6 tips and tricks to use Kindle for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch
Edited: January 10th, 2012
Below you’ll find tips on how to make the most of Kindle on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. Since June 2011 there is no Kindle Store button in Kindle app home screen any longer, so you won’t easily jump to Safari to buy new books or get free samples.
You can surely go to Kindle app’s help page on Amazon, but I think that using Kindle on iOS device is not only about using a Kindle app.
1. Browse Kindle Store in Safari
After 2.8 update it is reasonable more than ever to browse and buy books right from Safari, without bothering to open Kindle app – due to the lack of links to Kindle Store.
Never tried browsing Amazon from a tablet or smartphone? Don’t worry. Amazon’s mobile site looks is very well optimized for smaller screens. On the iPad a regular site is displayed, works well, I haven’t noticed any flaws. On the iPhone and iPod Touch a special, mobile interface is being shown.
2. Add Kindle Store to your Home Screen
It’s good to add Kindle Store either to a list of bookmarks in Safari or to a home screen. On the iPad just go to Amazon site and select Kindle Store from a drop list.
If you’re on the iPhone/iPod Touch, go in Safari directly to this address amzn.to/kinstore. It’s Kindle Store’s site optimized for small screens – not the same as regular one. You can add it as a bookmark to home screen (see picture on the right) and a nice icon will show up.
Find more information about it here.
3. Browse free Kindle books in Safari
In fact, you can use the browser to add books from other sources than Kindle Store. What’s very important, you can add them directly to Kindle for iOS. This is possible since 2.5 update.
What you have to look for is books in mobi format, without DRM. To add a book to Kindle app, find the link to a book file, ending with .mobi.
Best sites with free Kindle books, optimized for mobile reading, are: Feedbooks, Project Gutenberg, Smashwords and Manybooks.
4. Add books to your Kindle for iOS – not only via iTunes
iTunes is a default way to add content to applications, but happily you don’t have to do it any longer. With the 2.9 update of the Kindle app, you can send the file to a special email address of your Kindle app.
The application on each of your devices has its own email address. You can find it, by tapping Docs in the top navigation bar of your Kindle app (swipe right to reveal it).
When you send a file to the iPhone’s email, you’ll get it usually in a couple of minutes. What is very important, the file is stored in your Kindle cloud bookshelf and synced between devices, so you can get it from the Archived Items any time, when you want to continue reading on the iPad.
5. Discover books on Twitter and add them instantly to Kindle app
It’s my favorite topic. If you spend a lot of time on Twitter, using Twitter iOS applications, why don’t you try to find Kindle books there? It’s actually pretty easy. Just look for a keyword Kindle or a tag #kindle and you’ll find out a lot of tweets with amzn.to links.
Or if one of Twitter friends is recommending a Kindle book, just tap on a link and you’ll be redirected to mobile Safari (either within Twitter app or outside it) and you’ll decide whether to download a free sample or buy a book.
For more information read this post.
6. Use Kindle application as a free dictionary
Finally, Kindle for iOS can also work as a great dictionary application, so there is no need to buy another one. This is possible thanks to the The New Oxford American Dictionary installed.
You’ll find more information about it here.
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