There’s some good news for those that like to jailbreak their Kindles to add more features and functionality.
A new jailbreaking method called KindleBreak was just released by Kindle enthusiasts over on MobileRead. It’s based on the KindleDrip vulnerability that was revealed earlier this year.
KindleBreak works on most Kindles dating back to 2013 when the Kindle Paperwhite 2 was released. It works with all three versions of the Kindle Oasis, the Kindle Paperwhite 2-4, the Kindle Voyage, and the past three entry-level Kindles.
Using KindleBreak to jailbreak your Kindle requires specific firmware versions to work. It won’t work with the newer software. Your device has to be running firmware version 5.13.3 or earlier. It works back to firmware version 5.10.3. If the software is older than that you’ll have to update to a more recent version first.
If your Kindle is running the newer 5.13.4 or 5.13.5 software this will not work and there is no way to downgrade Kindle software to older versions so you’re out of luck.
Personally I’m still not sold on the benefits of jailbreaking a Kindle and then having to worry about keeping it from updating again to keep it jailbroken, but I might try jailbreaking one of my older Kindles to see if it will change my mind. For those of you that do like jailbreaking what extras do you like to install?
Check the thread below at MobileRead for detailed jailbreaking instructions and make sure to read the FAQ if you’re new to this.
It’s dumb that it takes a jailbreak and a plugin to turn off the touchscreen, but that’s still the state of the Voyage in the year 2021. I also like using book covers as my screen savers.
Jailbreak shmailbreak.
Even if I could jailbreak my Kindle, as I have the new updates, I haven´t seen any real purpose for it as there doesn´t seem to be any really significant improvements that could be added to it. I agree that it would be nice to have the features that were mentioned by Josh, things that Amazon should include. I read that there is a slightly better PDF program. But that´s about it. It seems more like an academic exercise rather than adding any significant improvements to the device. I get the impression that the Kobo has more support in this area. Is it easier to program for the Kobo or more enthusiastic user base to tinker around with the Kobo? Or am I wrong about the Kobo?
Kobo ereaders are more open to user modifications because they don’t keep the software locked down like Amazon does, but Kindles have always had an active hacking community, probably more so than Kobo. It’s really easy to add different reading programs and to tweak the reading software on Kobos, but I don’t find a need to do so anymore because the built-in software is quite good (except with PDFs).
I did take this opportunity, myself.
I have switched mostly to Kobos in the past year or so (a Libra H20 and a Clara), but I still use my Paperwhites occasionally.
The most recent one, a 32GB PW4, I left as is, since it still receives regular firmware updates. But I jailbroke my older PW (an ageing PW2) using this method. After all, the PW2 hasn’t received a firmware update for over a year. Now it has KUAL and, best of all, KOReader. This has really breathed new life into the device. KOReader gives me ePub support, PDF reflow when needed, reads more formats, has a built-in RSS reader, built-in access to OPDS servers, Night Mode, and a ton of other features that the default Kindle firmware lacks. It is also customizable down to the finest details (including tap zones, which is something Kobo allows you to do, but the PW doesn’t.)
I couldn’t be happier with it, to be honest.
I like to change the screensavers. That’s been the reason I have jailbroken previous Kindles.
I really like the Kindle’s hardware, but can’t accept the software limitation – 95% books I read is either epub or fb2. The Cool Reader 3 as the software running on Kindle is the ideal choice for me, due its to the ability fine tune margins and line spacing. KOReader is the second choice – mainly for pdf. And actually never, NEVER use kindle stock embedded reader. The screensavers /book covers is not important for me at all. But if I cannot fine tune line spacing, word spacing, margins – I just simply get mad about the missing functionality 🙂 So using PW2 running CR3 and KOReader and anticipating PW5 jailbreak….
I haven’t jailbroken my newer kindle, the 7th Gen Paperwhite 3, because it wasn’t a big enough benefit. But now I regret that because the new interface we were forced into sucks. You can’t hide items that are in collections anymore, which makes it not user friendly, it’s like they took a huge jump backwards.
As for the reasons I would jailbreak? Aside from getting rid of this interface downgrade I like the ability to have the kindle show the page you were on when off. That’s a big one. It’s also nice to be able to customize the lockscreen images, but generally if I’m not using the last page I use the cover of the current book which I no longer need jailbreak for so I’ve just been running stock firmware.
But now I’m stuck.
The biggest reason to jailbreak? Because if you don’t & you don’t like something you are stuck with it. To preserve choice