Getting concerned about Marvin and upcoming iOS 15 update

Spfamy1 · 09-19-2021, 12:00 AM

I’m getting more concerned about the integrity of my library and the upcoming iOS 15 upgrade in Marvin. Since Marvin doesn’t seem to be getting anymore updates or development has completely stopped I’m seriously wondering whether we should transfer our libraries over to Bluefire or whatever that’s still being developed out there. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue. How to safeguard your library and planning to transfer it to any other iOS apps that read epubs?

pwalker8 · 09-19-2021, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spfamy1

I’m getting more concerned about the integrity of my library and the upcoming iOS 15 upgrade in Marvin. Since Marvin doesn’t seem to be getting anymore updates or development has completely stopped I’m seriously wondering whether we should transfer our libraries over to Bluefire or whatever that’s still being developed out there. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue. How to safeguard your library and planning to transfer it to any other iOS apps that read epubs?

Marvin has been working fine with the beta. With that said, eventually it's going to stop working. Certainly, you should have your library backed up somewhere so you won't lose anything if something happens to your phone. I keep all my books in calibre on my desktop, so when I need to move to a new app, I can do so fairly easily.

Turtle91 · 09-19-2021, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Marvin has been working fine with the beta. With that said, eventually it's going to stop working. Certainly, you should have your library backed up somewhere so you won't lose anything if something happens to your phone. I keep all my books in calibre on my desktop, so when I need to move to a new app, I can do so fairly easily.

Me too!

Marvin is very well programmed. It would take a MAJOR change (and I don't mean just going from 14 to 15) to make it stop working completely - something like going from kobold to C++ would do it.

At worst I could see a minor function that relies on a 3rd party to fail because Apple tries to lockdown their control even more.

Loosheesh · 09-26-2021, 01:23 PM

I upgraded to iOS 15 a few days ago and everything is still working fine with Marvin.

skillachie · 09-26-2021, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spfamy1

I’m getting more concerned about the integrity of my library and the upcoming iOS 15 upgrade in Marvin. Since Marvin doesn’t seem to be getting anymore updates or development has completely stopped I’m seriously wondering whether we should transfer our libraries over to Bluefire or whatever that’s still being developed out there. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue. How to safeguard your library and planning to transfer it to any other iOS apps that read epubs?

We have had a few users switched from Marvin to BookFusion for the same reason you mentioned. Development is active and significant improvements have been released this year. Take the iOS app for a spin at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bookfusion/id1141834096 and let me know what you think.

We also had a release last week that had several improvements.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BookFusion/...ew_lists_more/

maxyn83 · 10-28-2021, 10:10 PM

I'm on iphone 13 with ios 15.1 and Marvin still works fine. I use Calibre to organize all my books and save them on Dropbox for easy download with Marvin and backup them on icloud (File app). I only use basic Calibre but works great in organizing my books.

Every year, I try new book apps but they just have something missing. Marvin is still the best book app I've used along with Stanza (really miss this app!) Will probably keep using Marvin til it won't work anymore.

Anyone know if there's any other app with the vertical scroll that will auto scroll the books?

maxyn83 · 10-28-2021, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skillachie

We have had a few users switched from Marvin to BookFusion for the same reason you mentioned. Development is active and significant improvements have been released this year. Take the iOS app for a spin at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bookfusion/id1141834096 and let me know what you think.

We also had a release last week that had several improvements.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BookFusion/...ew_lists_more/

Tried your app and deleted it again when I encountered a login when I opened it. I don't understand why I would need to register an account just to read books.

Turtle91 · 10-29-2021, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxyn83

I'm on iphone 13 with ios 15.1 and Marvin still works fine. I use Calibre to organize all my books and save them on Dropbox for easy download with Marvin and backup them on icloud (File app). I only use basic Calibre but works great in organizing my books.

Every year, I try new book apps but they just have something missing. Marvin is still the best book app I've used along with Stanza (really miss this app!) Will probably keep using Marvin til it won't work anymore.

Anyone know if there's any other app with the vertical scroll that will auto scroll the books?

I'm on iPhone 11 Pro Max with iOS 15.1 -- no problems at all!

I also use Calibre as a manager - but I use it's OPDS server functionality. It provides website access to my entire library as well as direct access through the app from anywhere in the world (literally) that has internet access. I can even do metadata/epub updates to the files from the website!!

The biggest downside I've found to Marvin is in it's read-aloud function... it only has access to several 'standard' voices... it would be AWESOME if it could record a sampling of my own (or my wife/kids) voice and then use that, with proper inflection, when reading a book to me.

maxyn83 · 10-29-2021, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I'm on iPhone 11 Pro Max with iOS 15.1 -- no problems at all!

I also use Calibre as a manager - but I use it's OPDS server functionality. It provides website access to my entire library as well as direct access through the app from anywhere in the world (literally) that has internet access. I can even do metadata/epub updates to the files from the website!!

The biggest downside I've found to Marvin is in it's read-aloud function... it only has access to several 'standard' voices... it would be AWESOME if it could record a sampling of my own (or my wife/kids) voice and then use that, with proper inflection, when reading a book to me.

