Books spontaneously redownloading on iOS!

[Cameronpaterson]

Does anyone know of circumstances that might cause books that I have already downloaded and opened to read within my iOS library, then closed again, to spontaneously begin redownloading? This has happened to me several times now and it is becoming increasingly frustration-making
I have tried deleting the Kobo app, reinstalling it and then redownloading my library (at least the five most recent titles), but this not solved the problem.
I have also noticed that when these spontaneous redownloads occur, they seem to be get slower and slower: presumably because the app is effectively rewriting the book file.
Oddly, this problem only seems to occur on my iPad, not my iPhone. I have the 2012 iPad, running (naturally) the latest version of iOS and am of course also using the latest version of the Kobo app. I am using a wifi not 3G/ cellular connection.

[paulsalter]

Under settings (main iOS settings not within the app), how many books do you have it set to keep, mine is set for the latest 5 and used to do this every so often

I dont use the iOS very much now due to this issue, I have a 64 GB iPod and the app cannot store all my books successfully (less than 100)

it seems that iOS apps have access to a very small amount of storage, when this is reached the OS auto deletes things

closing apps makes a huge difference to how it works for me, double click the home button to see all suspended apps at the bottom, click and hold and then removing these

[Cameronpaterson]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

Under settings (main iOS settings not within the app), how many books do you have it set to keep, mine is set for the latest 5 and used to do this every so often

I dont use the iOS very much now due to this issue, I have a 64 GB iPod and the app cannot store all my books successfully (less than 100)

it seems that iOS apps have access to a very small amount of storage, when this is reached the OS auto deletes things

closing apps makes a huge difference to how it works for me, double click the home button to see all suspended apps at the bottom, click and hold and then removing these

Yes, I have the app to only download the latest 5 as well, as I have 50-odd books in my Kobo library now, so I have never tried to download them all. It occurs to me that since one of the books in my latest five is unusually large (80-odd megabytes) that may be using up the app's storage space and triggering the auto-deletions you mention. I hadn't thought of that before I must admit :chin scratch: The question is, what do I do? I can't elect to only download one book to maximise the available space, for example, as the iOS app doesn't have that option: it's all or the latest five only. Not very flexible.

[lessthanyouthink]

Hmm, it seems strange that your books would redownload on their own (I'll see about looking into that), but let me explain the deal with auto-deletion and that setting:

The app's 'permanently store' setting (which actually has all, 5, 1, and 0 options) doesn't affect what books are downloaded, just where they are saved to. Apple's change required us to start storing books in a cache folder -- this setting determines how many books we store elsewhere. Regardless of your storage setting, the app will always only automatically download your latest 5 books.

The problem with storing books in a cache folder is that the system can now clear it out at any time — it's still unclear what exactly can trigger this, but the device running low on storage is one scenario. Books (or any data) stored outside of the cache folder are not deleted automatically.

My recommendation would be to leave the setting set to permanently store all books, and if you're concerned about storage space I would tap on any not-yet-downloaded books that you don't want around to leave them in a paused state. They should never automatically start downloading once they're paused.

[Cameronpaterson]

Thanks for the info, lessthanyouthink. I'm obviously wrong about the storage setting - will check.
The unusually large book in question is this one:

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Vanis...KDTLi3-MJQ&r=1

Do you not think it is possible that its size (as mentioned, 80-odd megabytes: it has a lot of illustrations) could be using up the available storage space in the cache folder, triggering iOS to clear it out and thereby trigger the app to launch spontaneous redownloads of the books in question?
This problem only began when I bought 'Vanished Kingdoms' so it is hard to not point the finger of blame that way. (Really wish I'd bought it for my Kindle now).
Surely attempting to store my entire library is only going to make strain storage space and make the problem worse?

Originally Posted by lessthanyouthink

Hmm, it seems strange that your books would redownload on their own (I'll see about looking into that), but let me explain the deal with auto-deletion and that setting:

The app's 'permanently store' setting (which actually has all, 5, 1, and 0 options) doesn't affect what books are downloaded, just where they are saved to. Apple's change required us to start storing books in a cache folder -- this setting determines how many books we store elsewhere. Regardless of your storage setting, the app will always only automatically download your latest 5 books.

