iPhone 3.0 software breaks eReader software?
By Paul Biba
I upgraded my iPhone to the new 3.0 software this afternoon and eReader seems to be broken. I have a number of eReader books on the phone, but after the upgrade I can’t get to them. I can navigate around the book I’m currently reading, but when I try to get back to the book listing all I get is a title “Categories” or “All Books” and the current book remains on the screen under that title. There is no way to get back to my library. It certainly seems as is something was broken by either the new software or the upgrade process itself. Next step is to delete the app and reload it.
Anyone else having a problem?
June 17th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Yep, same problem exactly.
And, as that’s my preferred e-book reader and the app I use 95% of the time, and I discovered the problem only after I had spent 3 hours trying to buy and install the 3.0 update, I’m a bit peeved.
Here’s hoping Fictionwise and Apple get it resolved and updated quickly.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
I’m not sure what you mean. I can access the list of books, read, then go back to the listing and choose another book. (This is on an iPhone 3G.)
Sorry if I’m missing an obvious problem, but the software seems to be working fine for me.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I opened mine and saw the book I was reading (although it had jumped back a few hundred pages, for some reason). If I tap on “Books,” the top menubar slides over to show me a “Categories” option, but the main part of the screen never moves and I still see the same book I was reading. I have no way of getting to my library list.
Maybe it’s an iPod Touch issue?
Currently letting mine sync and backup – which is taking a godawful long time, as it seems to have done for many other people the first time after updating – to see if it helps any. Also submitted a support ticket to Fictionwise.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
C. A. Bridges: you describe the problem exactly. I am using a 3G. Tassia seems to be having a bit of good luck.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
I had the exact same issue (iPhone 3G 8GB) after the 3.0 update. I uninstalled the app and redownloaded/installed and the problem went away. (as did all of my books, and all of my preferences, but after downloading a few the app works as it did before)
June 17th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Awwww…crap. After messing with it a while, opening and closing a few books, the problem is back.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Thanks for the heads up folks, guess I’ll just wait a few days to make sure these types of issues are resolved. I usually wait a week to ten days, check out macsurfer.com for reports. Once the dust settles I’ll upgrade.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Yes indeed. Same here on a first gen ipod touch / 32 gig model. Since the issue is widespread it does not reside with a faulty installation or just plain old lazy electrons. It has nothing to do with our hardware. Someone at Apple and or eReader needs to know about this so the coding crews can jump start the thing.
Personally, I like this kind of problem since it means it’s not my device turning evil on me. It’s simply inconvenient for a while. Actually, I put all of my eReader books into Stanza which I prefer, so it isn’t even an inconvenience though I like all my apps to be on best behaviour all of the time.
over and out
as you were
bill
June 18th, 2009 at 2:00 am
Same for me – it seemed to be working after I updated to 3.0, but I only checked that I could read the book I was half way through. I cannot access any other books at the moment.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Got this back from Fictionwise this morning: “We are aware of this issue. A fix is currently in progress and we expect it to be online shortly.”
June 18th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Hmm… I wonder why I can access mine? I only have about 20 books that I’ve downloaded to eReader (that’s a guess; I didn’t count).
Do the ones having trouble have more?
June 18th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I’m having the same problems. took the advice of Bill Davidson and downloaded Stanza and awaiting an update.
Good news that Fictionwise are onto is. They obviously didn’t test ereader on 3.0 before the releas.
Serves us early updaters for downloading a new OS
June 18th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Yes I’ve got the same problem with my 1G touch and OS 3.0. What a pain, there’s no way I’m uninstalling the app and losing scores of books and stories that I’ve carefully added metadata to and assigned to various categories over many months now.
I sure hope the ereader folks are onto this and have a new 3.0 compatible update in the wings. They must have known there were problems with 3.0 (the betas have been out for months now), why didn’t they warn their users before it was released?
June 18th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I have the problem on my 1Gen 32GB iPod touch but not on my 2Gen 8GB iPod touch. Both have hundreds of books on-device.
June 19th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I am a App developer and have used the beta 3.0s for months and the eReader App has been broke from day-one. They have been aware of this problem for a long time, so don’t expect a fix soon.
June 19th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
By the way, one other bizarre issue–my eReader icon is now half eReader, and half FaceBook. The top if the icon is a eReader, and the bottom is FaceBook.
June 20th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Drat, this is my main use for iTouch, I fell in love it because the ereader application worked so well. I was excited to download the upgrade and have been struggling ever since. I’m very disappointed, as a visually impaired user, I can only read e-books. I deleted the application and then reloaded same problem. No solutions are listed that seem to work. What the heck!
