Amazon Kindle

Category
Books

Description of App

The Kindle app is optimized for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, giving users the ability to

read Kindle books, newspapers, magazines, textbooks and PDFs on a beautiful, easy-to-use interface. You’ll have access to over 1,000,000* books in the Kindle Store plus hundreds* of newspapers and magazines. Amazon Whispersync automatically syncs your last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across devices (including Kindle), so you can pick up your book where you left off on another device. Get the best reading experience available on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch: 
  • Shop the Kindle Store by visiting Amazon for the largest selection of books people want to read: over a million books, including over 800,000 at $9.99 or less.
  • Get free book samples – read the first chapter free before you decide to buy.
  • Read hundreds* of newspapers and magazines including The Economist, Reader’s Digest, Martha Stewart Living, and Food Network Magazine with high resolution color images. Visit the Kindle Store to subscribe to a newspaper or magazine and have each edition automatically delivered, or purchase individual issues.
  • Email PDFs & other documents to your new Send-to-Kindle e-mail address and we deliver them to your device. The documents are automatically archived in the Amazon Cloud and available for re-download on your iOS or supported Kindle devices. You can also read PDFs from Mail, Safari, or by transferring them from iTunes.
  • Customize your reading experience by choosing the margin size, background color, font size, and either portrait or landscape format.
  • Instant dictionary word lookup with 250,000 entries and definitions. Tap and hold a word to view the definition.
  • Search inside the book to find a character, topic, or section you want to revisit.
  • Simply tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages.
  • You can also read your Kindle books on your Kindle, Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, PC, Mac, Android-based device, and Windows Phone 7-based device. Our Whispersync technology syncs your last page read, notes, bookmarks, and highlights across devices, so you can pick up where you left off.
  • With Kindle textbooks you save up to 60% off print list prices when you buy, and up to 80% when you rent. Use the Notebook in your Print Replica textbooks to review your bookmarks, highlights, notes. Tag and filter the most important items to study.
  • Accessibility features make it easier for blind and visually impaired customers to navigate their Kindle libraries, read & interact with books, and more. Enable VoiceOver in your device settings to begin.
* Selection and price of books and periodicals in the Kindle Store may vary by country.

Version

3.7

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

Not Known

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

Accessibility Comments

This app appears to be fully accessible.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

App Store Link

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kindle-read-books-ebooks-magazines/id302584613

Developer's Website

http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport

Developer's Twitter Username

@AmazonKindle

Options

Comments

By Scott Davert on Saturday, May 25, 2013 - 19:43

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
In some very basic ways for leisure reading, the Kindle app offers the best reading experience for a braille reader. Unlike iBooks and the Nook app for iOS, once you load a book, there are no other elements to contend with. You simply read from page to page and turning pages is all you have to do. If you have a braille display with a shortcut to turn pages such as the Braille Edge or Focus 14, your fingers never have to leave the display while reading. Both Nook and iBooks have other navigational options on either side of the text, which means you have to scrol back into the page of text, then press space with o (or other equivalent). With the Kindle app, you simply press the command once you reach the end of the page, and continue reading. If you wish to access the menu at any time, pres a cursor routing button (or space with dots 3-6 if your display happens not to have any), and you will be presented with the ability to search the book, go to specific pages, set book marks, etc. ON the iPad version of this app, it seems that this somehow crashes braille and speech. This was first discovered by Amy Mason on an iPad 2, where she explains this struggle very well in her article with a much more in depth review than what is here. I suspected that it was a memory issue, but was unable to duplicate this finding on my iPod 4G, which I believe has even less resources than the iPad 2. However, you won’t be able to move around the book by character, line, or any other element other than display width. But for continuous reading, it works great. Would I want to read a textbook on it? Certainly not. With no rotor options working correctly in braille, and given the fact that you have to double tap and hold to select, a command not yet available to braille only users, it just doesn’t quite yet fit the bill. Certainly, this is many steps forward, but it still has a ways to go before it would be something I’d want to use for anything beyond reading for pleasure. I strongly commend Amazon for their work toward making this app accessible, and hope they will do the same on other platforms as well.

