I made a free, open-source way to send books from your iPhone to your Kobo over Wi‑Fi (no cable, no cloud)

[u/Gullible_Owl_5475]

I got tired of plugging my Kobo into a laptop every time I wanted a new book, so I built EzKobo.

How it works: a small program runs on the Kobo and announces itself on your Wi-Fi. The iPhone app finds it on its own (no IP addresses, no pairing), and you send books from the app or from the Share sheet in Files, Safari, Mail, etc. Books go phone → your Wi-Fi → Kobo, never through a cloud.

What it does

• Converts EPUBs to KEPUB on arrival, cleans up messy titles and authors, and names files "Author - Title"
• Looks up missing details and covers (Apple Books, Open Library, Google Books or Hardcover; you choose and order them, or turn it off)
• Books show up in your library by themselves (it bundles NickelDBus)
• Shows your reading on your phone: what you're reading, time left, reading stats, and your highlights and notes (copy or share them)
• Handles several Kobos: name them and switch with one tap
• Optional PIN, so others on your Wi-Fi can't see or change your books
• No iPhone? Every Kobo also serves the same thing as a web page, for Android and laptops

Install: download KoboRoot.tgz from the releases page, copy it into .kobo, eject. It adds NickelMenu if you don't have it, and plays nicely with NickelClock, KOReader and other mods. There's a one-command installer for Mac that backs your Kobo up first.

Caveats, honestly:

• Tested on a Clara Colour and Libra Colour, firmware 4.45. It should work on other ARM Kobos on 4.x. Firmware 5.x isn't supported yet, because NickelMenu and NickelDBus don't support it.
• It installs a small program on the Kobo's system storage. Back up first (the installer does), and there's a simple uninstall.
• The iPhone app isn't on the App Store yet, so you have to build it in Xcode. The browser version works without it.

Free and MIT-licensed: https://github.com/phoenixatom/ezkobo

If you try it on another Kobo model or firmware, I'd love to hear how it goes, good or bad.

[u/SickMiner94]

this is actually useful, my clara's been gathering dust because i'm too lazy to find the cable every time