Interesting about the OPDS. How do you do that? Do you need to have a website address? I don't really know how to use Calibre much coz sometimes there's alot of codes etc which I don't understand so I only use the basic function. I find syncing with dropbox or icloud files much easier and it organizes the folders the way I want to.

Turtle91 · 10-30-2021, 11:13 AM

When I first started looking into this - about 9 years ago - there were concerns that dropbox was closing accounts and deleting files when they thought the individual was violating copyright. I think this has been resolved, but I already had the OPDS system set up by then.

The OPDS is served right from your computer at home. Good: no 3rd party required/involved, Bad: you have to have a computer available to be a server. There are instructions on how to set it up in the Calibre guide...actually getting Calibre running it is very simple... It does get slightly more involved when you need to set your router for a passthrough and set your computer with a static ip address. This is not SUPER difficult and there is plenty of help on the Calibre threads. Calibre also allows (recommends) setting user name/passwords to protect the files from unwanted access.

I took it one step further by making a DDNS - again easily done through my router settings - which allows me to use a specific "webname" from anywhere in the world.

I really like using OPDS. It provides a lot of Calibre's management functionality (browsing, viewing, reading, editing) when I'm not at home.

rraven · 11-15-2021, 05:24 AM

I updated my iOS devices to iOS 15.1 recently and ... now Marvin 3 won't sync reading positions on any of the devices. I don't think I'd tried this since I was on iOS 14. When I request a sync what get back is:

Oops An error occured fetching sync locations from iCloud: Request failed with http status code 503

The 503 suggests that I should be able to try this again later but it's been the same for a few days now.

Is this one of those Marvin iOS update issues that I've been dreading? I do see that Marvin has storage allocated in my iCloud account. It doesn't seem to be able to reach it. Is this working for others?

Turtle91 · 11-15-2021, 10:46 AM

Here is a tutorial on how to set this up. I'd check to make sure you have your dropbox linked... I know there were issues with apple and 3rd party data transactions a long while ago...not sure if/how they were resolved.

Also, you are one of several (one-and-only post) people who have come here bringing up this topic. If you are NOT a bot for the OTHER ebook software trying to get free advertising (welcome to MR!!

) then I would recommend using the search function on this forum, or scroll down the list of thread topics.

Cheers!

rraven · 11-16-2021, 07:24 AM

Isn't that tutorial for an older version of Marvin? I'm using Marvin 3, as I mentioned above, and it promises "Zero-configuration, reliable iCloud book location sync." It did in fact provide exactly that until I updated to iOS 15. It's one of Marvin's best features! I ended up here because I was trying to find any sort of active discussion about the software. Perhaps I'm confused about which version of Marvin this thread was targeting. If so I apologize for crashing the thread.

I used this thread because my problem appears to be specific to the iOS 15 upgrade. This thread was, in fact, at the top of my original search and a scan of other posts in the search result wasn't helping. I'm not a bot. As far as I can tell I didn't include anything in my post that could be construed as advertising. Given that I'm very puzzled by your reaction.

Everyone starts with their first post.

Turtle91 · 11-16-2021, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rraven

Isn't that tutorial for an older version of Marvin? I'm using Marvin 3, as I mentioned above, and it promises "Zero-configuration, reliable iCloud book location sync." It did in fact provide exactly that until I updated to iOS 15. It's one of Marvin's best features! I ended up here because I was trying to find any sort of active discussion about the software. Perhaps I'm confused about which version of Marvin this thread was targeting. If so I apologize for crashing the thread.

I used this thread because my problem appears to be specific to the iOS 15 upgrade. This thread was, in fact, at the top of my original search and a scan of other posts in the search result wasn't helping. I'm not a bot. As far as I can tell I didn't include anything in my post that could be construed as advertising. Given that I'm very puzzled by your reaction.

Everyone starts with their first post.

No worries! I’m glad you’re not a bot!

We have just had several one-and-only posts asking this same type of question - followed by someone recommending some OTHER reading software. Kind of a trend…

Marvin certainly hasn’t changed since iOS 15 came out. I would check the Marvin tutorials - sorry if I linked the wrong one, but they are on the same website. If that doesn’t work then it may be that apple changed some permissions (again) to build their walled garden higher??? Maybe try uninstalling/reinstalling Marvin - after making a backup, of course.

Cheers!

rraven · 11-17-2021, 07:48 AM

I'm glad that I'm not a bot either.

Thanks for the backup suggestion. I'd been reluctant to uninstall/reinstall because I have hundreds of books in Marvin. The backup and restore worked fine even with that. Unfortunately the uninstall/reinstall didn't fix the sync problem that I'm having. Deleting Marvin's iCloud sync data to start with a clean slate there didn't help either and the tutorials don't say much about iCloud sync beyond it not requiring configuration. Which, for half a decade, had been true for me.

I'll keep poking at it but right now it's not looking good. I'm puzzled, though, that I'm not seeing more reports of this given that it broke in the same way on all three of the devices I'm using after I installed iOS 15.