This kindle app and Kindle stand-alone seem extremely popular. What makes this better than the iBooks app from IOS or any of the other book readers? Do we have to turn the page manually in this app? With the IOS iBooks app, it's done automatically. Anyway just some questions while I take a listen to the podcast. :)

No you don't have to do the page turnign manually. but selection in my view point sucks! and sucks majorly. I tried to select a word and ended up selectin g a woed half way down the page. Here is my podcast on kindle. I take it through its paces and I am about 80 percent happy with it. it needs work, like for texts books and I hope amazon will get there.

By Yiskalyn on Saturday, May 25, 2013 - 19:43

Hello. Normally I don't post up here. However. I would like to address two things in two different posts here. First. Why the kindle app over ibooks. For me it is much much easier to find kindle deals on books. On the kindle website it is extremely easy to find books. Also there are many side sites such as bookbub. free kindle books. pixelofink I believe it is called. And others where you can get updated info on certain kindle books. Some free some extremely low cost. this is a huge plus for me over ibooks. And I am another who is loving the accessibility of the kindle app. Now for selecting words. This at first confused me greatly. But here is what you do. You simply put your finger where the text is that you want to select the word from. Double tap and hold and then slide your finger to the left or right till it says the word you want to look up. And then simply lift your finger. It isn't hard at all. And I actually like it. For me anyway it is a lot easier than in other apps. For some reason in other apps I always hit the wrong word. In this one I hit it right every time now that I know how to do it. And yes I know how in the other apps. It just isn't as intuitive for me. Anyway. As long as it took amazon to this this shame on them. However. I love the app as is. The only problem I find is being able to click on links in a book or magazine. Sometimes a triple single finger tap works. Then it opens a web page in the kindle app. Most of the time it doesn't work.

By Nicholas Parsons on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 - 19:43

Has anyone tried version 3.8 yet? I'm too scared in case accessibility has gone back to the dark ages. I don't really want to make other people the guinnypigs, so maybe I'll bite the bullet and save version 3.7 somewhere in case I want to downgrade later.

By djolney on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 - 19:43

I didn't have any problem and everything seems to work just as well as before.

Hello, I was also very reluctant to upgrade to the new version but could not resist seeing what new changes were brought in. I am happy to report that accessibility is fully maintained and everything works as well as it did before. I did not uncover any changes to VoiceOver accessibility, however.

By Nicholas Parsons on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 - 19:43

Thank you! Yes, I've now tried it myself and, although I haven't tried all features, it seems to be no less accessible. Certainly, VoiceOver still reads the text. yay for Kindle! I'm so loving the Kindle app right now (though it's going to bankrupt me)!

With the one-book-a-week rule. I may try that, because at the rate I'm going, I'll be broke in no time!

By Anna Beige on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 19:43

I just got the Kindle app today to try it out. I like it so far, but I've noticed there don't seem to be line breaks. There are page breaks, though. It's not the book I'm using, either. It also seems to be a VoiceOver issue, because I had my mom look at the book I was looking at and she said there were line spaces. It's a little strange, but I guess I shouldn't complain, because at least the app is usable now. Other than that issue, I'm liking the app. In case anyone was wondering, I'm using a braille display.

By Nicholas Parsons on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 19:43

When you speak of line breaks, do you mean for each line or only between paragraphs? I can't imagine why you would want to notice line breaks if you were using VoiceOver. Though I can see why it might be important to get some indication of a new paragraph when reading with a braille display. I thought braille displays usually only showed one line at a time though? If so, wouldn't it be a little annoying to get a blank line between paragraphs?

