Apple Books (formerly called iBooks) are fun when they download correctly and work with ease so that the reader can enjoy the pure pleasure of reading a book. There are however times when the electrons don’t cooperate, and you end up with several different Books downloading problems. 
In this post, we will look at some of the simple tips that can help you quickly resolve some of the more common Apple Books/iBook related issues so that you can get back to your reading.
Related Articles
- Apple Books or iBooks Stuck on Cover Page or Other Page? How To Fix
- Using Apple Books. Essential Tips and Tricks for iOS 12 and above
- Apple Books or iBooks Missing After Latest Upgrade? How To Fix
- iBooks Blank Screen
- 4 Great Apps to Borrow Free eBooks for Everyone in the Family
Contents
Cannot Access the iBooks Store
Many Readers find themselves in a position where they cannot access the Apple Books or iBooks Store using their iOS devices. This problem usually happens after an iOS upgrade.
First, check to see if you’ve disabled the store via Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions (or for older iOS, Settings > General > Restrictions.) 
Since we are talking about settings, if you are new to using Apple Books/iBooks on your iPad, please make sure that your Auto-lock settings are appropriately set. Otherwise, you will find that the screen would go dark after a bit. 
Tap on Settings > General > Auto-lock and choose your selection.
If your restrictions settings are fine and you are still having the issue, follow the steps below:
- Close the Apple Books/iBooks App
- Reset the iOS device
- On an iPhone 6S or below plus all older model iPads & iPod Touches, press Home and Power at the same time until you see the Apple logo
- For iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus: Press and hold both the Side and Volume Down buttons for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo
- On iPhone X Series phones or iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Then press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Finally, press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo
- Sign Out of your iCloud and iTunes account on your iOS device. Tap on Settings > Apple ID Profile > iTunes & App Store. Tap on your account ID (Apple ID) and sign out.
- Sign back using your Apple ID credentials for iCloud and iTunes store and try accessing the Apple Books or iBooks Store
Books Not Downloading Problems
When it comes to downloading, most readers have complained about two common issues. The first is that once you purchase the title from the Apple Books store and it completes downloading, you find yourself with a wrong book.
The second issue that is more common is that your Books downloads correctly but either the pages are missing, or it contains partially blank pages.
To solve these issues, please try the following steps and check if it resolves your problems.
Step – 1. Check Apple Servers
There are times when the Apple Servers are down for maintenance or other updates. Before proceeding any further, make sure that your downloading issues are not related to Apple Server issues.
The best place to check the Apple-related status is to visit the system status official page from Apple.
It is a good idea to bookmark this page so that you can always check here first when you have issues with iMessage or AppStore or the Book Store.
Step – 2. Verify Apple ID
If the status depicted is green for Books store, the next step is to check your Apple ID that you are using to access the store for downloading your Appel Books/iBooks.
Many people use multiple Apple IDs and using the wrong one can lead to undesirable results. For example, you buy a book on your iPhone using one ID, but you are trying to read or access the book using another ID on your iPad.
Tap on Settings > iTunes & App Store and check your Apple ID
- Tap on the Apple ID shown and next tap on Sign Out
- Once you have signed out, restart your device and sign back in
- Make sure that Automatic Downloads for Books and Audiobooks is turned on in this screen settings
Open your Books app and check if you can see your downloaded titles.
Unhide iCloud Books
Unhide in Apple Books
Tap Reading Now, then tap your profile icon or picture in the upper-right corner. Tap Manage Hidden Purchases and enter your Apple ID if requested. Don’t forget to look at any Family Purchases too! 
Unhide in iBooks
In older iBooks, tap on All Books at the top center and make sure that you have not enabled to hide the iCloud Books. This setting is at the bottom of the screen and is sometimes hard to notice.
It is also good to make sure that your payment (credit card ) information is up to date on your account.
Step – 3. Download Titles Again
If you are still having issues with the downloaded titles, be it blank pages or wrong book, delete the downloaded book.
