Amazon has started rolling out another round of software updates for Kindle ereaders and the Kindle Scribe, but this time the update is only available for certain models.
Amazon usually updates all recent models at the same time, but they haven’t been doing that lately. So far this latest 5.18.3 update is limited to 11th and 12th gen Kindles, the Kindle Colorsoft, and both versions of the Kindle Scribe.
The 10th gen Kindle Paperwhite and 10th gen Kindle are still on 5.18.1, even though Amazon says those models are eligible for updates through 2026 on this security updates page. The 10th gen Kindle Oasis is still on 5.18.2, and it’s supposed to get updates through 2028.
This is another one of those Kindle software updates where Amazon doesn’t say what’s changed in the release notes (for the regular Kindle models) so who knows what the update really does. I haven’t noticed any changes on my 12th gen Kindle Paperwhite after some brief testing.
The release notes for the Kindle Scribe say they’ve added the ability to move any inserted Canvas by tapping and holding down, then dragging the Canvas entry on the screen.
Here are the release notes for the Kindle Scribe (the release notes for regular Kindles just include the bottom line, like every Kindle update ever released):
Version 5.18.3 – May 2025
Here’s what’s new:
Active Canvas – Move: You can move any inserted Canvas by tapping and holding the canvas with your finger, then dragging the canvas around on the page.
Performance improvements, bug fixes, and other general enhancements.
The 5.18.3 update is available to download from the Kindle Software Updates page at Amazon, or you can just wait for the update to automatically download and install on its own at some point in the future. You can’t trigger the update from the settings menu on Kindles like most people seem to think; that software update link only works when the update is already downloaded but hasn’t installed yet.
Do they not realize that the best update for the Scribe would be to be able to have a Book and Notebook open at the same time (Side by Side)?
That seems to be well within the software’s capabilities.
Not sure if this happened in the previous update but the new Paperwhite now (finally fixed as this was working fine in previous models) respects your back light settings when switching from light to dark mode if you have set the light to zero in light mode.