As Amazon officially discontinued support for several older Kindle models, many users found themselves pushed to choose a newer model. However, all is not bright and merry in the land of new Kindle devices, because although they are newer and still supported, users have reported their share of problems with the newer models. These issues can range from things as simple as faster-than-expected battery drain to more annoying but ultimately minor issues like fonts changing randomly.
If you’ve recently had to upgrade to a newer Kindle, knowing these possible issues can help alleviate your own frustrations. However, it is important to note that while users have reported several issues, not all have reported a fix. Some of these appear to be potentially related to updates released by Amazon to its Kindle ecosystem and, as such, some of the issues we describe today may still persist for some users.
Problems reading PDFs
This particular problem won’t affect everyone, but if you often load PDFs onto your Kindle for easy reading, you might find yourself encountering this problem. According to comments on Reddit, some users have reported problems opening PDF copies of books that worked perfectly in the past. A post on the topic shared an error message, which simply stated that there was an application error and stated that “The selected application could not be started. Please try again.”
One of the last articles on the subject was published in May 2026, with the user noting that he encountered the problem after updating to version 5.19.3.0.1 and before that he could open PDFs without problems. A similar problem was reported by a Kindle Paperwhite user a few years ago, with that user noting that a particular file seemed to have become corrupted and that every time they restarted their Kindle and didn’t open that file, they could open PDF files. After deleting the corrupted file, the user was able to open any PDF on their device without any problem. However, it is unclear whether this solution will help resolve issues recently reported by some users.
Increased battery consumption
One of the main attractions of using an e-reader like the Kindle is the long battery life. Amazon claims that Kindles can last up to 12 weeks on a single charge, and while this upcoming issue doesn’t seem to completely disprove that claim, some users are scratching their heads and trying to figure out where things went wrong. According to a Reddit user, after updating to update 5.19.2, their 12th generation Kindle Paperwhite started dropping battery percentages rapidly, sometimes losing up to 6% within 10-15 minutes of reading.
High battery drain is not abnormal, especially if you use your Kindle for several minutes each day. However, the user claims that what makes this particular issue concerning is that the battery percentage is not slowly decreasing. Instead, it falls apart after opening and closing the Kindle. Other users have reported significant battery drain after updating to this version of the Kindle operating system, and there don’t appear to be any reports that the latest update fixes these issues as of yet.
There has been much discussion about exactly how long the Kindle’s battery lasts, although some extensive testing has shown that a newer device can last up to five days on a single charge if you use it daily. Of course, a lot of things can affect this, including the brightness settings you use, as well as how long you read each day. Still, seeing large chunks falling at once is very concerning.
Font changes randomly
Another potential issue to be aware of on newer Kindles is a possible font change while reading. None of those who reported the change seem to be sure of the cause, but they say that when reading, a book’s font would randomly change on their Kindle when running version 5.19.2. Although later updates seem to have fixed the issue for some models, there’s still a chance it could reappear, and it’s just beneficial to know when such things might happen.
As for the font it was changing to, one comment mentioned that it was just a generic Amazon font that Kindle offers. The problem itself seemed to be related to the Kindle’s ability to read the editor’s built-in fonts, with the device often simply forcing the system font to take effect rather than respecting the font set by the editor. One user says that you were able to control font changes more tightly, but those controls have since been removed, making things more inconsistent overall. While this isn’t exactly a game-breaking bug, it can be annoying to deal with, especially if the book you’re reading ends up being replaced with a harder-to-read font.
While annoying, issues like this and the others listed above are just inconveniences. They also don’t discount the fact that the Kindle remains one of the best e-readers available on Amazon, according to many customers.
