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So I was thinking about this the other day… Amazon just disabled that Download and Transfer via USB feature, and honestly? This new Kindle WiFi requirement has basically turned our devices into fancy paperweights unless you’ve got decent WiFi around.
Like, how are you supposed to get your Amazon books onto your Kindle without WiFi now? With this strict Kindle WiFi requirement, you basically can’t! Unless you’re hanging onto one of those ancient models with cellular that still somehow works—you know, the ones Amazon killed off a few years back. (The Kindle Oasis 3 from 2019 was the last one with that option, by the way.)
Seriously though, shouldn’t Amazon at least put some kind of warning about this Kindle WiFi requirement on their product pages? “Hey, just FYI, you can’t actually USE this thing without WiFi!”
The ironic part? If you buy ebooks from literally anywhere else, you can still load them onto your Kindle just fine without worrying about the Kindle WiFi requirement. But Amazon’s own books? Nope! Even the supposedly “DRM-free” ones (which, let’s be real, they aren’t) can only get to your device through WiFi or cellular connection directly to the Kindle. I mean yeah, there are some workarounds with Android emulators or digging up some prehistoric version of Kindle for PC, but who’s really gonna bother with all that? Plus Amazon will probably shut those loopholes down eventually anyway.
You might want to think about downloading your whole library to your Kindle right now, just in case this Kindle WiFi requirement catches you off guard. I know some people like keeping their device clutter-free with just a few books at a time, but that’s asking for trouble now. Routers die all the time—and then what? You could be bookless for weeks while sorting out a replacement.
And don’t even get me started on compatibility issues with this Kindle WiFi requirement! Those older Kindles from before 2021 don’t work with 5GHz networks or WPA3 encryption. And have you ever tried using a Kindle on one of those public networks that needs a separate login page? Good luck with that—the Kindle’s browser is so bad it often can’t handle it.
I looked it up, and apparently about 92% of US households have WiFi, which sounds pretty good for meeting the Kindle WiFi requirement. But worldwide? That drops to just 67.9% with internet access in general, not even specifically WiFi.
So Amazon’s basically saying “sorry” to everyone without solid internet access, especially folks in developing countries who can’t meet this Kindle WiFi requirement. They really should just be upfront and slap a big notice on all Kindle product pages: “WARNING: REQUIRES WIFI TO FUNCTION.” But of course, they won’t.Retry.