By Anna Beige on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 19:43

I meant paragraphs, sorry. The way it's presented right now is, for example, chapter 1, then right next to it, the chapter starts instead of going down one line. Yes, the braille display I'm using only shows one line at a time. I guess I didn't clarify well enough. Double spacing would drive me crazy. I hope this made my earlier post more clear.

By Nicholas Parsons on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 19:43

Ahh, yes, sorry, that makes sense. That would be really annoying. I think that's just one of a number of issues Amazon still needs to fix with braille display compatibility of the iOS Kindle app.

By Michael Hansen on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 19:43

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Version 3.9 has been released and now includes accessibility quick reference information in the FAQ section in Settings: "What's New in Version 3.9 • Kindle Free Sample Search - From the existing Library Search, customers can now search Amazon's catalog of millions of Kindle books and download free samples from within the app. New books are easier than ever to find. • Bring Your Own Dictionary - Customers can now use previously purchased Dictionaries, such as medical, legal, or other translation references to define words in any of their other eBooks. Dictionaries downloaded to the device automatically appear in the selection list. • Accessibility Quick Reference - Accessibility gestures for blind and visually impaired customers are included for quick reference and can be found under the FAQ section in settings. The guide has been translated for all supported languages. • Instant Cover Loader – Book cover art displays quicker and more fluidly. • Bug Fixes/Stability Improvements"

By AnonyMouse on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 - 19:43

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Very important Notice. Please read!

What's New in Version 3.9.2

This is a fix for a Kindle issue with the upcoming iOS7 OS upgrade that may cause customers to have to re-register and re-download books from Amazon. Please download and install - this is a required update before upgrading to iOS7.

 

Has anyone discovered a way to turn pages while using a Braille display? I am employing a Humanware Braille display and using iOS 7. I am unable to go to the next page when the reading comes to the end of one page. Actually, I should say the next screen because one does not usually see one book page at a time. Any useful hints would be much appreciated.

By Anna Beige on Friday, October 25, 2013 - 19:43

Have you tried doing the braille display command to turn the page? To go forward, it's dot's one, three and five cord and to go back, it's dots two, four and six cord. I hope this helps!

By Jasmine on Sunday, May 25, 2014 - 19:43

Has anyone found a work around to this yet? It drives me so mad, especially when I'm reading dialogue. I actually returned a book once, because I thought the formatting was all wrong. Guess I should have got somebody to check. I'm a literature student so no lines between dialogue and stuff irritates me. Shouldn't complain though. We are so lucky with accessible ebooks these days.

By Jesse on Wednesday, November 25, 2015 - 19:43

I've noticed a couple issues when trying to read with a braille display that are pretty annoying. First of all, words seemed to be spaced strangely. What i mean is a space breaks up words making it seem like separate words. I've had it checked by a sighted person and they say the print appears normal. Second and most troublesome, sometimes when I'm reading and get to the end of a page it will jump back up to the top of that page instead of turning to the next. Also sometimes it goes to the next page before even being finished showing the text from the previous page. it leaves off a couple of lines. has anyone experienced either of these issues?

I haven't had most of the issues you're having. The Kindle app going to the top of the page randomly is an iOS bug, it was introduced in iOS 9. I haven't noticed words being spaced strangely, or the app turning the page before you're done reading it. Do you have automatically turn pages while panning turned on in VO braille settings? I find that really useful, saves having to do the turn page command.

By Joseph Westhouse on Friday, March 25, 2016 - 19:43

Does anyone know if the "real" page numbers show up in the Kindle iOS app, for those titles that support them? I don't see them on the books I'm looking at currently, but I don't know if these books include real page number information, so I'm just curious if anyone knows for sure if this feature is accessible.

By Aaron on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 - 19:43

I tried this and it didn't work. Anyone else?

By Jennifer Kent on Saturday, November 25, 2017 - 19:43

Anyone else using kindle unlimited its basically a library for ten bucks a month you can check out ten books at a time and return them. the only problem I am having is determining is if a book is a kindle unlimited book or not like on one it ended up being a sample and on others they just didn't download. So I am not sure on what to do do I write amazon or what? also I will give the podcast a listen and the faq a good going going over because I didn't know they existed.

