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Amazon released a new version of the Kindle app today. New features include Arabic dictionaries, split view (but only on the larger iThings), and an option to scroll your way through an ebook rather than turn the page. Yes, Amazon has finally taken the same scrolling feature found in all web browsers and added it to the Kindle app for iOS. But Kindle eBooks also weren’t like print books. When you changed the font size, line spacing, or read the book on a different device, the “pages” became significantly different. However, now on supported devices it is possible to scroll down through a Kindle eBook just like you scroll through an article on a website online. These instructions will fix vertical scroll on android phone, kindle fire, and most other Kindle reader app varieties. How to fix: If you are at the main Kindle screen, open the books menu, then open the Kindle book that is in continuous scroll mode. Continuous Scrolling - To read with continuous scrolling, tap anywhere on the page when you are reading your book. Then tap on the icon at the top of the screen to open up the menu. Tap on the Continuous Scrolling toggle switch to turn continuo. Download Kindle app for iOS. On your iPad or iPhone, go to the App Store – the app with all applications available for the iOS (iOS is an operating system of the iPad and iPhone). Use the search feature to find the Kindle app. Tap “Get” button, and wait until the download is complete (see screenshot above, on the left).

Kindle Cloud Reader is a way to read Kindle books online in the web browser. Here are some facts and tips to keep in mind.

If you don’t have a Kindle e-reader, a tablet or a smartphone, you can still access your Kindle books. You can do it on any computer, by opening a web browser and entering the special url address.

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Kindle Cloud Reader is a free, web-based app that you can visit by going to read.amazon.com.

On one side, it’s a good thing. You don’t have to spend money on Kindle e-reader or Amazon Fire tablet. You don’t even need to own a smartphone with a screen large enough to let you comfortably read. All you need is an Amazon account.

Kindle Cloud Reader has the interface similar to dedicated Kindle apps. You’ll see here a list of books you bought on Amazon, and be able to read them.

Before we move on to the details, there is one thing to be clarified. Many users confuse Kindle Cloud Reader with other services and features offered by Amazon.

Let’s take a closer look at each one:

Amazon Cloud Drive

It’s a cloud storage service offered by Amazon, similar to Google Drive or Dropbox. It has nothing to do with your Kindle books.

You can use it to store pictures and personal documents, to make them available from any device by simply signing in to your Amazon Cloud Drive account.

Kindle cloud library

All the books added to Kindle account are stored on Amazon servers, not on the particular device. This remote archive is called the “cloud”, and you can access it from any Kindle device or app, and obviously Kindle Cloud Reader.

The Kindle cloud is everything under Manage Your Content and Devices (formerly Manage Your Kindle) section in your Amazon account settings page.

Kindle Cloud Reader

It’s not the Kindle e-reader, not Amazon Cloud Drive, and not your Kindle cloud library. It’s a way to access your Kindle cloud library via the web browser.

So, in fact, it’s a webpage with a special interface that lets read books on a computer.

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Kindle Cloud Reader – tips and facts

1. Access your Kindle books from any computer with a web browser

If someone says “access your books from any device”, they assume you understand it as “any device you own”:

your own Kindle e-reader,
your mobile device with a Kindle app installed,
your computer with a Kindle app installed.

Kindle Cloud Reader is the missing part. You don’t need to have any of your devices with you, to access your Kindle books.

In fact, you don’t need to own any device at all. Any computer in a public space, like a library or internet café, is enough to access the books stored in your Kindle cloud.

Find the computer, open the browser, and go to read.amazon.com url address. Sign in with your Amazon credentials. That’s it. Under the Cloud tab you’ll see all books you bought in the Kindle Store.

Note: make sure to log out from your Amazon account before leaving the public computer.

2. It’s available for Kindle users around the world

Kindle Cloud Reader was launched in August 2011. At that time it was available only for Kindle users registered in Amazon.com.

Now, the web-based Kindle app is available globally, including users of localized Kindle Stores (UK, Germany, France, or India, to name the few).

No matter which Kindle Store you’re logged in, you can access your books in a web browser – from anywhere in the world.

The pattern for url address is the same in all Kindle Stores – type “read” before the domain of your local Amazon site. Here are the examples:

Kindle Store UK – read.amazon.co.uk
Kindle Store Italy – read.amazon.it
Kindle Store India – read.amazon.in
Kindle Store Canada – read.amazon.ca

Users from countries, where localized Kindle Stores were launched, may have two accounts: one for Amazon.com, and one for the local Amazon site. This might be the source of confusion.

Some users expect they could access the Kindle books from both accounts. That’s not possible.

Example. If you live in Germany, when you sign in with Amazon.com credentials, you’ll see only the books bought in the American Kindle Store. To see the books bought in Kindle Store Germany, you’ll have to sign out from Amazon.com, and sign in with Amazon.de credentials.

3. You can’t add and read your personal files

Usually, users can add personal documents to the connected Kindle device or app, by sending them to a special email address. They can also download these personal documents from the Kindle cloud to particular Kindle apps.

However, this useful feature is not available in:

Kindle Cloud Reader
Kindle for PC
Kindle for Mac

In other words, when you open Cloud tab in the Kindle Cloud Reader, you’ll only see the books purchased from the Kindle Store.

This is the major disadvantage of the Kindle Cloud Reader. Amazon just doesn’t want users to treat Kindle Cloud Reader as a web-based reader of mobi ebook files downloaded from other sites.

I don’t think Amazon will enable an option to add and manage personal files in the Kindle Cloud Reader any time soon.

If you are looking for ways to read free books online, the best option is to go for any app that supports epub format, not mobi.

Adding own files to Google Play Books, associated with your Gmail account, is the easiest possible way. Plus Google offers inline translation in a web-based Google Books app.

Another option to read epub files on the web are browser extensions, naming only Readium or Magic Scroll.

4. You can add and read free books from the Kindle Store

The good news is that you can add to the Kindle Cloud Reader any free book found in the Kindle Store. It could be:

a book from Top 100 Free Kindle Titles,
a book listed in Free Popular Classics section,
a free sample of any Kindle book.

Simply, go to a page

Kindle Mac App Scrolling