How can I transfer an audiobook to iOS18 without losing files

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Level 1

32 points

How can I transfer an audiobook to iOS18 without losing files

My situation: I have a few .aax files I would like to transfer to my iPhone with iOS18.3.

My mac has Sonoma 14.7.4 and Music 1.4.6.32.

Before, I used to import the .aax file in iTunes 12.8.3 on a very old macbook pro and could manually transfer it to an older iPhone with 15.8.3. And for that older iPhone, it still works.

But I would like it to work it with this new iPhone with iOS18.3 – which can’t be connected apparently to iTunes12.8.3 (I get stuck in “Downloading 1 item, about 0 seconds remaining”) – on my new macbook pro with Sonoma and Music/Books.

I already found that audiobooks no longer are imported in Music, but in Books. So I imported successfully the .aax file in Books. But how do I transfer it from my Books to Books on my iPhone with iOS18.3?

I tried to share the file from my macbook pro with Airdrop, only to find that the .aax file will end up in the Files folder, and can’t be reproduced nor saved to Books.
I looked up this Apple support page:

Sync audiobooks between your Mac and iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

But I have a problem with syncing: I don’t want to sync EVERYTHING between my macbook pro and my iPhone. I just want selected files to sync.

So, when I tick the option “Sync audiobooks onto iPhone ”, with the intention to tick “Selected audiobooks”,

I get the alert that existing files will be removed. I don’t want to remove anything, I just want to add an .aax file!

I never understood nor liked the sync function for this, I am a manually managing apple user.

My mobile devices just should contain the (audio/book) files of my choice.

Thanks in advance.

iPhone 13 mini

Posted on Mar 25, 2025 1:56 AM

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Answer 1

Steve A.

Level 3

717 points

Apr 8, 2025 1:49 PM in response to MacEs

Do the .aax audiobook files still exist in your Audible library? If so, the easiest solution is to download the Audible iOS app. (since .aax is Audible's proprietary format) If they still exist in your library as Audible purchases, the app will be able to download for offline playback... but through Audible's app alone.

However - I know what you're talking about... and feel your pain - I do all manual transfers to this day. The macOS Books app still does not have a feature to mount an iOS device within the app for manual content transfer, unlike Music or TV. (I've requested it several times...)

Third-party transfer utilities (I use iMazing) won't recognize an .aax file as an audiobook. And a straight drag-and-drop into your iPhone's Finder window won't work either for .aax files, since Audible authorization is granted through the Books app... (a Catch-22)

If you still want to attempt .aax playback in iOS books without the sync transfer process though... one possibility is to install iTunes in a new APFS container (if you are lucky to have an Intel-based iMac/Macbook) running an older macOS version - I have one for Mojave, to run some 32-bit applications - and migrate your entire media library (including the Audible files) into a new library here, solely for transferring and maintaining your media content.

It's not pretty, and it will be a little bit of a PIA to switch booting into the other OS... but at the moment, this is the only workaround I can think of for a straight .aax file transfer into iOS Books. Note that if you do decide to set up the iPhone to point to this library (instead of the current one existing in Sonoma), the content already on the iPhone may get erased and need to be re-transferred over.

I had been using Retroactive for a while to run iTunes here on Ventura - solely for this purpose, getting audiobooks manually transferred to my iPhone - but one of the last macOS updates did something to one of the services being used, and iTunes would force-quit upon startup. So that one went the wayside...

Steve

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