Apple’s recent iOS 12 platform offers a bunch of refinements to your iPhone apps and system functions. Among the core apps that receive huge facelifts and enhanced functions is the Apple’s very own eBook reader and store, Apple Books (iBooks). If you’re a book person, then you’ll definitely love the new look and feel of Apple Books. However, the recent overhaul doesn’t make the Apple’s Books app totally free from flaws. Thus you can expect random app issues to occur from minor and major errors.
Outlined below are a few suggested workarounds that are used to deal with a problem with Apple Books (Books App) that’s not working on the new iPhone XS Max. Scroll down for more detailed solutions.
Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our iPhone issues questionnaire and hit submit.
How to troubleshoot iPhone XS Max with Apple Books that’s not working
Before you start troubleshooting, check the Apple’s system page. Like any other Apple services, iBooks is also resting on the Apple server’s availability. This is likely the case if iBooks was working perfectly fine on your iPhone XS Max and then suddenly unable to function as intended. Also make sure that your phone is getting stable Wi-Fi access. If you’re on cellular data, check and ensure cellular data is turned on. If the problem continues after ensuring availability of all the aforementioned factors, then you may start carrying out any of the following procedures.
First solution: Sign out of your iCloud account then sign in again.
Logging out and back into iCloud can be considered among the first possible solutions to try on. This will help rule out invalid logins and other account-related errors from the underlying causes. Here’s how to sign out and sign back into iCloud on your iPhone XS Max:
- Tap on Settings.
- Select [Your Name/Profile].
- Scroll down and tap on Sign Out.
- Enter your Apple ID password when asked to continue then tap the option to Turn Off.
- You may opt to turn on the data that you want to keep a copy of on your device.
- Then tap Sign Out twice to confirm that you want to sign out of iCloud.
After successfully signing out of your iCloud account, soft reset/restart your iPhone XS Max with these steps:
- Press and hold the Side/Power button and either Volume buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
- Release the buttons when the Slide to Power Off command appears and then drag the power off slider to the right.
- After 30 seconds, press and hold the Power/Side button again until the phone reboots.
Wait until the phone reboots and then sign into your iCloud account with the same Apple ID and password information. Here’s how:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Tap the option to Sign In to your [device].
- Enter your Apple ID and password.
If necessary, enter the six-digit verification code and complete sign in, if you protect your account with two-factor authentication.
After signing back into iCloud, retry loading the Books app or Apple Books and see if it’s already working properly as expected.
Second solution: Check and manage your iPhone restrictions.
Some apps and services won’t be able to work simply because they’re restricted. To make sure this isn’t what’s barring Apple Books from loading properly on your iPhone XS Max, check your restrictions and make some adjustments, if necessary. Here’s how to access and manage this feature on your iPhone XS Max:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Scroll to and tap Screen Time.
- Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
- Enter a four-digit passcode, if prompted then confirm it.
- Tap the Content & Privacy switch.
- Scroll down to and tap Allowed Apps.
- Find Book Store and make sure that the switch is turned OFF. Otherwise, the app will be disabled.
After making necessary changes, try reloading Apple Books or Books App to and see if the problem is already gone.
Third solution: Reset all settings.
Other misconfigured settings and options can also be the cause of the problem. This is often the case if the Books app stopped working after customizing your iPhone settings. In that case, you can try the easiest possible solution which is to delete all customized settings and then restore the default values and original configurations. Here’s how:
- From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
- Tap General.
- Scroll down to and tap Reset.
- Select the option to Reset all settings.
- If prompted, enter your device passcode.
- Then tap the option to confirm all settings reset.
Don’t forget to reconnect to Wi-Fi or cellular network after the reset so you can use the Internet and online apps and services on your iPhone again.
Fourth solution: Set the date and time settings to automatic.
Incorrect date and time settings can also cause errors to server-based or network-based applications. To prevent this from happening, choosing automatic date and time settings on your iPhone is recommended.
- To check on this information, go to Settings-> General-> Date & Time menu.
- Then turn on the option to Set Automatically.
This will prompt your device to set the date and time based on the current time zone in your location.
After the time and date are set properly, restart/soft reset your iPhone XS Max to refresh the system and clear errant caches from the internal memory.
Fifth solution: Update your phone software.
Installing the latest iOS update available for your iPhone XS Max can also be the key to fixing the problem if random bugs are to blame. Software updates also offer fix patches to address existing problems on apps or system services that are inflicted by random bugs, malwares and corrupted system information or data segments. If your iPhone can connect to Wi-Fi internet, then you can check for over-the-air (OTA) iOS updates to download and install with these steps:
- Tap Settings from your Home screen.
- Select General.
- Tap Software Update.
- If a new update is available, select the option to Download and Install.
Alternatively, you can manually check for and install new software update on your iPhone XS Max using iTunes on a computer. This can be considered an option if your iPhone cannot connect to Wi-Fi Internet. To get started, secure a Windows or Mac computer that runs on a compatible operating system with iOS 12 and has the latest iOS version of iTunes software. The computer must also be connected to the Internet either through Wi-Fi or ethernet. Once you’ve got everything set, follow these steps:
- Connect your iPhone to your computer using the supplied USB cable/Lightning cable.
- Open iTunes on your computer.
- Select your iPhone when it appears in iTunes.
- Click on Summary and then click the button to Check for Update.
- If an update is available, click the option to Download and Update.
- Enter your device passcode if prompted to proceed.
Follow the rest of the onscreen instructions to complete the iOS download and installation through iTunes. Reboot your iPhone to apply the recent system changes and to refresh the memory.
If that doesn’t do any good and Apple Books or Books app is still not working on your iPhone XS Max, then you may have to consider resorting to a master reset or iOS restore either through recovery mode or DFU mode. There may be some fatal system errors that caused iOS apps particularly Books app or iBooks to become corrupted. Just back up all your important files before you proceed to prevent permanent data loss.
Other options
For further assistance and more advanced solutions, contact Apple Support and let them know exactly of what went wrong or how the Apple Books or Books app ended up having such trouble.
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If you need more help with the use of certain functions and features of the Apple iPhone XS Max smartphone, feel free to visit our Tutorial Page. There you can find a list of how-to contents, step-by-step tutorials, as well as answers to FAQs regarding iPhone XS Max. If you have other concerns or encountered some troubles while using the phone, you can reach us through this form. Just be sure to tell us more details of the problem or device issue(s) you may have and we will be more than happy to assist you further.