If you have an ad-supported Kindle that shows advertisements on the off-screen, there’s an easy way to get those ads removed for free but not everybody knows about it.
There’s a well-known trick that’s been around for years, so this isn’t anything new, but anybody with a registered Kindle can do it.
All you have to do is contact Amazon support and ask to have the ads removed. Some people use the excuse that the suggestive romance ads are offensive, and others just ask nicely to get the ads removed, and in most cases it works.
However, it doesn’t always work the first try; it seems to depend on the mood of the customer service agent (and maybe they’re only allowed to do it a certain number of times per day). If it doesn’t work the first time, try it again to see if a different customer service rep can remove the ads for free.
Normally, Amazon charges $20 extra to get rid of the screensaver ads on ad-supported Kindles, also known as Kindles with Special Offers, or you can pay $20 more upfront when buying a new Kindle to get the ad-free version.
It’s important to note that getting rid of the screensaver advertisements also removes the requirement to swipe the screen to turn on your Kindle—I always found that more annoying than the ads themselves, especially when using a cover that’s supposed to automatically turn the device on when opening.
Getting rid of the ads also opens up the option to view the cover of the book that you’re currently reading on the off-screen instead of ads, or you can set it to show random screensaver images instead of book covers if you want. The option is located under Settings > Screen and brightness > Show covers on lock screen. On older software, it’s located under Settings > Device Options > Display Cover.
If you don’t want to contact Amazon support to ask to have the ads removed, your only other option to get rid of them is to go to the Amazon devices section of your account, click the Kindle you want to remove the ads from, and then select the option to “remove offers” by paying $20.
There’s another obscure tip to avoid seeing advertisements on ad-supported Kindles without paying extra, but it’s kind of inconvenient. All you have to do is hold down the power button on your Kindle for about 6 seconds when turning it off to bring up a window that asks to restart your Kindle or turn the screen off. When choosing “screen off” from this window it will show a blank screen when turned off instead of an advertisement.
Amazon is the only company that sells ad-supported ereaders, and it’s a pretty silly concept when you think about it. Most people hate the ads and they just give a bad first impression, but at least they did away with them entirely on the Kindle Scribe and the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition. Hopefully at some point in the future they’ll get rid of the ads on all Kindles.
Yeah when I got my paperwhite with ads as a gift I decided to bite the bullet and pay for the removal. I couldn’t find where to pay them though, so I contacted support and told them I couldn’t figure it out and they just took it off for me for free. Easy
I did that as well. I was willing to shell out the extra 20, but I couldn’t find it even after watching tutorials online. I tried messaging customer service they just made me a ticket and was told to wait till their tech support emails me. I don’t know how long should I expect to wait on this but I still have no update.
I don’t have “Show covers on lock screen” under “Screen and brightness” menu on my PW 5 software 5.16.7 what should I do?
Does your Kindle still have ads? The option only shows up on ad-free Kindles.
Unfortunatelly I have ads
I thought I’d absolutely dislike having ads on my Kindles when I first got them. I knew about the trick to remove them from other users but they also were telling me it’s hit or miss if the agent would remove them. I didn’t bother removing them and while I do get ads for books I’ll never read, I have gotten quite a few for books I was actually interested in and did read. The swipe thing to unlock is more of an annoyance to me than the ads.
Call me someone that hates ads of any kind, When I order my kindles or fire tablets I got the aids removed. I am a retired IT professional and I saw how malware and viruses can be easily hidden and destroy computers and devices. My wifi has aid removal at the point the internet gets to the wifi router. And I run ad removal services on my phones and tablets and computers as well as VPNs. I do it because I once had to clean up the mess mallard and viruses cause
I’ve always paid for ad removal on my Kindles but when I got my Fire HD8 a few years ago I did contact support and complained about the garish and ugly ads for games I would never ever play. They apologized and promptly removed them, so that tactic does work.
I think Amazon has perhaps stopped removing the ads for free. I tried five times today by calling customer service and again with the chat feature and each person told me that it would cost $20 plus tax. The last person I spoke with said that their system was set up to put the charge through whether the request was made by the customer or by the Amazon support person.
Yeah, it looks like they changed their policy and no longer remove ads for free.
Der “Trick” funktioniert leider nicht mehr.