Your Amazon Kindle just got an update with one device getting a big new feature

Amazon has rolled out a new software update to its Kindle family, introducing a new feature of one of the models in particular.

Amazon offers long support for its Kindle e-readers, with regular updates that usually just fix bugs and make performance enhancements. New features are rare as Kindle’s evolution is slow – but there’s one device that offers more and gets new features more regularly.

The Kindle Scribe is Amazon’s largest E Ink device, designed for both reading and writing. It’s the Kindle Scribe that benefits from the new features, which allows you to move Active Canvas notes around the page.

Once you’ve installed the update, you’ll be able to press and hold the Active Canvas (with your finger) and drag it and drop it somewhere else. You'll get guide arrows on the screen to show you where the notes will relocate to. On the old software, all you could do was resize the Active Canvas box.

Active Canvas was launched with new Kindle Scribe in 2024, allowing annotation in books that the content then flows around. It means you can make notes at a certain position in a book or document and have those on the page along with the original content.

The new software is version 5.18.3 and you can find the version your Kindle is currently running by heading to All Settings > Device options > Software updates. If there's no update over the air, you can find the updates listed on the Kindle update page, and it's possible to manually update your Kindle.

According to website The E-Book Reader, not all devices are getting this software at the same time, with the update seemingly limited to 11th and 12th gen Kindle, Kindle Colorsoft and both versions of Kindle Scribe.

For non-Scribe devices, it's not clear what the update brings as Amazon hasn't detailed any of the changes, so it's likely just to be behind the scenes tweaks.

Where next for Amazon's Kindle?

There was a complete refresh of Amazon's devices in 2024 with an update to the Kindle, the new Scribe, an updated Kindle Paperwhite and introduction of the Kindle Colorsoft.

Despite the introduction of colour, the Kindle Paperwhite remains the Kindle that we recommend to most, as it offers the best reading experience. While adding colour was good, the cost of the Colorsoft and its smaller size hasn't really set the Kindle world alight.

As we said in our review: "the Colorsoft is significantly more expensive than a Paperwhite – and the colourful reading experience has some drawbacks in terms of clarity and battery life."

That's reflected in sales figures too: according to the details given on Amazon listing pages, the Kindle Colorsoft sold 1k+ models in the past month, while the Paperwhite was listed as 5k+.

When the new Kindle models were updated, new product lead Panos Panay lavished most of the attention on the Kindle Scribe. The focus was on journalling, creative thinking and escapism. But according to Amazon's sale figures, only 50+ Scribes have been sold in the last month.

Is it time for a rethink on what people actually use Kindle for?