# Kindle app

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/kindle-app/

7 people recommended Kindle app in Hacker News comments, 2 had mixed feelings and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 12 months, in 6 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. Lets people read Kindle books across devices, especially on phones and tablets, with smooth scrolling. Critics say the Windows app is poor and books cannot be exported.

Summary written by Claude from the comments below.

## What people warn about

- Windows app is poor (3 comments in the sample): "I'm quite disappointed that they didn't continue in the vein of the Windows 8 app which was touch friendly and worked quite nicely w/ a…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47817335)) "As for the Windows app, it's terrible. Horrible. Awful. Nobody liked it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47817199)) "Agree the PC interface is pretty crappy though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47818845))
- Books cannot be exported (3 comments in the sample): "the new types of Kinds require a method of extracting Kindles to PDF which is an order of magnitude harder" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47817552)) "this is 100% about preventing people from liberating DRM from their books" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47817057)) "Then the Kindle app became horrendous.  Now exporting is not a thing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45856649))
- Cannot buy books in app (2 comments in the sample): "Too bad for them it's caused me to buy all my ebooks elsewhere." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47817049)) "being unable to buy books in the Kindle app" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46810341))

## Why people recommend it

- Runs well on phones and tablets (4 comments in the sample): "I can also use the iPad and iPhone apps for kindle to read on the go" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47836392)) "the Kindle app, although annoying, works well enough" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47818015)) "my 5+ year old phone runs the kindle app just fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49598374))
- Smooth scrolling instead of page-turning (2 comments in the sample): "The android kindle app has a neat smooth scrolling feature that works really well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48253363)) "I really like scrolling instead of page-turning" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49950788))
- Syncs between devices for reading (1 comment in the sample): "Kindle app syncs between devices, and makes it easier to read a few pages here and there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46398332))

## Other ebook reader apps people recommend

- [KOReader](https://hackerapproved.com/p/koreader/): 160 recommend, 28 mixed, 28 criticize
- [Bookshelf](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bookshelf/): 15 recommend, 0 mixed, 5 criticize
- [Librera Reader](https://hackerapproved.com/p/librera-reader/): 7 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize
- [BookFusion](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bookfusion/): 6 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Kindle app", https://hackerapproved.com/p/kindle-app/ (7 recommend, 2 mixed, 11 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.