Amazon’s Recent Kindle Software Update Adds More Line, Text Spacing options for accessibility

Andrew Liszewski reports for The Verge today on Amazon releasing a Kindle-based software update to users which, according to the release notes, includes the boilerplate performance enhancements and bug fixes, but notably includes upgrades for better visual accessibility. He writes the improvements come by way of “adjusting text and line spacing, improving legibility and accessibility for many users.” The new 5.18.3 update is supported by the Kindle Scribe, Kindle Colorsoft, as well as the 11th and 12th generation of the Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite models, according to Liszewski.

“Amazon is slowly rolling it out through the Kindle’s automatic updates system,” Liszewski said of the company’s recently released upgrade. “[If] you don’t want to wait, you can download the specific update file for your e-reader, copy it over to your device, and perform a manual update using the instructions Amazon has provided.”

I have a Paperwhite from 2018 and it remains a nice piece of kit, although I haven’t used it in quite some time. While I find e-ink displays to be generally accessible and easy on my eyes, I’ve actually come to favor using Apple Books on an iPad for reading books. The brightness and sharpness of the display—especially on that of the OLED screen on the M4 iPad Pro—is far nicer to look at and even more accessible. That said, I’m deeply intrigued about the aforementioned Kindle Colorsoft from Amazon; I’d love to try it out someday and then subsequently write about my experience using a color e-ink screen.

News of the Kindle 5.18.3 update was first reported by The eBook Reader.