Last week I posted about a new software update that Amazon released for Kindle ereaders, version 5.18.4. It added some new accessibility features and a new page view that looks similar to Kindle apps, but now all of the changes have disappeared on my updated Kindles.
The day after I installed the update on my 12th gen Kindle Paperwhite, the new text-to-speech feature suddenly went missing while I was attempting to shoot a video demo. It’s still gone, and it doesn’t appear on my updated 11th gen Kindle either.
But both still had the new large font setting for the user interface and the new page view look after the Assistive Reader setting disappeared. Then yesterday I checked and both of those features have mysteriously disappeared on both of my updated Kindles as well.
The new features were there one day and then gone the next. That’s weird even by Amazon’s standards. Apparently they’ve encountered some problems with the new features so they decided to pull them.
It’s a bit unsettling how easy it is for Amazon to control the features on our Kindles. At any time they can remotely enable or disable features at the drop of a hat. I can understand why some people prefer to keep their Kindles disconnected from the internet most of the time.
The 5.18.4 software update is still available to download from Amazon so they haven’t pulled the update, just most of the features added with the update.
Amazon still hasn’t updated the release notes for the 5.18.4 software, aside from adding a note about the Kindle Scribe supporting notes in multiple languages now, so I guess from their perspective they still haven’t officially announced the new accessibility features yet.
Amazon has a new help article up on their website about using the new Assistive Reader feature on Kindles, so you’d think the feature would actually be available to use on Kindles at this point, but that’s still not the case. The page has been up for at least a month now but the new Assistive Reader is still unavailable on all of my Kindles. It was on my Paperwhite for 1 day before it disappeared. Now the other new features have disappeared as well. Some Kindles still don’t have the new spacing settings that were added with the pervious 5.18.3 update from 2 months ago. What’s going on with these Kindle updates lately?
I received the reading assistant with 5.18.3 and still have it today with 5.18.4. But I don’t have and never did have the new spacing option. And I do have the large display text.
It seems Amazon still has major issues with it’s Kindle software
I manually updated my Scribe (2024) and Colorsoft to 5.18.3 The Scribe had the spacing option at least two weeks sooner then my Colorsoft. I use the Scribe less often then my Colorsoft. Not sure if this is an issue as to why these features appear at random times.
I certainly miss the days of features being present as soon as the update is installed.
Jailbreaking is the way! 😉
As a person that once ran nothing but beta software and jailbroke my devices. I no longer see the advantage of it for my propose of using any device. I guess being retired, I just don’t want to mess with it.
I get that. It just works for me because it stops Amazon from dinking around with my device. I have it how I want it, and any changes are ones that *I* initiate.
“This is weird even by Amazon’s standards.”
These words are worthy of being placed on ball caps and t-shirts.
Mine will no longer show the three page preview, swipe left or right. . It is back to single page.
KSE 11 gen 2022
I always have WiFi connected, and one day the new page view similar to the Kindle App appeared on my Kindle Matcha (5.18.4), and another day it disappeared and returned to the classic view. My other Kindle e-readers are still running version 5.18.3 and everything is the same as before. I have never had the new spacing options available (I have seen them in the Kindle App and personally am not interested in them).
I just checked my Colorsoft (5.18.3) and it too has reverted to the classic view. My Scribe has the same firmware and it still has the new view. Strange. Are these features one giant beta test?
Some features are currently region-locked and can be enabled via OTA updates from Amazon. Keep it connected to WiFi to make sure your Kindle gets the message to switch them on when Amazon give the go-ahead in your area.
A modern Kindle is basically similar to a glorified web-browser displaying a website, with the website owner doing whatever they feel like doing 😀
You know, that’s a pretty accurate description. I remember a while back when people were getting their Amazon accounts flagged for no reason, and their Kindles instantly became useless if they were connected online.
I still have the spacing options but the book menu screen has reverted to the older version and the assistive reading is gone. which is fine with me because the voice sounds horrible. Maybe they are actually going to fix the voice. Hopefully enough people have complained about the horrible voice for them to turn off voice assist until they fix the voice. The voice assist was visually nice. It would be something I would use once they fix the voice. I ask that everyone continue to send feedback for them to fix the voice. I would hope that Amazon would want to fix voiceview in order to compete with Kobo, now that Kobo will be offering that feature.
I don’t have the new line spacing on any of my kindles on newest software, and ashamed to say I have quite a few kindles. I do notice the updates the past 2(?) years haven’t been as solid as in the past.
I did just get a colorsoft, it finally came in Canada. I’m surprised that I like it, as I am a contrast snob and hold my Voyage and PW12 dear to my heart. It’s obviously not as clear but it’s actually quite good considering what it’s pulling off. Much better than Kobo’s coloured screens.
The colorsoft needs a true dark mode. It’s a major misstep (as well as limited storage—they have water resistant micro-SD cards slots now) for Amazon to limit software on a flagship device
That said. It’s a comfortable design to hold. I still want Amazon to open up their UI to allow more font reading options than three presets. Margins, spacing, and size for all files.