Rakuten Kobo has introduced plenty of new features and enhancements to their e-reading apps for Android and iOS, in addition to their extensive line of e-book readers. They are closing out 2023 with many more ways to get to what you want to read faster—with improvements to search, sign-in, and so much more more.
Kobo Books Apps
Notebooks on the go
For readers with a virtual shelf full of Notebooks, tap More in the Kobo Books app for iOS to see all your jottings and drawings.
Customize your Kobo Books for iOS home screen
Add and move widgets in Kobo Books for iOS: choose from Trending, Popular, Related Titles, and more Recommendations. Just tap Edit at the bottom of the home screen to get started.
Search two places at once in Kobo Books for Android
On the Kobo Books app for Android, you’ll now see My Books and Store results together on one screen. From here you can also use search filters to narrow your results.
Kobo.com eBookstore
Discover your next read
When you’re signed into your account, we’ll show you books we think you might want to read next based on what you’re reading now.
Read Now, no downloads required!
Throughout the store you’ll find Read Now buttons on the pages of the books you’ve already bought. For Kobo Plus subscribers, these buttons appear on each of the over 500,000 books in the Kobo Plus catalogue.
Click Read Now to start reading right away in your browser, no downloading required.
And clicking any book cover in My Books will now open that book right in your browser, too.
That’s partly why we did this…
Simplified My Account and My Books navigation
New account navigation hubs help you find what you’re looking for: whether that’s your Kobo Books, Archive, or Notebooks, or anything to do with your account settings and details.
Kobo eReaders
Read for free faster with OverDrive and Pocket QR code sign-in
When signing into your OverDrive-powered public library account on your Kobo eReader, you now have the option to scan a QR code with your mobile device to complete the process. Because passwords are only getting more complicated and we’d all rather spend our time reading.
Pocket on Kobo eReaders
The free online article-saving service Pocket recently introduced changes to how their accounts work. If you’re currently signed into Pocket on your Kobo eReader there’s nothing you need to do—just keep reading!
If you haven’t signed into Pocket on your Kobo eReader yet, you’ll first need to get the latest eReader update (version 4.38 or later). Then navigate to More > My Articles and sign into Pocket to sync your saved articles.
And to give more readers the ability to sign in quickly, we’ve added more 3rd party authentication options for Pocket, and we’ve added the option to sign in via QR code.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.