Kindle Software Update 5.18.2 Released

Amazon has released another software update for Kindles. It’s only been a month since the last update, and since it usually takes a few weeks for Kindles to update automatically, don’t be surprised if you find your Kindle updating once again.

This appears to be a fairly minor update, according to the release notes, but they often leave out details on the release notes so who knows what kind of changes they made behind the scenes that they didn’t mention.

The new software update version is 5.18.2. It’s not available for all recent models yet for some reason, but it is available for the Kindle Scribe, the Kindle Colorsoft, and the 11th and 12th gen Paperwhites.

Like always, if you plan on jailbreaking your Kindle at some point down the line then you’ll want to turn on airplane mode to avoid this update.

The main change with the 5.18.2 update is they’re altering the author name format when viewing books in the library view. Now it will show first name then last name, but sorting by author will still go by the last name.

The Kindle Scribe is also getting some new customizable features when it comes to notebook summaries with this update.

Here are the release notes (the notebook update is only for the Kindle Scribe):

Version 5.18.2 – April 2025

Here’s what’s new:

Customize Notebook Summaries: You can now customize the length and tone of summaries in notebooks. Also, save your customization options for quick access.

Author name appears First Last: Author names now appear in the format of First Last (previously Last, First) in Library. The sort order will still be based on the order last name.

Performance improvements, bug fixes, and other general enhancements.

The 5.18.2 update is available to download from the Kindle Software Updates page at Amazon, or you can wait for the update to automatically download and install on your Kindle while it’s connected to WiFi.