5 Kindle features I’d love to see in 2026

• An open operating system
• Buttons, buttons and more buttons
• A built-in kickstand
• Multiple user profiles
• More visual customization

After only trickling out new devices for ages, Amazon finally announced a major hardware refresh in September, for instance putting out updated Blink cameras and Echo speakers. For readers, the big deal was a new set of Kindle tablets, led by the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft — Amazon’s answer to e-notebooks like the Boox Note Air4 C and the reMarkable Paper Pro. It seems poised to attract a lot of fans, at least the ones that can afford its hefty $630 pricetag and don’t mind being locked into the Kindle ecosystem for purchases.

I’ve been testing Kindles since 2012. I’m pretty familiar with them at this point, so it’s not hard at all to come up with a wishlist that extends beyond the Scribe into the next generation. Some of these changes are unlikely, yet others are very feasible if Amazon wants to take a swing.

An open operating system

Android, here we come?

This one is probably the most far-fetched, for a very simple reason: ecosystem control. Functionally, there’s nothing the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft does that can’t be replicated in Android. But because Amazon wants you buying books from the Audible and Kindle stores, and ideally paying for one or more of its subscriptions, it has every incentive to block access to outside platforms like Kobo or Google Play Books.

For Joe Public, the only serious downside to this is optimization.

An open OS would provide a lot of benefits beyond shopping elsewhere, or accessing titles you already own without paying a second time for a Kindle copy. It would also expand sharing, notetaking, and illustration possibilities, and potentially turn a Kindle into a do-it-all device for people who don’t have heavy work or entertainment demands. Imagine being able to listen to Spotify on a Kindle while you check your email.

For Joe Public, the only serious downside to this is optimization. An OS like Android has to be scaled back for e-ink devices, which means some apps won’t run well or at all — trying to watch a YouTube video on a Note Air4 C is pretty pointless. Even some art and notetaking apps might need extra attention from Amazon to behave as well as first-party software.

Buttons, buttons and more buttons

The way forwards is backwards

The absence of physical buttons is likely a non-issue for most Kindle owners, since Amazon’s gestures are easy to learn, and its touchscreens are responsive enough. There is, however, a diehard contingent out there that would prefer buttons for turning pages, adjusting volume, or returning to the homescreen. I get it, personally — if I need to flip forward a few pages, it’s far easier to hit a button repeatedly than swipe the same number of times, or switch to a book’s progress slider. The point of any Kindle is to relax more than I would with a phone or computer.

The odds of Amazon re-introducing buttons are only marginally better than it switching to Android. Dropping most buttons has allowed the company to shrink its tablets, and presumably cut production costs along the way. Asking it to lower profit margins further when it’s already coping with high tariffs may be a non-starter, unless perhaps there’s some sort of grassroots campaign that persuades it of the sales potential.

A built-in kickstand

Hands-free when you need to be

This idea is something I hadn’t actually considered until now, but the moment it popped into my head, it made too much sense to ignore. Kindles are often best used as handheld devices, it’s true — but when you’re reading for an extended period of time, even the lightest Kindle can become tiring. Although I might be able to bench press nearly 250 pounds at the gym, just half a pound is going to become a problem if have to hold it up for an hour or two.

A kickstand is all the more logical for the Kindle Scribe, a device designed for sketches, annotation, and notes. Those things become a lot easier when you’re not resting a tablet on your lap. You can buy a cover that folds into a stand, if you need too — but if the Nintendo Switch 2 can ship with a kickstand, there’s no reason a Scribe can’t also. It might be a minor motivation for someone to upgrade from a cheaper Kindle model.

Multiple user profiles

Let’s hope Apple is listening too

Most non-Windows tablets are built on the assumption that only one person will ever use them. While that’s often the case, there are too many exceptions, as any parent with an iPad can attest. It’s an arbitrary barrier, seemingly intended to force us to buy multiple devices when one would otherwise do. You wouldn’t tolerate a Mac or Windows PC that blocked your partner from setting their own app and desktop preferences.

Speaking of couples and families, it almost makes more sense to put multiple profiles on a Kindle. Their main purpose is reading, and it would be strange indeed if you had a physical copy of a book but told your wife they had to buy their own copy just to use a bookmark. I wonder also if the Scribe wouldn’t be more attractive to customers if they knew two people could split one — for the cost of two Scribes, you might as well buy a MacBook Air or Surface Pro.

More visual customization

This isn’t 2007 anymore

Certainly, there wasn’t much point to UI customization on Kindles for a long time. The first model had 250MB (that’s right, megabytes) of storage, and it’s only recently that 16GB became a standard capacity. Prior to the first Colorsoft, there wasn’t even much visual appeal to what was onscreen. I did like some of the ad-free lockscreens on my old Paperwhite, yet mostly, they were just better than a blank screen.

If nothing else, it should be dead simple to add custom lockscreens on ad-free models.

Now that Amazon has multiple color devices, it needs to lean full-tilt into personalization. I should be able to rearrange menus, and choose from a wide variety of system fonts, even selecting different colors if they don’t create any usability headaches. If nothing else, it should be dead simple to add custom lockscreens on ad-free models. Users have figured out a way around Amazon’s limits by using custom “books” paired with the Show covers on the lock screen option, but it would be so much better if I could upload files to an Amazon Photos folder and have them automatically synced and formatted. Google allows something similar with its Nest Hub smart displays.