Last month Amazon released software update 5.19.4, but it was only available for a few Kindle models.
Now Amazon has started rolling out another Kindle software update, version 5.19.4.0.1, and it’s available for all four Kindle Scribe models, the 12th gen Kindle Paperwhite, the Kindle Colorsoft, and the 11th gen Kindle from 2024 (the 2022 version is still on 5.19.2, the same as the 11th gen Paperwhite).
At first I thought it was probably just a minor bug fix update given the “.0.1” addition to the 5.19.4 update, but Amazon did in fact bring some new AI features to the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft and the other new Kindle Scribes.
The release notes are mostly the same as the 5.19.4 update, but the new Kindle Scribes have an extra note about AI search and AI insights being available in notebooks now:
Version 5.19.4.0.1 – April 2026
Here’s what’s new:
Shapes: Added Shapes to the writing toolbar for quick shape insertion. Also added Smart Shapes — draw a shape in one stroke and hold the pen down at the end to neaten it automatically.
AI-powered In-Notebook Search and Insights: Easily locate information within a single notebook by using the AI-powered search feature. Search using natural language and get simple AI summaries based on the notebook, and dig deeper with follow-up questions.
Handwrite notes on images: You can now use your Pen to handwrite on images in eBooks with enhanced typesetting and Word documents sent to Kindle.
Performance improvements, bug fixes, and other general enhancements.
You can find more information about the new “Ask Notebooks” feature for the Kindle Scribe on this help page on Amazon’s website: Ask Notebooks on Kindle Scribe.
The AI-powered Ask Notebooks feature is only available on the newer Kindle Scribes; it looks like they won’t be adding it to the 2022 or 2024 Kindle Scribes, based on that help article.
There’s still no sign of the other AI features—Ask This Book and Story So Far—that were promised many months ago, but they did say to expect those features in 2026 so there’s still plenty of time left to hit the mark.
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