09-19-2021, 12:00 AM	#1
Spfamy1 Connoisseur Posts: 71 Karma: 20000 Join Date: Jul 2016 Device: iPhone 6s Plus	Getting concerned about Marvin and upcoming iOS 15 update I’m getting more concerned about the integrity of my library and the upcoming iOS 15 upgrade in Marvin. Since Marvin doesn’t seem to be getting anymore updates or development has completely stopped I’m seriously wondering whether we should transfer our libraries over to Bluefire or whatever that’s still being developed out there. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue. How to safeguard your library and planning to transfer it to any other iOS apps that read epubs?

10-30-2021, 11:13 AM	#10
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,095 Karma: 18727053 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	When I first started looking into this - about 9 years ago - there were concerns that dropbox was closing accounts and deleting files when they thought the individual was violating copyright. I think this has been resolved, but I already had the OPDS system set up by then. The OPDS is served right from your computer at home. Good: no 3rd party required/involved, Bad: you have to have a computer available to be a server. There are instructions on how to set it up in the Calibre guide...actually getting Calibre running it is very simple... It does get slightly more involved when you need to set your router for a passthrough and set your computer with a static ip address. This is not SUPER difficult and there is plenty of help on the Calibre threads. Calibre also allows (recommends) setting user name/passwords to protect the files from unwanted access. I took it one step further by making a DDNS - again easily done through my router settings - which allows me to use a specific "webname" from anywhere in the world. I really like using OPDS. It provides a lot of Calibre's management functionality (browsing, viewing, reading, editing) when I'm not at home. Attached Thumbnails

11-15-2021, 05:24 AM	#11
rraven Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2021 Device: mostly iPads	Syncing under iOS 15 I updated my iOS devices to iOS 15.1 recently and ... now Marvin 3 won't sync reading positions on any of the devices. I don't think I'd tried this since I was on iOS 14. When I request a sync what get back is: Oops An error occured fetching sync locations from iCloud: Request failed with http status code 503 The 503 suggests that I should be able to try this again later but it's been the same for a few days now. Is this one of those Marvin iOS update issues that I've been dreading? I do see that Marvin has storage allocated in my iCloud account. It doesn't seem to be able to reach it. Is this working for others?

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09-26-2021, 01:23 PM	#4
Loosheesh Wizard Posts: 1,674 Karma: 3111989 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Jianghu Device: PW1, PW5, iPhone SE 2016, iPhone 13 Pro, iPad Pro 9.7, iPad Pro 2021	I upgraded to iOS 15 a few days ago and everything is still working fine with Marvin.

10-28-2021, 10:10 PM	#6
maxyn83 Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: iphone 13pm	I'm on iphone 13 with ios 15.1 and Marvin still works fine. I use Calibre to organize all my books and save them on Dropbox for easy download with Marvin and backup them on icloud (File app). I only use basic Calibre but works great in organizing my books. Every year, I try new book apps but they just have something missing. Marvin is still the best book app I've used along with Stanza (really miss this app!) Will probably keep using Marvin til it won't work anymore. Anyone know if there's any other app with the vertical scroll that will auto scroll the books?

11-15-2021, 10:46 AM	#12
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,095 Karma: 18727053 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	Here is a tutorial on how to set this up. I'd check to make sure you have your dropbox linked... I know there were issues with apple and 3rd party data transactions a long while ago...not sure if/how they were resolved. Also, you are one of several (one-and-only post) people who have come here bringing up this topic. If you are NOT a bot for the OTHER ebook software trying to get free advertising (welcome to MR!! ) then I would recommend using the search function on this forum, or scroll down the list of thread topics. Cheers!

11-16-2021, 07:24 AM	#13
rraven Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2021 Device: mostly iPads	Isn't that tutorial for an older version of Marvin? I'm using Marvin 3, as I mentioned above, and it promises "Zero-configuration, reliable iCloud book location sync." It did in fact provide exactly that until I updated to iOS 15. It's one of Marvin's best features! I ended up here because I was trying to find any sort of active discussion about the software. Perhaps I'm confused about which version of Marvin this thread was targeting. If so I apologize for crashing the thread. I used this thread because my problem appears to be specific to the iOS 15 upgrade. This thread was, in fact, at the top of my original search and a scan of other posts in the search result wasn't helping. I'm not a bot. As far as I can tell I didn't include anything in my post that could be construed as advertising. Given that I'm very puzzled by your reaction. Everyone starts with their first post.

11-17-2021, 07:48 AM	#15
rraven Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2021 Device: mostly iPads	I'm glad that I'm not a bot either. Thanks for the backup suggestion. I'd been reluctant to uninstall/reinstall because I have hundreds of books in Marvin. The backup and restore worked fine even with that. Unfortunately the uninstall/reinstall didn't fix the sync problem that I'm having. Deleting Marvin's iCloud sync data to start with a clean slate there didn't help either and the tutorials don't say much about iCloud sync beyond it not requiring configuration. Which, for half a decade, had been true for me. I'll keep poking at it but right now it's not looking good. I'm puzzled, though, that I'm not seeing more reports of this given that it broke in the same way on all three of the devices I'm using after I installed iOS 15.