4 free apps that supercharge my Kindle reading experience

• Goodreads
• Libby
• Calibre
• Amazon Kindle

If you happen to own one of Amazon’s uber-popular Kindle eReader tablets, then you’re probably already familiar with the flow of reading on an ePaper or E Ink display. There’s a lot to love when it comes to toting around a mobile gadget built exclusively for reading: no digital distractions, less eye strain, and robust water and dust resistance for those summer days at the beach.

While the Kindle experience on its own is streamlined and efficient, you can actually unlock a significant degree of additional functionality by tapping into the world of applications beyond the standard reading app. Here are four supplementary apps that extend the power and utility of any Kindle model — all without costing a single penny in the process.

Goodreads

Goodreads boasts one of the largest online communities of reading fans in the entire world. The app makes it easy to keep track of book progress, to organize previously read books into shelves, to review and make recommendations based on books you’ve read, and to create a wishlist of novels. Goodreads is an entirely free and cross-platform application, though it does require you to create an account to use its service. Once you’ve signed up, you can link your Amazon account for some tightly-knit Kindle-to-Goodreads synergy, including the syncing of reading progress and tailor-made reading recommendations.

Libby

Did somebody say free ebooks?

Libby is a free mobile app that transforms your iPhone or Android device into a virtual library. By entering your real-life library card credentials into the app, you’re able to browse and temporarily rent novels from your local library’s dynamic database of digital reading content. For Kindle users, you can wirelessly send a book from Libby over to your eReader from within the latter’s app interface. It’ll then appear across all your Kindle devices as well as in other places where you’ve logged in using your Amazon account.

Calibre

Manage your digital library the desktop way

Calibre is a full-fat desktop program that functions as an eBook management suite. Aside from allowing you to view and read your eBooks, you can edit your media, download news and magazines from the internet, backup your library, and much more. Content within your Calibre library can be easily transferred over to your Kindle via a wired USB connection, and books will automatically be converted to a compatible format if they can’t be opened by the eReader otherwise. Calibre is both free and open-source, and it works across PC, Mac, and Linux.

Amazon Kindle

What’s a Kindle without its mobile companion app?

Last but certainly not least, you’ll definitely want to download and install the free Amazon Kindle app if you haven’t done so already. By logging in via your Amazon account credentials, your library of Kindle content, your reading progress, your bookmarks, your highlights, and much more will automatically sync to mobile for easy access at all times. Essentially, for those times when you aren’t carrying around your actual Kindle, your smartphone or tablet can swoop in and temporarily serve as a makeshift eReader without skipping a single beat.