Amazon has pushed an update to all recent Kindle models, but hasn't specified what the new software is for.
It's thought that it could be preparing the devices for the arrival of AI and Alexa+ features later in 2026.
Amazon has released a new software update for recent Kindle models, including the Kindle Scribe and Colorsoft. While some of the upgrades are detailed, there could be more to this update than meets the eye.
First of all, this update – 5.19.2 – is available for 11th Gen models and 12th Gen models. That's basically all the Kindles since 2022. For most models it details "performance improvements, bug fixes, and other general enhancements".
But for Scribe models, some benefit from added Google Drive and OneDrive settings, as well as Send to Alexa+ – remembering, of course, that Alexa+ is currently only available in the US and Canada, with other regions waiting with anticipation.
The previous update was 5.18.6, so there's a fairly hefty jump and that suggests there's quite a lot in this update, even if the release notes don't declare many changes.
What does the new Kindle update add?
According to The eBook Reader Blog, the only change found was a filter option for annotations. I checked my Kindle in the UK and the update hadn't arrived at the time of writing.
The eBook website suggests that new features are often switched on in Kindles once the software is in place – rather than rolling out the update to add that feature, the feature is already added in the background and then enabled.
The big missing thing from Kindle is the "Ask This Book" feature that launched on the Kindle for iPhone app in late 2025, as well as "Story So Far", which was announced at the launch of the new Kindle Scribe in 2025.
Both those features lean on AI to provide useful book services. Story So Far provides a summary so you can keep up with the plot – especially useful if you've had a break from a book series or large work and are coming back to it.
Ask This Book will allow you to find out specific information about a passage of text in the context of the book. Again, that might be more useful than the current Wikipedia searching or the X-Ray feature that's currently offered, allowing AI to give you details about a character or event.
These new AI features have been promised, but haven't yet materialised for Kindle. Indeed, the listing for the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft on Amazon says that "AI reading features Story So Far and Ask This Book, will roll out in 2026 via software updates", so it's definitely something that's coming.
The UK listing for that device doesn't have that information on it and while it's not listed on other Kindles, at the announcement of Ask This Book, Amazon said:"The feature will be enabled on Kindle devices and Android OS next year."
Fingers crossed – your Kindle could be getting smarter soon.