This is a deal breaker for me.
June 21st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Same problem here. I sent a description of the problem on the “contact us” page. I figure it couldn’t hurt. I hope they fix this quick. I like to use my iphone ereader everywhere I have to stand in line. I use Kindle for Iphone too, but I have more books on ereader.
June 21st, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Found a work around for those who haven’t annotated their books or are willing to lose all the notes and bookmarks. I deleted the application from both my iTouch and my iTunes library. When I reinstalled I found that I can have a couple of books on at a time, just not my whole library. This is a gen 1 32gb iTouch on 3.0 with the latest eReader. I don’t know how many books you can have before you’ll lock out again, but I’ve got the three it comes with and three of my own right now. Worth a shot for those of you like me who have almost everything on eReader books…
June 21st, 2009 at 11:51 pm
same problem here… super frustrating!
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:54 am
does anyone know if you can reverse the OS 3.0 installation? i can live without the enhancements on my itouch if i can access my library again
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I so glad I found you guys cause I was freaking out, I was having the same problem I downloaded the updated for the new firmware on Friday and I noticed the problem with the ereader right away. I was in the middle of a book, and I have tons of them, when I tried to start reading another one and it would not let me get out of it, very irritating. I am very relieved to hear that Fictionwise is working on it. I can’t wait for it to get fixed and in the meantime I guess I can use the kindle for iphone, I don’t have as many books on the Kindle app but it will have to do.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:38 am
I am also having this exact same problem since updating, glad I found this info so i know im not alone. What I have been doing in the interm is, after finishing a book, removing ereader then reinstalling it, then downloading from my online library one book at a time. Also using Stanza in the interm.
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:23 am
I am also glad to find this! I just bought two new books and was going crazy trying to figure out why all of a sudden I could not see my library. I am not crazy about the Kindle app on my phone as a reader–much prefer the E reader but this is upsetting since I travel and use my I phone for all of my books.
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:24 am
Same problem here – the original 3G works great but not the new iPhone 3GS, or the 3G that has been updated to operating system 3.0.
BUT, eReader is aware of the issue and supposedly has a fix and waiting for Apple to approve the new version and when they do we should see an app update notice on our iPhones. I hope. I bought six books and can only read the one that shows!
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
The install worked great – all books show except for one. Thank you Shawna. Mary
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:50 am
I have had this same exact problem and I think I’ve figured out a loop-hole. After I reinstalled and reloading my full library, thinking that the problem was fixed, it happened again!
So, I was able to restore my phone to an earlier date where my ereader had been left on the bookshelf page. My phone is a 16G, iPhone 3G with the new 3.0 update.
If you are able to get back to your bookshelf page (which some of you will have to reinstall and reload your contents like I did) all you need to do is always make sure that you are on the the bookshelf page before you close out ereader. So far, that has worked for me.
I have over a hundred books, so this works for me. Hope this works for you.
June 24th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
None of the above workarounds work on my 3GS. The app simply refuses to launch. It’s been a week now (not to mention 3 months since they had developer betas to test with), and no word on their websites or the app page at the App Store. To the above person who said it serves us early adopters right: No, it doesn’t. They had plenty of time to get this working before the 3.0 launch. The B&N acquisition was supposed to give them more resources.
Sorry, but I’ve bought dozens of books from them and not having access to ANY of them is frustrating. No word on when the fix will be out is worse. (”Shortly” is not a usable timeframe.)
June 24th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Add this to e-readers non notification of the geographic rights issue – which as an Australian user means i can only buy less than half of the book I want to and they are really close the edge of losing another customer. I adore my ereader but if they can send me marketing twice a week why can’t they tell me about things like this?
June 24th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
And nothing on thier site. I have just checked and sent them a support ticket. Boo hiss, not good enough
June 24th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
With the Kindle apps, and other ways of reading books on iPhone, they better get this fixed soon. They are already losing market share, and this will bury them if they don’t get it fixed soon.
June 24th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Yup…same problem, can’t access anything but “Last og theMohicans”. Been Very upset and hope the problem is fixed SOON!
June 24th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Help! I have same problem withh 3.0 and eReader. Hope it’s fixed SOON!
June 24th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I received another email from fictionwise.com. I asked if they thought it would be fixed in the next few days and they answered the same, “As soon as Apple approves the application.”
