This summer, I finally got back into reading after years. While I quickly remembered why I missed it so much, I was also reminded of how expensive (and bulky) physical books can be. So, I’ve been relying on reading apps to keep up with my habit. I tested just about every one I could find, and no app beats this one.
The Kindle app has an easy-to-use interface
Plus, everything you need in a reading app
When people hear the word Amazon Kindle, they usually think of the e-reader. Though I ditched my own Kindle years ago for my iPad and, more recently, for another device, one app I haven’t been able to let go of is Amazon’s Kindle app.
The app is free to download on the App Store and Google Play Store, and despite trying tons of eBook and ePub readers my friends and people online recommended, I find myself going back to the Kindle app every single time.
Though the Kindle app essentially lets you turn any phone, tablet, or laptop into an e-reader, that’s not what I’m talking about here. I already have an e-reader, so what really matters to me are the features and convenience the Kindle app adds on top of that.
If you’ve tried other reading apps, you likely know what a pain it can be to navigate the app when you first start using it. With most of the reading apps I tried, I’d often spend more time figuring out the menus initially than actually reading. Sure, I’d eventually get the hang of them, but by that point, I would have already jumped to the next app out of sheer frustration.
Navigating the Kindle app, on the other hand, is as simple and seamless as it gets. The app is divided into two tabs: Library and More. Next to the Library tab, the book you’re currently reading is always front and center, and all you need to do is tap it to jump straight back into the book, exactly where you left off.
In the More tab, you can manage the Kindle app’s settings, your Kindle Unlimited memberships, and more. Since I only use the app for reading, I typically spend time only in the Library tab, where all my books are neatly organized and easy to access.
My reading progress syncs across all my devices
No more losing your place
Nowadays, I primarily read on my eReaders. Though I no longer use a Kindle and have switched over to Onyx Boox devices, the Kindle app helped me plenty with ensuring my reading progress syncs across all my devices.
When I’m on the go, I often read on my palm-sized Palma 2, and when I’m home reading in bed after a tiring day, nothing beats reading on the 10.3″ screen of the Note Air 4C. At times, I don’t have access to either of my eReaders and want to continue reading on my phone or iPad. I found Boox’s own syncing process too difficult to set up.
Even if I did manage to set it up, it wouldn’t sync across my iPhone and iPad. Since Boox devices all run Android and you can download apps from the Google Play Store, I decided to use a third-party reading app. Unfortunately, the syncing capabilities of most apps either didn’t work at all or demanded way too much initial setup.
With the Kindle app, all you need to do is log into the same Amazon account across all your devices. When you start a new book, once you download it on one device, it’ll automatically appear on all your other devices, and your reading progress, bookmarks, and notes will stay perfectly in sync without any extra effort.
When you start reading on another device, you’ll get a prompt letting you know you stopped reading ahead on another device, so you can jump right back to your most recent page without accidentally rereading sections you’ve already finished.
The reading experience is simply unmatched
Who doesn’t love a fully customizable reading experience?
No matter how great an app’s user interface is and how seamlessly syncing works, what good is a reading app if the reading experience itself is frustrating? Fortunately, the Kindle app doesn’t fall short here either. Pretty much everything about the reading experience is customizable.
You can adjust font styles and sizes, change line spacing, tweak margins, and even switch between light, dark, and sepia modes to make reading comfortable for your eyes. The Kindle app lets you choose from different themes like Compact, Standard, Large, and Low Vision, and you can even save your own settings as a new theme.
I love annotating my books when I read, and the Kindle app makes that pretty simple and straightforward too. When you find something you’d like to capture and highlight, all you need to do is tap and drag over the text to highlight it.
If you’d like to customize the highlight color, you can tap the highlighted text and choose from Blue, Pink, Orange, and Yellow.
You can also add a note or quickly look up something if you want. Like your reading progress, all your annotations are automatically synced across all your devices. This means you can review highlights and notes on your phone, tablet, or eReader without worrying about losing anything.
The Kindle app tells you how much longer you have in a chapter or book
Perfect for late-night reading sessions
You know the moment when you’re reading a book late at night, your eyes are burning, and you can’t keep them open much longer, but you’re already too invested in the story to stop? Seeing exactly how much is left in the chapter or book can help you decide whether to push on or call it a night. When you’re reading a physical book, you can quickly estimate how far you are by judging the thickness of the remaining section. With eBooks, though, it gets trickier.
Most reading apps only tend to show either the number of pages you’ve read or the percentage of the book you’ve completed. Though the Kindle app also shows the percentage completed, it goes a step further. It can also show an estimated time remaining to finish the chapter you’re currently on or the entire book. Kindle bases this on your reading speed, and it’s pretty accurate in my experience.
Of course, if you leave your book open on your device and step away, the Kindle app will likely assume you’re still reading and may overestimate the time remaining for that chapter. Nonetheless, being able to see the estimated time remaining is one of my favorite features. I’ve managed to squeeze in just a few extra pages before bed or decide to save a longer reading session for the next day, all without having to guess how much is left.
Don’t worry, you’re not just limited to Amazon books
You can read pretty much anything
When people hear the Kindle app, they often assume it only works with books purchased from Amazon. That’s not the case at all. You can send a variety of file types to the Kindle app, including PDF, DOC, DOCX, EPUB, and more. Whether it’s a free eBook you downloaded online, lecture notes, or any document you want to read on the go, the Kindle app can handle it.
You can also email anything you’d like to read on the Kindle app by sending it to your Kindle email address. Once the files appear in the Kindle app, they’ll show up in the Library section alongside your other purchased books. All the Kindle features, including syncing across devices, customizable reading settings, and annotation tools, work seamlessly with these files just like they do with any Amazon-purchased book.
Trust me on this: the Kindle app’s combination of seamless syncing, customizable reading experience, and support for a wide range of file types makes it a must-have for anyone who reads regularly. At the end of the day, the app is completely free to download. So, what do you have to lose by giving it a try?