Kindle Paperwhite Slow: How to Make it Faster [2023]

Just recently, I noticed that my Kindle paperwhite is way too slow. Annoyed at this inconvenience, I went online to figure out how to make my Kindle paperwhite faster.

Surprisingly, I found out that many users have been facing this issue. I compiled every troubleshooting tip I learned into this article so that you can fix your Kindle Paperwhite if it is slowing down.

If your Kindle Paperwhite is slow, try refreshing your kindle and checking the status of your network. Further, check if there are updates available and try turning off the power-saving mode. Freeing up space and turning off page refresh can also make your device faster. If no other solution works, try a factory reset.

This article will explore the reasons why your Kindle Paperwhite is slowing down and offer detailed solutions as to how you can fix this issue.

How Does Kindle Paperwhite Become Slow?

Background Tasks

One of the primary reasons why your Kindle Paperwhite is slowing down is the execution of background tasks. In all Kindles, the singular primary background process is the download of an eBook.

Kindles are relatively underpowered devices as not much processing power is required to read eBooks. As a result, if you are trying to accomplish a background task while using your Kindle, it might be slow.

So, check if you are downloading anything. You can swipe down and check the notification area to see if your Kindle is downloading any content.

Processing Time Post-Download

Kindles require a minute or two after downloading an eBook to process the file. So give your device some time post-download to check its usage smoothness.

Heavy eBook files

Kindles are optimized for light eBook files. However, it can load customized PDFs, image-heavy files, comics, and documents.

This could be a potential cause to slow down your Kindle, especially if you are acquiring your eBooks from sources other than Amazon.

If you think that you are the victim of this issue, you could use software like 'Calibre' to optimize, edit and convert eBooks to more compatible and lighter versions for your Kindle device.

Low Storage Space

Another potential reason why your Kindle Paperwhite is slow could be because of low storage space. Freeing up space if your device is scarce on storage is a sure-shot way to optimize your Kindle device.

Battery Issues

Your Kindle's battery might be a potential cause for your device slowing down. Make sure you charge your Kindle to full (indicated by a green light) in contrast to an amber light while charging.

If you are unable to charge your device to full, it might indicate that either your charging cable or your battery might be at fault.

Try replacing your Kindle charger. In case the issue lies with your battery, you might have to fix or replace it to solve your Kindle's speed issue.

Refresh Kindle Paperwhite

Refreshing your Kindle Paperwhite should be the first troubleshooting method you should attempt to restore the briskness of your device.

To do a soft refresh/reset of your Kindle, press and hold the power button either on the bottom or at the back of your Kindle device.

You should press and hold till either a dialogue box appears or the screen goes blank. This takes approximately 40 seconds. Then release the power button and wait till the device powers back up.

The screen might flash during this process. Do not worry. This is normal for your Kindle during a soft reset.

Check the Status of the Network

A frequent reason Kindle users experience their devices slowing down is due to network issues. To make sure that your issue is not due to your network, try the following tips.

Check if your Kindle is slow due to poor network connectivity. Slow internet connectivity could lead to a longer download time, which could result in a slower operating speed.

If you are using a 3g or 4g/LTE network, use your Kindle on a Wi-Fi network to rule out network issues.

The signal strength of your network could also be a reason why your device is slow in downloading content.

To check your Wi-Fi signal strength, see the Wi-Fi indicator, visible on the upper right corner of the Kindle screen irrespective of the page you are in.

Alternatively, from the Home screen, navigating through Menu> Settings> Wi-Fi Networks/Wireless, will show you the network your kindle is currently connected to as well as the signal strength.

An additional note to remember is that the number of white bands (maximum of 3) on the Wi-Fi symbol is indicative of the Wi-Fi signal strength.

For your connection to be proper, you need to have good Wi-Fi signal strength and a good network connection.

Also, you could read your books offline on the Kindle to make it much more faster and battery efficient.

Power Cycle the Modem

To rule out issues with your network, power cycle your Modem. Power cycling is the action of turning a device off and starting it back up.

To execute a power cycle on your modem, turn off the modem using the power off switch or just unplug your router.

Wait for 30 seconds to one minute and power your router back up. Try connecting your Kindle to your network.

If your speed issue still persists on your Kindle device and there are no active downloads, the network connectivity may not be the problem.

Check for Updates on Kindle Paperwhite

A potential reason why your Kindle is slowing down could be because your Kindle Paperwhite might be running an older firmware.

Amazon periodically updates Kindle software to ensure transaction security during eBook purchases. To secure your device, update it to the latest possible software.

Kindle updates are generally automatic, but you could have missed an update due to not connecting to the internet for a while or using your device in Airplane mode.

Always make sure that your device is running the latest software whenever you face any issue with your Kindle as it solves most of the bugs and errors.

It is worthwhile to check manually if there are any updates available for your Kindle Paperwhite to resolve your optimization issue.

To do this, Navigate to "Settings" from the home screen, All settings> Device options> Advanced Options> tap on "Update Your Kindle".

This will prompt your Kindle to show a pop-up confirming that you are about to update your Kindle.

Tap "OK" to update your Kindle to the latest released software. This will launch the updated software and once the update is complete, your Kindle will restart on its own, launching the latest firmware.

In the event that your device is already up to date, the option “Update Your Kindle” will appear greyed out and unclickable.

