Amazon is discontinuing Kindle for PC on June 30th

Amazon is letting users know, via a pop-up message when using Kindle for PC, that it will be discontinued on June 30, 2026. When this date comes, the app will no longer work, even if you download it from another website. The company has disclosed to Good e-Reader that Amazon is developing a new Kindle for PC app, but it will only be compatible with Windows 11. This will be an app available only to download from the Microsoft Store.

The Kindle for PC app launched in 2009 and never really got any love from Amazon. Many modern users who use Kindle for PC do so only to download books locally for the express purpose of stripping the DRM. Older versions of Kindle for PC can do this more easily, but in the past couple of years, Amazon has forced updates on older versions of the app, or you won’t be able to access or read books. Kindle for PC was basically a war zone between pirates and Amazon, with both sides implementing fixes.

Native apps from the Windows Store are harder to break, since they are natively developed for a specific OS. There used to be a native app for Windows 8, but it was discontinued a couple of years later when everyone migrated to Windows 10. On the Mac side of things, there used to be Kindle for Mac, available to download from the Amazon website. It was shuttered in 2023, and then Kindle for Mac was released, available only from the Apple App Store.

Amazon is doing everything it can to lock down the Kindle e-readers and their various apps. It remains to be seen whether they are doing this of their own volition or whether their publishing partners are forcing their hand to curb e-book piracy. If you want to see the message for yourself, please update the Kindle for PC app to version 2.9.1.

Michael Kozlowski has written about audiobooks, e-books and e-readers for the past eighteen years. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.