C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A new Kindle update adds a feature that allows you to double-tap the side or back of the device for page turns.
- The feature saves you from smudging the screen with a touch, although it only works for turning pages forward.
- The update also allows you to get a quick recap of a book in a series to refresh your memory before you continue the series.
One of the longest-standing complaints among e-reader fans is smudgy screens from constant tapping. If you own a relatively recent Kindle, Amazon just quietly rolled out an update that largely addresses this issue. You can now turn pages by double-tapping anywhere on the frame or back of the device — no need to touch the display at all.
According to a Good e-Reader blog post, the feature is part of firmware version 5.18.1 and will work on Kindles released since 2018, which is 10th generation and up. Once the update is installed, the double-tap setting is enabled by default, though it can be turned off manually in the settings.
You can only double-tap to turn forward through pages, not back.
Amazon hasn’t said exactly how it works, but it seems to rely on the device’s accelerometer or orientation sensor since that’s the only way the device can register such off-screen tactile interaction. It’s a handy workaround given that none of Amazon’s current Kindle lineup includes physical page-turn buttons — something die-hard users have long missed since the Kindle Oasis.
This new feature has one notable flaw: You can only double-tap to turn forward through pages, not back. That means if you accidentally skip ahead, you’ll still need to tap the screen to go back. We don’t know if this was a limitation of the hardware abilities or if Amazon plans to refine the feature in future updates.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
You might not be interested in that functionality but sometimes struggle to recall what happened in the last installment of a book series. Amazon has also addressed this in the new update, introducing Recaps for Books in Series. This helpful feature gives you a short summary of previous e-books in a series before you dive into the next one. If it’s been a while since you read the last installment, or you’ve lost track of who’s who, this should save you a trip to Wikipedia.
These summaries are available for thousands of bestselling English-language Kindle books and appear automatically for titles you’ve previously bought or borrowed. It might just help you finish some of those half-finished series gathering digital dust.
The 5.18.1 update is rolling out now to supported devices, but if you’re not seeing it yet and want to try these features immediately, you can sideload the update from Amazon’s official Kindle software page.
