouldn’t be staring at a computer screen as I would be with an iPad but I also don’t wanna carry around a micro usb cable when my car and home are geared with lightning cables already.

Technically, the Kindle doesn’t support ePub files. Amazon uses their own proprietary formats. Thankfully, easy enough to convert ebooks using Calibre.

As for the charging part, I have microUSB cables at home and in the office. Unless you’re going on a super long trip, you probably wouldn’t need to bring a charger.

I think I charge my PW3 once a week or something with heavy reading. With lighter use, typically just once a month.

 

[ericwn]

The original iPad Air?

For just a simple e-reader on an extreme budget, yes.

 

[jeyf]

here are some random thoughts:
-on your home wifi LAN side use the ios "Files" app, better yet if you got a copy of the "FileExplorer" app, what ever, go smb://192.169.1.22 or where ever you have files on your home network. I have a NAS box at .22 "Files" is very nimble and "FileExplorer" even better, in fact faster quicker than macOS "Finder".
-once your logged into your home file server via smb: use your iPhone's "Files" to share off your network into a specific reader app you have in your ios device iPhone. This creates a local copy. Delete the local copy when your done with the book. A few functional ios free readers = "Marvin", "Xodo" and or "Yomu". You can also use "Books" which comes with ios. Whatever reader you use make sure it has a dark mode screen.
-epub and pdf are good formats. mobi works too. Use the macOS app "Calibre" to convert formats.
-i use an old iPhone and have a local copy of my read available at all times. Say if I am on the lite rail into work. I have poor eye sight but have always been able to adj the old iPhone's screen even if i forget my reading glasses.
-ios has a "Now reading" widget that super convient. Shows percent read and how much time you have been reading. Clicky on the widget and it takes you to the spot you left off say in "Marvin"
-so wifi and no cables, your novel is local to your ios device. You can have several books for a long trip.
-having a local copy on your ios device uses almost no power if you say turn bluetooth, wifi = off. Maybe could enable power save mode too.

 

[ericwn]

you know a dedicated ePub reader like a kindle would be so much cheaper but I don’t know. I like that I wouldn’t be staring at a computer screen as I would be with an iPad but I also don’t wanna carry around a micro usb cable when my car and home are geared with lightning cables already.

Totally hear you with the cable mess - our little first world issues. Annoys me too. At the same time I’m unfortunately having a few other devices that still use that port so I happen to have these around and the e-readers don’t need charging that often. If most of what you read is just text novels, it might be a nice switch-up.

On short trips I just bring a phone and the e-reader and leave the rest. With bigger luggage the few extra gramms aren’t even noticeable to me anymore.

 

[HappyDude20]

Totally hear you with the cable mess - our little first world issues. Annoys me too. At the same time I’m unfortunately having a few other devices that still use that port so I happen to have these around and the e-readers don’t need charging that often. If most of what you read is just text novels, it might be a nice switch-up.

On short trips I just bring a phone and the e-reader and leave the rest. With bigger luggage the few extra gramms aren’t even noticeable to me anymore.

BOOM! So I'm ordering a Paperwhite 3 Kindle as we speak. Am so excited.

 

[ericwn]

BOOM! So I'm ordering a Paperwhite 3 Kindle as we speak. Am so excited.

Nice, congratulations! The cool thing with the Kindles is that your read progress syncs pretty accurately across different devices, so you can read a bit on your phone, iPad or Paperwhite, then pick up there on another device. Make sure to turn wifi off until needed on a kindle when reading longer periods of time, just drains the battery much quicker.

 

[cdcastillo]

Any iPad currently on sale is capable of wirelessly sync documents (either by dropbox, iCloud, onedrive or by email). So, just go with the cheaper you can get your hands on.

Now, I second the idea that a kindle is a vastly superior text reading device. If you'll read PDFs or some sort of visually enriched documents, then the iPad wins, hands down. Otherwise, go for a e-ink device.

you know a dedicated ePub reader like a kindle would be so much cheaper but I don’t know. I like that I wouldn’t be staring at a computer screen as I would be with an iPad but I also don’t wanna carry around a micro usb cable when my car and home are geared with lightning cables already.

