Kindle app for Mac confusion

Software
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I usually only keep my reading to iPhone or iPad for the Kindle app, but today had reason to fire it up on my Mac as well.

First impression was - “holy crap, looks like this hasn’t been updated in a while”. Then I do some digging. According to the Mac AppStore, this version was updated 2 weeks ago. Huh? The “About” box says “Last updated: 01.07.2020”, so there isn’t even consistent info within the app.

According to Wikipedia, the app was first released in early 2010. Presumably in version 1.0. My “current” version is 1.35.0. Not a single major release update in 12 years?

Found it listed on Amazon - yep, get it from the source, always good advice. Now, Amazon won’t let me check out the app from Amazon.com - I get the message

"Some items are no longer available
We're sorry. Some items became unavailable after you added them to your cart."

Guess they are really sorry - this item was listed as available literally seconds ago. What’s up with that? Sure, I am in a different geography, but then please forward me to the proper local store guys.

Of course, after further digging, I find that the version listed on amazon.com is dated July 29, 2015, so guess this item should just be de-listed.

At the end of my rope and Google not being helpful, I turn to you - is it really this bad?

I can’t manage to display two pages side by side? I can’t zoom out and see all pages as thumbnails to quickly scan for highlights, tables or images? Am I really using the most current Kindle app released by one of the most profitable companies in the world?

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Amazon customer support is pretty good. you might want to start a “chat” with them from your Amazon login.

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My memory is that they had dropped the Mac version of their reader in favor of reading on their website or on mobile devices.

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Ah, that might be one explanation Karl. Seems this Mac version is on life support only. Will try @rms suggestion to contact support. (Some an indication of my support experiences that I didn’t even consider that myself.)

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I see:

About_Kindle
About_Kindle1090×696 105 KB

Not sure where I got it, but the App Store doesn’t show that I have it even though the App Store shows 1.35. Contents dated April 3, 2022. I just did a download from Amazon and got version 1.33 with contents dated August 5, 2021. The “Last Updated” in the About Box is just that – the date it was updated/installed and not the date of the software itself.

Certainly looks like they are continuing to maintain it.

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I just looked into this and discovered the Kindle Cloud Reader. I logged into my Amazon account and had access to my Kindle library within seconds. The Kindle Cloud Reader made a good first impression and seems to be an improvement over the native Mac app.

I tried opening up a few books. I opened up some books without issue and confirmed that it’s possible to view two pages side by side. I got the following error when I tried to open up one of my books. Perhaps it’s not enabled for web viewing.

image

I make extensive use of categories to keep my Kindle library organized. Surprisingly the Kindle Cloud Reader doesn’t appear to have any support for categories.

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Amazon does indeed remind you when purchasing a book that it can be read immediately with the online reader version, but they also make the macOS version 1.35 in the Apple App Store. It’s what I have and use to supplement my iPhone, iPad, and Kindle versions.

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Thanks Tom.

I was one build behind (64249) and once I got this version, the date is correctly showing. Strange though, that the Mac version is so much less feature rich than on iOS. Hoping they just make the iOS / iPad version a “Universal app” so we get feature parity.

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Tried it out, and the Cloud Reader was surprisingly capable. Definitely an option to consider - thanks!

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I’ve got Amazon Kindle app on everything here so I can check out how my books look on all devices. When it comes to reading ebooks I use my Kindle PaperWhite, even though it has a very clunky interface. It’s just so lightweight and convenient to use.

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I know this is a weird stance, but …

I would do nearly anything for a proper, modern, native Kindle app for Mac. It’s the one thing I prefer about the Books app. Everything else about Books is horrible, lol.

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The Kindle app on my iMac and MacBook is pretty good. I use it to read the more technical/science stuff. Fast and wiht more features than the Kindle Hardware. Works well on iPad.

So not sure what you are wishing for vs. what is available now. Elaborate, just out of curiosity?

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Totally agree! I wish the Mac Kindle was better.

Thanks for confirming I was not imagining things! I see weird stuff like this now after switching to an M1 MacBook recently:

image
image1022×1134 90 KB

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Kindle for Mac is not a good app and the reading experience becomes sub-par.

I personally buy the book from Kindle store, then download the epub version from the free books site and read in Apple Books app.

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