By Bobcat on Saturday, November 25, 2017 - 19:43

If you get to the browse menu, go down to
More to Explore Heading
Everything below there seems to be unlimited so you just pick the category you want.
You will find more categories link at the very bottom. You may also search for kindle unlimited.
I noticed there doesn’t seem to be a browse button in the latest version when you’re in a book or in your library. So maybe easier to search for kindle unlimited to get to the browse books area instead.

By Jennifer Kent on Saturday, November 25, 2017 - 19:43

I typed in Raymond buckland and did a filter for kindle unlimited books and found 13 this is sad because none of them were the books I was looking for but I will talk to the publisher as well as amazon.

By Bobcat on Saturday, November 25, 2017 - 19:43

I forgot about filters.
Hope you can get your book.

By LifepodDebbie on Monday, December 25, 2017 - 19:43

Hello, my husband and I are considering downloading this app in order to have access to reading more books. My question is do you have to have had a Kindle first in order to be able to access and purchase books to read on the Kindle app? Or, can you simply download the app, register as a Kindle user, and search for and purchase kindle books? Since we would never use the Kindle, we would prefer the app. I would greatly appreciate any input. Thanks.

By Ali Gamez on Sunday, February 25, 2018 - 19:43

Hello everyone,
I'm running the latest version of iOS, and using a Braille Edge 40 from Hims. Whenever I am in a book, and attempt to pan to the next page, my display freezes up and stays on the previous page, while speech moves onto the next one. I'm using an iPhone 6S+ if that makes a difference. I would really appreciate any help anyone can give. Thanks so much! Ali

you don’t have to have had a Kindle first in order to download the app just register with your Amazon email and password. however in order to buy books you need to go into the Amazon Kindle store using an Internet browser. One book I would recommend that is free to download is ‘ Kindle for iOS accessibility gestures a quick reference guide. it certainly helped me get started. Hope this helps.

By Use Small Words on Wednesday, July 25, 2018 - 19:43

not sure if anyone else has had this issue or maybe its just me. When I read kindle books using voice-over it seems to generate a pause at the end of each line of text on the page which can be rather grating at times. Has anyone else experienced this and is there a way around it?

Yes, I believe this problem began when the new update came out about two days ago. I think the best thing you can do is report it to the accessibility team. There is a new post on this website where a user explained the situation.

By Bill Lenfestey on Saturday, August 25, 2018 - 19:43

I've been trying to find a comprehensive list of keyboard commands for iphone kindle, without success. Amazom does have a keystroke guide for Windows computer and for Mac users. I've purchased the book mentioned above that lists gestures that iphone users can use. However, I can't find a list of key strokes that I can use in place of the gestures.

By Hilary Reed on Friday, January 25, 2019 - 19:43

Hello. I was wondering if anyone had ever tried reading college text books using the Amazon Kindle app. I want to know how VoiceOver handles the figures and illustrations that sometimes are in text books. Bookshare and Learning Ally do not have the books I need for this semester, so I was wondering if Kindle would be a good option.
Thank you.

By Holger Fiallo on Friday, January 25, 2019 - 19:43

I use my echo to read the kindle book. Alexa does nice job reading the book. I go to my alexa app and select kindle to read my book.

By KE8UPE on Thursday, February 25, 2021 - 19:43

Hi,
I have the exact same questions. I will be starting college in the fall, and may get my textbooks from Amazon, for reading in the Kindle app.
It disappoints me greatly, that candle on the Mac is not, and never has been, accessible with voiceover.
Every time I try to talk to Amazon about this, they act like they don’t know what I’m talking about.

I tweeted them twice about this, and they have yet to answer me.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how we could beef up our advocacy in this area?

By Fenrir on Friday, March 25, 2022 - 19:43

Hi!
Is there a way to read footnotes more quickly?