The kindle readers come with an email address you can email documents to, and they appear in the device, no cable involved. The battery lasts for weeks so there is no need to keep a microUSB cable at hand during travel.

It's been a long time since I uploaded ePub files to my kindle (and right now it is lost somewhere in my country, either at my apartment or in my parents or my brothers house) but I could swear you can do it. I have the calibre app for Mac, so it could very well be that I converted them to .mobi files and simply do not remember it.

 

[rui no onna]

The kindle readers come with an email address you can email documents to, and they appear in the device, no cable involved.

The above (Send/Email to Kindle Cloud) is a very handy feature if reading on multiple devices. It allows syncing reading position, bookmarks and annotations on non-Amazon purchased books.

Note, ePub isn't among the officially supported formats but you can work around that by changing the EPUB extension so TXT or JPG or other supported extension. Amazon automatically converts docs sent to Kindle Cloud to MOBI or AZW3.

It's been a long time since I uploaded ePub files to my kindle (and right now it is lost somewhere in my country, either at my apartment or in my parents or my brothers house) but I could swear you can do it. I have the calibre app for Mac, so it could very well be that I converted them to .mobi files and simply do not remember it.

Kindles don't support ePub files natively. I have a few Paperwhites at my disposal and the built-in reader simply doesn't recognize them. If you want ePub support on a Kindle, you'd need to jailbreak and install KOReader. Mind, only the PW4 is freely jailbreakable right now. Amazon's already plugged most of the vulnerabilities used for jailbreaking.

However, Calibre does auto-convert incompatible files to supported formats when using send to device so lack of native ePub support is not a big issue.

 

[HappyDude20]

The above (Send/Email to Kindle Cloud) is a very handy feature if reading on multiple devices. It allows syncing reading position, bookmarks and annotations on non-Amazon purchased books.

Note, ePub isn't among the officially supported formats but you can work around that by changing the EPUB extension so TXT or JPG or other supported extension. Amazon automatically converts docs sent to Kindle Cloud to MOBI or AZW3.



Kindles don't support ePub files natively. I have a few Paperwhites at my disposal and the built-in reader simply doesn't recognize them. If you want ePub support on a Kindle, you'd need to jailbreak and install KOReader. Mind, only the PW4 is freely jailbreakable right now. Amazon's already plugged most of the vulnerabilities used for jailbreaking.

However, Calibre does auto-convert incompatible files to supported formats when using send to device so lack of native ePub support is not a big issue.

Does Kindle Cloud cost money? Would I be able to simply upload my .epub files there and read away?

I don't mind using Calibre, I've used it before way back in 2011.

 

[rui no onna]

Does Kindle Cloud cost money? Would I be able to simply upload my .epub files there and read away?

I don't mind using Calibre, I've used it before way back in 2011.

It’s free with a few limitations (e.g. no books larger than 50MB).

Yep, you could just upload to Kindle Cloud and then download as needed on your devices.

 

[HappyDude20]

It’s free with a few limitations (e.g. no books larger than 50MB).

Yep, you could just upload to Kindle Cloud and then download as needed on your devices.

thanks, I guess what this would mean for me in a use case is after I convert my ePub files to .mobi using calibre, I can send them to the kindle cloud account instead of connecting the kindle to my rMBP.

All of my ePub files are less than 5mb each I’d say.

I do have some PDF files that are near the 50mb mark however.

 

[JustAnExpat]

I am considering purchasing an iPad. The only iPad I’ve ever owned is the 1st generation from way back in 2010.

I want an iPad primarily to read books. I have hundreds of ePub files that I’ve collected throughout the years and want to be able to read them on my iPad.

I remember on iPad Gen 1 I would have to connect my iPad to my Mac in order to sync media and this time around I don’t want to do that. Ideally I want to either AirDrop the files to my iPad, or if need be, email them to myself and open them up on my iPad.

considering I’m wanting an iPad primarily for this reason I don’t need the latest and greatest. I would guess an iPad 4th Gen or even a 1st Gen iPad Air would suffice, but am not sure.

