Kobo app v5.0, for iOS is now in Canadian app store

[Ham Cannon]

After testing the syncing for a while (and doing a factory reset on my Touch for good measure) I can confirm that there doesn't seem to be any page or bookmark syncing happening between any of the three devices. The only thing that does seem to work is highlight syncing between the iPad and iPhone (but not the Touch).

[lessthanyouthink]

Originally Posted by keithmoonkin

iosv5.o does not show page numbers or page within the current chapter when tapping middle of screen. Very annoying as this is what i like about the Kobo.

Hmm, are you using an iPhone or iPod Touch? If so, the page scrubber was moved – just tap the <-> button in the bottom toolbar to bring it up .

[lessthanyouthink]

Originally Posted by Ham Cannon

After testing the syncing for a while (and doing a factory reset on my Touch for good measure) I can confirm that there doesn't seem to be any page or bookmark syncing happening between any of the three devices. The only thing that does seem to work is highlight syncing between the iPad and iPhone (but not the Touch).

Aha… when you had previously mentioned bookmark syncing I assumed you meant syncing of your current page. So, to recap…

Page syncing / syncing your main bookmark: This should definitely be working between iOS, Touch, and Android – we'll continue to look into what may be going wrong in certain situations.

Additional bookmarks / dogear syncing: Currently not supported, but coming soon.

Highlight / note syncing: Currently only supported from iOS to iOS and Vox, but coming soon to the Touch and desktop too.

– Charles

[Cottser]

The "current page" bookmark syncing definitely works better with this release, when it works. However, there is still a lot of manual refreshing and thought needed to get the iOS client to cooperate and sync properly. You need to make sure to refresh your library before opening a synced book, and when you're done reading on iOS, you need to exit out of the book and seemingly wait 30 seconds or so for the spinner in the status bar to do something. This lack of feedback is one of the most frustrating aspects of the iOS app – there is no clear indication of when the bookmark has been updated. I always assumed the green checkbox bookmark that appears when closing a book is meant to indicate that the bookmark has been updated, but that doesn't seem to mesh with reality. With this new release the Kobo Touch often fails to pick up the new bookmark position – haven't tested iOS <> Desktop yet.

In short, the whole experience is still not nearly as seamless as Kobo advertises. It is an improvement though, because when it works it actually syncs the correct page!

The percent read is still wrong on iOS as well. The margin of error seems to increase the shorter the book is.

I also can't find an option to hide the Pulse. I don't need a pinball machine at the bottom of every page

[lessthanyouthink]

Originally Posted by Cottser

The "current page" bookmark syncing definitely works better with this release, when it works. However, there is still a lot of manual refreshing and thought needed to get the iOS client to cooperate and sync properly. You need to make sure to refresh your library before opening a synced book, and when you're done reading on iOS, you need to exit out of the book and seemingly wait 30 seconds or so for the spinner in the status bar to do something. This lack of feedback is one of the most frustrating aspects of the iOS app – there is no clear indication of when the bookmark has been updated. I always assumed the green checkbox bookmark that appears when closing a book is meant to indicate that the bookmark has been updated, but that doesn't seem to mesh with reality. With this new release the Kobo Touch often fails to pick up the new bookmark position – haven't tested iOS <> Desktop yet.

In short, the whole experience is still not nearly as seamless as Kobo advertises. It is an improvement though, because when it works it actually syncs the correct page!

The percent read is still wrong on iOS as well. The margin of error seems to increase the shorter the book is.

I also can't find an option to hide the Pulse. I don't need a pinball machine at the bottom of every page

Thanks for all the feedback, Cottser. The bookmark *should* be sent up every time you close/background the app or return from a book to the library, and it should be synced back whenever the library is updated or when you open the reader with a book where the bookmark was made more than 5 minutes ago. Apparently something isn't working properly -- I'm going to take all of this feedback to the rest of the team and continue work on fixing it.

As for hiding the pulse -- there actually is an option: just look under the social settings section of the main settings page (accessible via the gear icon in the top toolbar on the iPad (when not in a book) or on the jump/home page on the iPhone). With the pulse disabled you won't be able to like or comment on individual pages, but you can still pull up the underlay and book feed to view and make comments there.

[Cottser]

Originally Posted by lessthanyouthink

The bookmark *should* be sent up every time you close/background the app or return from a book to the library, and it should be synced back whenever the library is updated or when you open the reader with a book where the bookmark was made more than 5 minutes ago.

In my testing I wasn't waiting 5 minutes between switching devices, I gave it a few minutes but probably not 5, since I wasn't aware of that rule. With the previous version of the Kobo app, the position of the bookmark wouldn't come across correctly from the iPhone, so I wanted to make sure it worked before attempting to use the app again. Appreciate the info.

Originally Posted by lessthanyouthink

As for hiding the pulse -- there actually is an option: just look under the social settings section of the main settings page (accessible via the gear icon in the top toolbar on the iPad (when not in a book) or on the jump/home page on the iPhone).

Under social settings all I see is some text and a large "Login with Facebook" button. Below that are three options under Reading Preferences. It looks a bit like I need to login to Facebook to turn off social features

[lessthanyouthink]

Originally Posted by Cottser

In my testing I wasn't waiting 5 minutes between switching devices, I gave it a few minutes but probably not 5, since I wasn't aware of that rule. With the previous version of the Kobo app, the position of the bookmark wouldn't come across correctly from the iPhone, so I wanted to make sure it worked before attempting to use the app again. Appreciate the info.

Ah, that explains it. If you do see problems with normal usage feel free to let me know. Is this the case for anyone else?

Originally Posted by Cottser

Under social settings all I see is some text and a large "Login with Facebook" button. Below that are three options under Reading Preferences. It looks a bit like I need to login to Facebook to turn off social features

D'oh! I think that's an oversight that needs correcting — I imagine those most likely to want to hide Pulse won't be logged into Facebook! Thanks for pointing that out.

[ilovejedd]

+1 on being able to disable/hide Pulse w/o needing to log-in to Facebook. The pink semi-circle at the bottom is a big enough distraction that I'm disinclined to buy any ebooks from Kobo at the moment.

[lessthanyouthink]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

+1 on being able to disable/hide Pulse w/o needing to log-in to Facebook. The pink semi-circle at the bottom is a big enough distraction that I'm disinclined to buy any ebooks from Kobo at the moment.

Well you'll be happy to know it's been fixed for our next update.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by lessthanyouthink

Well you'll be happy to know it's been fixed for our next update.

Thank you for that.

[Ham Cannon]

Syncing doesn't even seem to be working between the iPad and iPhone apps, never mind the Touch. I've verified this with 2 different books now, both purchased directly from Kobo. Last night, I was reading on my iPad at home, connected to WiFi; when I was done, I went back to the library before exiting the app. Just now, I fired up the Kobo app on my iPhone, and the page didn't sync.

Another issue: on the iPhone app, the "percent complete" seems to be messed up. It showed me as 19% of the way into a long book even though I had only read the first few pages.

[digiSara]

Originally Posted by Ham Cannon

Another issue: on the iPhone app, the "percent complete" seems to be messed up. It showed me as 19% of the way into a long book even though I had only read the first few pages.

I just opened a book to the first page of the first chapter and it shows as 80%. I know it's a short book, but still!

I just opened it in ADE, which shows the first page is page 5 of 52 - so I should only be 9%