So I wonder how long it takes Apple to approve an update?? Meanwhile, I did the uninstall and reinstall and it worked great, but then I shut it down without being on the bookshelf page so now I’ve got to go through the whole process again.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:28 am
I had the same problem, luckily I already had Stanza, so just switched over to using it.
If fact this problem combined with fictionwise being slow in loading new titles, means that I am now shopping at books on board & using Stanza. So they have lost me all round.
I highly recommend Stanza, not only is it more stable than ereader but excepts more formats and as with ereader is free
June 25th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Frustrating as this discussion is (i.e., no real fix yet). It is a relief to know that I’m not insane. Wish I’d read it before I restored my iPhone yesterday though. Teach me not to google first . . .
I don’t like the Stanza software as much as I like eReader, but will make do with the fix.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
i am new to the itouch and ereader and thought i was doing something wrong. i havent even managed to download a book yet!!! i am glad i found all this. i have exactly the same problem where the book stays on and the menu doesnt budge. i am SO made up it isnt me or my brand spaking new itouch
June 25th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
This just came to me:
“A fix has been approved by Apple and is rolling out over the next couple of days. Please check for updates using the App Store icon on your device.”
Yeah!
June 25th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
My fix appeared on my iPhone shortly after I posted. I’ve downloaded it and that seems to have fixed the problem.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Got the new version. Still refuses to launch on 3GS. Brilliant. Guess I can kiss all my metadata goodbye.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
At last.
Took their time but all seems to work fine. Enjoyed using Stanza but doesn’t feel quite as well put together as ereader. Still like the sweep gesture to turn the page over
.
I guess apple have had a back log of app updates from people who hadn’t tested their sowtware on the 3.0 Beta
June 25th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Thank you Apple…my iPod 3.0 now working with eReader as of today. Thanks so much
July 1st, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I loaded the new app and everything seemed to be working fine. Yay!
Until today – when I decided to clean up my library and delete some books. No can do. The app no longer deletes books.
July 6th, 2009 at 9:47 am
My eReader Pro (on iPhone 3G) hasn’t worked since the iPhone 3.0 update: it won’t open, just shows a “loading…” screen for a few seconds, then abruptly I’m back to the apps page again. I’ve installed each eReader update, including version 2.1.1 today, but I still can’t open eReader.
This is particularly frustrating, as I’m also a disabled reader (I need the visual aids, and can’t hold a book) and all my books are in my eReader app.
For users who now have a working eReader on iPhone, which version do you have? And are there others like me, who still don’t have eReader working?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
July 24th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I am having the same problem. I recently upgraded from the 3g to the 3gs and the application often pauses and locks up when I attempt to download my books. I have sent several emails tried to delete and redownload the application, and the same thing. I hope they fix this soon. Otherwise it is a great application. I love the dictionay feature!!!
August 6th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Can’t open apps at all after 3.0 update . Deleted, then reinstalled apps. Still no go. Tried shut down about 10 times , still no luck. (iPhone 3g)!!!!!
August 27th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
After installing 3.0 on my 8GB Touch, the B&N eReader just disappeared. I managed to re-install it, but I can’t access anything with it.
October 10th, 2009 at 2:32 am
Finally, I seem to have eReader working on my iPhone 3G, reinstalling it again from scratch after power-cycling the iPhone. I lost all my data (hundreds of ebooks), which I’ll have to set and download again, but at least the app. is working again. I sent a support ticket in to Fictionwise, but didn’t get a reply, even after several months. This hasn’t been a positive experience: once you rely on a particular reader, and have all your books in that format, you’re stuck without it. However, BookShelf was a big help during that period. Summary: eReader is working again at last, but the bad taste in my mouth is going to take quite a while to go away.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I’m wondering if Clytie Siddall is still having good luck. I have had the exact same problem as described above … eReader locks up, wont’ go back to my library. I uninstall, then reinstall (via iTunes synching), and it works — at least for the next book I read. But when I get to the end of THAT book, it is do the same thing all over again. If there has been awareness of this problem by eReader and Fictionwise for all these months, then something needs to be done. I have been a consistent customer of Fictionwise and like eReader a lot. But I’m about to try Stanza and see what happens. Anyway, I have also tried Clytie’s solution and it didn’t hold, so am just wondering how that person is doing now after a month. I’m actually seriously considering getting B&N’s Nook — but it will be one more (bigger) thing to carry around, so I’m reluctant. I like reading on my iPhone just fine. Somebody PLEASE FIX THIS BUG!