Keeping your Kindle updated can also help you fix issues with the device like Kindle not connecting to store.

Disable Power Saver on Kindle Paperwhite

Kindles devices are not very powerful in terms of their operating capability. They are extremely optimized for their primary utility, which is to read.

Using your Kindle on power saver mode further strains your device by enabling a low power mode to help conserve battery by compromising on smoothness during usage.

Therefore, using your Kindle on power saver mode might be the reason why your device is slowing down. Disable the Power saving mode to ensure that your device is running at full capability.

Kindle Paperwhite takes a few seconds longer by showing a "Waking up" screen. This is because the Power saver mode is turned on by default in all Kindle Paperwhite devices.

To disable the power saving mode, go to "Settings" and navigate to "Device Options". Further, find "Advanced Options" and then "Power Saver".

Surprisingly, reports indicate that there is not much of a noticeable drop in battery life even after disabling power saving mode.

Turn OFF Page Refresh on Kindle

Kindle devices have a page refresh option to remove the ghosting effect that screens have when displaying text or graphics.

What is the ghosting effect? The ghosting effect is when letters, images, or graphics persist on the screen even after you have navigated to another page.

To tackle this problem, Amazon kindles refresh the screen once you have flipped a page, forcing your Kindle to re-render the contents on a clean slate.

This also means that your Kindle Paperwhite will flash its screen every time you navigate to a different page in order to refresh.

However, most users do not experience the ghosting effect on their Kindles, especially if the content they are viewing is mostly text and not graphics.

Turning this feature off will definitely burden your Kindle lesser, conserve battery, and speed up your device.

To turn off the page refresh, go to "Settings", navigate to "Reading Options" and find "Page Refresh". Here you can turn the refresh feature of Kindles on and off.

Free Up Space on Kindle Paperwhite

The most notorious reason why Kindle Paperwhite slows down is storage problems. You might feel that the size of an eBook is not that big but over time it piles up, especially if you are a fan of audiobooks.

The operating system that runs on your Kindle Paperwhite requires some memory for its operation. When there is not much space available on your Kindle, this will cause the operating system to slow down.

To free up storage on your Kindle Paperwhite, navigate to "Settings" from the home screen. Tap on "Device Options" and then "Advanced Options".

Find "Storage Management". This will show you an overview of the space used and available on your Kindle Paperwhite. The two options here are Manual Removal and Quick Archive.

The Manual Removal option shows you how your storage is utilized by your device and lets you specifically select the content you want to remove from your Kindle Paperwhite.

Tapping each category will show you a further breakup of how your storage is used, arranged by size. Select the content you want to remove and tap 'Remove' to delete that content.

The Quick Archive option allows you to remove content that you have not accessed for a while. Select this option if you want to sort your space issues quickly.

They have characterized the Quick Archive section as, content you have not opened in the past 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year and more.

Any content in your Kindle or Audible Library that you remove can be re-downloaded. However, the content that you have sideloaded via USB cannot be recovered in this manner.

Factory Reset Kindle Paperwhite

Factory resetting your Kindle is a final measure to try if you have exhausted all other troubleshooting solutions. However, most issues are cleared through a factory reset.

The reason why a factory reset should be the last solution is that it resets your device to its initial configuration as designed by the manufacturer.

This action will wipe out all your personal preferences, settings, downloaded books, passwords, media, and apps from your Kindle.

So be prepared to configure your Kindle from scratch once you decide to factory reset your kindle. 

Also, factory resetting could resolve issues with the Store like Kindle Store being Unavailable at the moment issue.

To do a factory reset, swipe down from the top of your screen to access 'Settings' or navigate to the Home screen and press 'Settings'.

Go to 'Device Options' and select 'Reset'. If you are using an older Kindle, select 'Reset Device' again.
A prompt will pop up to confirm your choice to reset your Kindle. Tap 'Yes' to confirm your choice.

Your device will reboot and start up with its initial factory configuration. Once you have factory reset your Kindle, your device is deregistered from your Amazon account.

In order for you to access your books and other media, you need to register again to your Amazon account.

Final Thoughts

Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite is a notch better than other Kindle devices due to its expanded storage capabilities and better screen specification.

Kindle Paperwhite uses 5 LEDs while the basic Amazon Kindle uses 4 LEDs. As a result, Paperwhites offers superior reading capability in the dark.

Moreover, Amazon provides incredible access and support to a wide range of books through its Amazon store. Due to Kindle's huge user base and customer support, you can expect solutions to the errors and bugs you face.

Hopefully, the solutions in this article helped resolve the issues you are facing with your Kindle Paperwhite.

Have a good day!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Should I turn off my Kindle when not in use?

It is a good idea to turn your Kindle off when you are not using the device. Further, turning off the wireless feature is a good way to conserve battery in the long run.

How should I save battery on my Kindle Paperwhite?

Some of the ways you can conserve battery on your Kindle Paperwhite are by reducing the screen brightness, turning off wireless connectivity, putting your device to sleep when not in use, and using only the appropriate USB cable to charge your device.

How long will Kindle Paperwhite last?

On average, the Kindle Paperwhite will last 6 to 7 years. Of all Kindle devices, Paperwhite has a higher battery capacity and can last up to 4 weeks on a single charge. As a result, you do not have to charge your Paperwhite often.

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