Kindle too slow? 5 things to do before buying a new e-reader

If you’ve recently switched to a Kindle after being used to reading on a phone or tablet, the experience may be a little jarring at first. Upon startup, you’ll immediately notice how it feels slower than your mobile device, often taking a while to respond to each contact. Although Kindles handle displaying books well, you might experience lag when navigating settings, purchasing books from the store, and using the built-in browser.

These seemingly basic tasks may be easy for a phone or tablet to complete, but it’s usually a struggle for the Kindle. After all, it doesn’t have the same technology as your mobile devices. It has an e-ink screen which takes some time to refresh compared to LCD screens. Its interface is also designed primarily for reading, not browsing. But even though the Kindle is slow by design, it shouldn’t really feel like you’re working at a lazy pace.

If this is the case with your old, unsupported Kindle, you might think the only solution is to buy a new one. But there are some things you can do to fix your slow Kindle before you abandon it altogether. Sometimes updating its firmware or freeing up system storage space can be enough to make your eReader as fast as new. Here’s everything that should help you speed up your old Kindle.

Like any other device, your Kindle’s software is not entirely free of bugs and glitches. These can slow down your eReader, but they are usually fixed by software updates. Normally, Kindles automatically update to the latest software when you’re online. But if you often switch to airplane mode to save battery, your device may not update on its own. So, before trying any troubleshooting technique for your slow Kindle, it’s always a good idea to check if it is updated to the latest firmware version. Here’s a guide on what to do:

1. Check which Kindle model you have, as different models have different firmware versions.

2. Go to your Kindle Settings.
3. Tap Device options.
4. Choose Device Information.

Find the firmware version and check if it is the same as what Amazon mentions on its website for this type of Kindle. If not, you can manually update your Kindle. Here’s how to do it:

1. Download the updated firmware version to your computer from Amazon.
2. Plug your Kindle into your computer.
3. Copy the update to the Kindle reader.
4. Safely eject the Kindle.
5. Go to Settings.
6. Tap the three dots at the top.
7. Tap Update your Kindle.

Wait for your Kindle to finish updating. Then it will restart automatically. However, it may take some time to index all your books.

Sometimes your Kindle may slow down due to a stuck background process, a temporary glitch, or a problem with the interface. When this happens, try restarting the Kindle. There are two ways to do this. If your Kindle is slower than usual and you can still access Settings, you can restart. Go to Settings, press the menu button (three vertical dots) and select Restart. Then tap Restart again in the pop-up window. You can also access this reboot option by pressing and holding the power button and choosing Restart.

But if your Kindle stops responding to your presses, you can force the Kindle to restart using the physical buttons. All you need to do is press and hold the power button until the screen goes black or a pop-up appears with the options to cancel, restart, and turn off the screen. When the screen turns off or the power options appear, wait up to 40 seconds before releasing the button.

Your Kindle will then restart and should be faster to browse and use. Do this every other day to ensure your e-reader stays in tip-top shape.

One thing Kindles have in common with your phone and tablet is that they also need enough storage space to function properly. If you mainly read classic text-only books, you should be good for a long time as these only consume a tiny amount of space. In fact, a 16GB Kindle could hold more or less 6,000 e-books.

But if you’re a fan of audiobooks or manga, that’s a different story. These are larger files that can quickly fill up your Kindle’s storage space, causing it to slow down. When this happens, you’ll need to empty your bookshelf to give your e-reader enough room to breathe. To check if you have storage space issues, here’s what you need to do:

1. Open Settings from the Quick Actions panel.
2. Go to device options.
3. Tap Storage Management.
4. Choose Manual Delete.

At the top of the page you will see how much storage space you have already used and how much you still have free. If you’re about to use up all of your Kindle’s storage, you should start deleting items. Simply select one of the categories and mark the books you want to delete. Tap Delete to continue. Keep in mind that downloaded books will be permanently deleted from your Kindle. If you purchased them from Amazon, you can download them again as long as you are signed in to your Amazon account.

If you have a large library and prefer a quicker way to delete titles you haven’t opened in a while, return to the Storage Management page and choose Quick Archive. Then choose between one, three, six or 12 months. Your Kindle will automatically archive any books you haven’t opened during this time. However, this only applies to books you have purchased, not downloaded books. After archiving, they can be re-downloaded to your Kindle.

To make navigating your library easier, Kindle comes with a search bar at the top of the Home or Library tab. It can help you find book titles or search for text in books. But before your Kindle can do that, it goes through a process called indexing. This happens in the background and users usually only notice it after they have downloaded a lot of books and the Kindle starts to slow down for a while. A Reddit user reported that their Kindle had slow performance for at least 24 hours after downloading multiple books. Once everything is indexed, things should return to normal.

However, if your Kindle is still lagging more than you’d like, it could be due to a book stuck during indexing. To see if this is the reason your Kindle is slow, follow this guide:

1. In the Kindle search bar, type asdfgh (or any other nonsense text).
2. Press Enter.
3. Take note of the Text in Books option at the bottom.

If the text in books shows 0, this means that the Kindle has already finished indexing your books and has not encountered any problems. But if you can tap Text in Books and it shows you an unindexed book, try waiting for it to be indexed for up to an hour. Then search for your nonsense text again. The book should no longer appear as unindexed. If it’s still there, delete it from your Kindle and download it again.

If all else fails and your Kindle is still extremely slow, your last resort is to factory reset it. This will delete all your books, data, and settings from the eReader. You can always re-download the books you got from the Amazon Store afterwards. But for your downloaded books, they will be completely erased, so make sure to backup your Kindle first. To do this, connect it to your computer via a USB cable. Your Kindle should appear as a storage device. Find the Documents folder and open the Downloads folder inside it. It should contain the Items01 folder with all your downloaded books. From there, all you have to do is copy and paste the books onto your computer.

When you’re ready to reset your Kindle to factory defaults, follow these steps:

1. In Settings, tap Device options.
2. Tap Reset and confirm your selection.

Your Kindle will automatically turn off and begin resetting. Once finished, you’ll find yourself in the setup screen, where you can choose your language, connect to Wi-Fi, and sign in to your Amazon account. Then just fill your bookshelf with your Amazon and downloaded books.