Next, go to your account’s purchased section under Reading Now or for iBooks, visit your account settings in the iBooks Store and re-download the title.
This likely solves your issues even when you have partially downloaded Books.
Step – 4. Reset All Settings
The last option to deal with this annoying problem is to Reset All Settings. Performing this type of reset does not erase your private information.
Reset All Settings resets to default everything in Settings, including notifications, alerts, brightness, and clock settings like wake up alarms. Resetting all settings also reverts all your personalized and customized features like wallpapers and accessibility settings back to factory defaults.
So you need to reconfigure these settings once your iPhone or iDevice restarts. 
Please remember to write down your wifi credentials and then tap on Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings on your iPad.
Once your iPad restarts following the reset procedure, try to download the title from the store. The Reset also tackles problems such as when your Books keeps crashing or shutting down.
Download and Sync Books Across iOS and Mac
Several users wanted to find out the process of downloading a Book title from their iPad / iPhone to their Mac or Macbook.
If you have iBooks installed on your Macbook and the titles that you purchased are still available in the purchased section, it should be available for you to download onto your Macbook as well. Purchase once and read anywhere!
If you have moved countries or the title is no longer available in your purchased section, you can still transfer it to your Mac from your iPhone via iTunes using the steps below.
- Connect your iPhone/iPad to your Mac running the latest version of iTunes
- Select your iOS device in the iTunes sidebar or tap the device icon in the upper-left corner
- From the list under Settings on the left side of the iTunes window, tap Books
- To turn syncing on for Books, tick the checkbox next to Sync Books
- Click the Apply button in the lower-right corner of the screen. If syncing doesn’t start automatically, click the Sync button
- From the sidebar, scroll down to the section On My Device
- Select Books
- Click on File > Devices > Transfer Purchases
- This transfers the titles already downloaded onto your iOS device to your Mac and should sync with your Mac’s Books App
- To verify, open the Books app on your Mac or MacBook
- If those books aren’t listed, Click on File > Move Books From iTunes (or Transfer books from iTunes)
That’s it. This will allow you to view your PDF/Titles etc. on your Mac/Macbook
Getting Refund for Download Problems or Faulty Books
If you are still experiencing issues, your best bet is to reach out to Apple iTunes Support and report the problem so that you can either get credit for the wrong purchase or Apple Support may be able to resolve your issue.
You should do this within the first 90 days of your purchase.
To claim a refund for your purchase, go to Apple’s Report a Problem site
- Using the ID and password that you used to buy the book, log into this Apple Support site
- Next, Choose ‘Report a Problem’ next to the item that you are having trouble with
- Follow the on-screen steps and complete your reporting
iBooks Alternatives
iBooks, when working is a good app to use for reading your e-books. The app is however still antiquated when it comes to handling PDF files.
If you are using a lot of PDF’s for your work, you may benefit from using a third-party app to help you tackle PDFs. There are many excellent and popular PDF reading apps out there.
When it comes to using other e-readers or borrowing that online book from your local library and using one drive, please take a look at our detailed article below that provides you with e-reader choices.
Reader Tips 
- After experiencing a bunch of problems (in particular blank pages) following my recent iOS update, I removed the iBooks app and all my books from my library–in total a few hundred books. I then re-installed the iBooks app from the App Store and added all books to the library. Make sure you enable iBooks in iCloud > iCloud Drive on all devices. In iBooks make sure Show iCloud Books is checked in the Collection ions pull down menu. For now, this seems to solve the blank pages problem. But it’s time intensive if you separate your iBooks into different collections–you have to do this again MANUALLY. Not fun!
In Summary
We hope that you found the tips helpful in dealing with some of the common problems related to using iBooks. If there are other tips that you would like to share with fellow readers, please use the comments below and let us know.
If you found the information helpful, please feel free to share with your connects.
Happy Reading!