Amazon has started rolling out another software update, version 5.20.2, for the new Kindles and probably the 2024 models as well.
Once again the update does not include any release notes, but the update does include at least one major new feature, one that Amazon has been saying would be coming to Kindles for over a year now.
The 5.20.2 update adds the Ask This Book feature that’s been available on the Kindle iOS app since last December.
The way it works is you can ask questions about the book you’re currently reading and it will give spoiler-free answers about the plot, characters and other details up to the point that you’ve read. Or you can ask questions that include the whole book, and there’s a note saying those may include spoilers.
As far as I can tell, there are two ways to use Ask This Book. You can run a search, and the Ask This Book option will appear at the top of search results. Or you can highlight a word or phrase and then select the Search tab from the window and you can “get insights from this book” there.
When starting a new chat or asking a new question, you have the option to choose “reading so far” or the “full book”. When selecting the latter it notes the insights may include spoilers.
Obviously an internet connection is required to use this feature. It only works with Amazon books; it does not work with sideloaded books or Send-to-Kindle ebooks, and not all Amazon books are supported yet either. You can tell if a book supports the Ask this Book feature by looking at the search icon on the top menu with the book open. There’s a + symbol added on top of the search icon when Ask This Books is available.
So far the 5.20.2 update is only available via automatic updates; Amazon’s website isn’t showing it yet.
This is concerning because the last three updates have not appeared on the Kindle Software Updates page at Amazon, and they still haven’t added any of the new models to the page yet, despite the new 2026 Kindle being out for almost a full month now. Are they going to stop offering downloads and manual updates?
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