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There are several reasons why reading e-books on Kindle beats reading on your phone, including Kindles being better for your eyes than phones or tablets. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the Kindle e-readers have a long lifespan, with some folks managing to run them successfully for nearly a decade. However, the Kindle reading apps that many use on their smartphones, tablets, and desktops have a series of benefits and features that you don’t get on the e-reader. The benefits can come in handy for someone who prefers using their phone for reading or uses both the e-reader and their mobile device, depending on the situation and need.
These Kindle app-exclusive features range from offering you a nice recap of the part of the book that you have read so far to a nifty reading ruler for better focus. Remember that the availability of these features can vary across platforms, and one platform, such as Kindle for iOS, typically gets the features first, before they roll out to the other platforms. If you have access to them, though, they’re worth at least checking out.
Story So Far
Although both Kindles released since 2018 and Kindle apps can recap most books you’ve already completed, in case you want a more current refresher, only the Kindle app has the Story So Far feature to refresh your memory of a book you’re still reading. As the name suggests, Story So Far recounts the gist of the part of the book that you’ve read so far, helping you remember in case you’re returning to a read after a long period away. The feature only tells you the spoiler-free version to avoid any accidental reveals.
Story So Far is unfortunately limited to Kindle for iOS in the U.S. as of May 2026. To access, press and hold the book in your Kindle library and look for the “Read recap” button. Alternatively, when you have the book open, use the three-dot menu to navigate to Recap and then select Story So Far. It’s unclear when the feature might reach the Android version of the Kindle or the desktop apps.
Ask this Book
Ask this Book is another app feature that’s currently limited to the iOS version of the Kindle in the U.S. It’s easy to use and essentially works as your book assistant, answering your questions about various aspects of books, including characters, plot, and themes. According to Amazon, the responses are contextual and immediate, and they won’t spoil anything that you haven’t read already. You can use it to ask questions about a selected paragraph, what you’ve read until now, or the complete book.
You can access the feature via the in-book menu or select the paragraph you want to talk about, and you’ll get the Ask option in the context menu. The feature also supports follow-up questions and even suggests its own follow-ups. The company says it plans to bring the feature to the Kindle for Android app, as well as the Kindle e-reader itself, later in 2026.
Reading Ruler
The Reading Ruler is an accessibility feature that you can enjoy on Kindle apps. Although designed to help folks with dyslexia, ADHD, or visual stress focus on one line of text at a time and make it easier to read, it can help anyone. It also comes in handy to mark where you left off when you put away your phone or tablet for a few minutes. The Reading Ruler essentially creates a colored overlay bar on the part of the text you’re reading.
The Reading Ruler on the Kindle app also gives you the option to change the bar’s color, opacity, style, and size to suit your needs. You simply move the Reading Ruler with your fingers as you continue reading. To use the feature when you’re reading a book in the Kindle app, simply tap the center of the screen to get the reading toolbar. Then, navigate to Aa, select More, and then Reading Ruler.
Continuous Scrolling
If you don’t like constantly swiping to the next page in an e-book, the Kindle app-exclusive Continuous Scrolling feature will be most useful to you and will probably help in reading the book faster. As is evident from its name, the feature tweaks the layout of the e-book and essentially removes the pages, making the whole book a continuous scroll. However, Continuous Scrolling may not be available on all titles, particularly e-books not purchased from the Amazon store, because of different formats. More importantly, the feature is limited to the Android and iOS versions of the Kindle app and cannot be used on desktop apps or Kindle e-readers.
To enable Continuous Scrolling, open any e-book in your Kindle library and tap in the center of the screen. Then open the Aa option in the menu and navigate to Layout, where you will get the option to toggle the feature on or off. Once the feature is turned on, you can simply scroll up or down to read the e-book, and save a bit of time.
