Amazon announced that it would end service for Kindle devices older than the 2012 edition in a recent email to its customers.
Starting May 20, 2026, any Kindle device released before 2012 will no longer be able to "purchase, borrow, or download new content via the Kindle Store," regardless of the device's condition, according to Amazon spokesperson Jackie Burke.
This decision won't make these e-book readers completely obsolete. As Wired explains, Kindle users will still have the ability to read the books already downloaded to their devices. Users will also be able to manually download documents via USB cable. The future of support from other services like Libby, which uses the Kindle Store to deliver downloads, is still unclear.
If the older Kindle devices are deregistered or factory reset, users will not be able to re-register them after the May 20 deadline.
After discovering that their older Kindles will soon become practically unusable, many users are taking to social media to express their outrage. "Now Amazon is forcing me to buy a new one … I don't need a touchscreen or sound, and I definitely don't want adverts," one person wrote on X.
Kindle readers are also speculating that this move is an attempt to sell newer Kindle devices with advertisements that are only removable via paid subscriptions.
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Some users are promoting "Kindle jailbreaking," a process that removes Amazon's software restrictions so Kindle users can install custom apps, themes, and tools and avoid ads.
Others are simply highlighting the importance of physical media, whether that's buying physical books or renting them from your local library. "They can't do this to books," one individual wrote on X.
These functioning Kindles now being rendered nearly "unusable" as Amazon revokes their access to the Kindle Store is just another example of planned obsolescence and the growing issue of e-waste.
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