According to MacTracker, the earliest iPad that supports Airdrop is the iPad 4, released in 2012.

 

[JustAnExpat]

thanks, I guess what this would mean for me in a use case is after I convert my ePub files to .mobi using calibre, I can send them to the kindle cloud account instead of connecting the kindle to my rMBP.

All of my ePub files are less than 5mb each I’d say.

I do have some PDF files that are near the 50mb mark however.

The program I use to read PDFs on my iPad Air 2 is PDF-Notes. Some of my PDFs are about 800MB O) in size.

 

[rui no onna]

According to MacTracker, the earliest iPad that supports Airdrop is the iPad 4, released in 2012.

It does but I've found trying to AirDrop between devices on different iOS versions to be finicky. I'd need to turn Bluetooth on and off, set AirDrop to Everyone, etc.

 

[HappyDude20]

Nice, congratulations! The cool thing with the Kindles is that your read progress syncs pretty accurately across different devices, so you can read a bit on your phone, iPad or Paperwhite, then pick up there on another device. Make sure to turn wifi off until needed on a kindle when reading longer periods of time, just drains the battery much quicker.

Great tip, thank you. Turning off WiFi the moment I have all my books on the Kindle PW3.

The kindle readers come with an email address you can email documents to, and they appear in the device, no cable involved. The battery lasts for weeks so there is no need to keep a microUSB cable at hand during travel.

It's been a long time since I uploaded ePub files to my kindle (and right now it is lost somewhere in my country, either at my apartment or in my parents or my brothers house) but I could swear you can do it. I have the calibre app for Mac, so it could very well be that I converted them to .mobi files and simply do not remember it.

I have a ton of ePub files. Are you saying I can email these ePub files to my Kindle (in bulk?) and they just show up on my Kindle PW3, ready to read? Or must I convert them to .mobi first and then email them? It would be awesome if I could email them in bulk, considering im looking at well over 100 books.

The above (Send/Email to Kindle Cloud) is a very handy feature if reading on multiple devices. It allows syncing reading position, bookmarks and annotations on non-Amazon purchased books.

Note, ePub isn't among the officially supported formats but you can work around that by changing the EPUB extension so TXT or JPG or other supported extension. Amazon automatically converts docs sent to Kindle Cloud to MOBI or AZW3.



Kindles don't support ePub files natively. I have a few Paperwhites at my disposal and the built-in reader simply doesn't recognize them. If you want ePub support on a Kindle, you'd need to jailbreak and install KOReader. Mind, only the PW4 is freely jailbreakable right now. Amazon's already plugged most of the vulnerabilities used for jailbreaking.

However, Calibre does auto-convert incompatible files to supported formats when using send to device so lack of native ePub support is not a big issue.

Ah, well that answers that question. So, sending ePub files to the Kindle Cloud automatically converts them to .mobi and/or azw3? Is there a difference in doing it this way as opposed to converting these books in Calibre on the Mac App instead?

The program I use to read PDFs on my iPad Air 2 is PDF-Notes. Some of my PDFs are about 800MB O) in size.

HOLY MOTHER OF GAWD.


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Thanks everyone, I'm well on my way to reading a ton more books now. Very glad I went with a Kindle PaperWhite 3 instead of an iPad; my eyes just can't take staring at another screen for hours on end. The PW3, in the few hours I've now owned it, is a pleasure to look at, doesn't bother my eyes at all.

 

[rui no onna]

I have a ton of ePub files. Are you saying I can email these ePub files to my Kindle (in bulk?) and they just show up on my Kindle PW3, ready to read? Or must I convert them to .mobi first and then email them? It would be awesome if I could email them in bulk, considering im looking at well over 100 books.



Ah, well that answers that question. So, sending ePub files to the Kindle Cloud automatically converts them to .mobi and/or azw3? Is there a difference in doing it this way as opposed to converting these books in Calibre on the Mac App instead?

Formatting. Auto-converted EPUB will send AZW3 to devices that support it which enables adjusting font weight and use of custom fonts. Plain MOBI doesn't support those.