The problem with storing books in a cache folder is that the system can now clear it out at any time — it's still unclear what exactly can trigger this, but the device running low on storage is one scenario. Books (or any data) stored outside of the cache folder are not deleted automatically.

My recommendation would be to leave the setting set to permanently store all books, and if you're concerned about storage space I would tap on any not-yet-downloaded books that you don't want around to leave them in a paused state. They should never automatically start downloading once they're paused.

[paulsalter]

interesting read on this

http://iphoneincubator.com/blog/data...orage-in-ios-5

from looking at this, apps should be able to store data in the documents folder of the app, I dont understand why apple say they dont want this as it would cause too much data to be backuped up to icloud/itunes.
I have apps that store data on icloud but give this as an option, so dont see apples problem
backing up to itunes has been the same since first ios device so dont see this as an issue

the tmp/cache directory that large amounts of data get stored in just seems wrong, imo this should be for things like internet cache

it really looks like a big disadvantage of ios 5 over previous versions

I have well over 10gig free on my device, if I want to fill this with kobo books it should be my decision, not apples

EDIT:reading a bit more on this and see the new options that tie in with number of books to store
if I tell the app to store all books (using the new dont backup/do not archive flag), do these books get stored in the documents folder or still in the tmp/cache area)

[Cameronpaterson]

Any further thoughts on this, lessthanyouthink? I am just looking for a solution

[lessthanyouthink]

Cameron: Hmm… I don't think it's a size issue – one of our most tested books is 'Steve Jobs', which is also around 80mb. We'll keep an eye out for behaviour like this, but I think the best measure to prevent it from happening again is to set the app to permanently store all books. Like I said above, this doesn't mean the app is going to download your entire library, just that it will prevent the system from deleting any books you have already downloaded.

Paul: Sadly Apple rejected our app for storing books in the Documents/Library folders, that's why we moved to storing them in the cache. But Apple doesn't seem to have a problem with our default storage setting now being to permanently store all books (which means none of them are in the cache).

[Cameronpaterson]

Originally Posted by lessthanyouthink

Cameron: Hmm… I don't think it's a size issue – one of our most tested books is 'Steve Jobs', which is also around 80mb. We'll keep an eye out for behaviour like this, but I think the best measure to prevent it from happening again is to set the app to permanently store all books. Like I said above, this doesn't mean the app is going to download your entire library, just that it will prevent the system from deleting any books you have already downloaded.

Paul: Sadly Apple rejected our app for storing books in the Documents/Library folders, that's why we moved to storing them in the cache. But Apple doesn't seem to have a problem with our default storage setting now being to permanently store all books (which means none of them are in the cache).

Thanks again I haven't come across the permanent storage setting you mention: may I ask where it is?

[Sharkus]

Originally Posted by Cameronpaterson

Thanks again I haven't come across the permanent storage setting you mention: may I ask where it is?

Settings -> Kobo
There is a Permanently store: option.

[lessthanyouthink]

Originally Posted by Sharkus

Settings -> Kobo
There is a Permanently store: option.

and just to clarify, that would be in the system's Settings.app, not in the Kobo app.

[Sharkus]

Originally Posted by lessthanyouthink

and just to clarify, that would be in the system's Settings.app, not in the Kobo app.

Good point. Also, try switching it from whatever value it is set to, then switching back to what it was originally set to and see if that makes any difference at all.

[Cameronpaterson]

Ah ha! I will investigate

[Orn8one]

That happened to me often. Changing to 'store all items', suggested by LessThanYouThink I believe, and the Kobo iPad app update in late March fixed it.
I have just under 50 books and I had created 2 new shelves, Unread and Read, which I found useful. I haven't made any extra shelves since the changes for fear of upsetting what's working. Has anyone got shelves in the iPad app and found it stays stable?

[paulsalter]

Thanks, going to try setting mine to all and see how it goes (dont use iOS app often but it is handy to have for when I dont have my Vox with me)

with shelves, is this an iPad only feature, I use iPod and dont remember seeing this