A free Kindle function simply received locked behind a subscription paywall

Ship to Kindle is arguably Amazon’s best software program addition to its line of e-readers. The function stands as one of many solely permitted gateways exterior the corporate’s walled backyard, permitting customers to add all kinds of information to a portal that sends them proper to their Kindle library.

Whereas customers like myself use it to obtain Substack articles and even AO3 tales for offline studying, some third-party apps and companies make the most of the function and make it much more handy — specifically, Instapaper. Instapaper is a well-liked app that primarily allows you to save articles and different net pages to learn later, changing them into clear, distraction-free codecs tailor-made to your e-reader’s show — without spending a dime.

Free for only some extra weeks, although. Instapaper introduced that it was dragging the favored function behind a paywall in February (however just for one class of customers), and a few Kindle homeowners are up in arms.

Instapaper’s Ship to Kindle function is changing into a premium perk

Locked behind $6 a month quickly

Proper now, and just for a couple of extra weeks, Instapaper lets you skip the steps that often go together with utilizing the Ship to Kindle portal (manually downloading and importing the paperwork by yourself). You’ll be able to log into your Instapaper account on the e-reader you are utilizing and conveniently entry the articles and net pages you have saved. However on February 19, 2026, all that comfort comes at a value.

Instapaper’s Ship to Kindle compatibility will develop into a Premium function, obtainable for a modest $6 per thirty days or $60 per 12 months subscription. It is not asking to your firstborn little one, however many customers are stating a painfully “unfair” level: solely Kindle customers will likely be paywalled — Kobo customers will nonetheless have open entry to the function, based on Brian Donohue, Instapaper’s proprietor.

Why Ship to Kindle particularly goes behind the paywall

The method is not low-cost

The information — and surrounding dialogue — made its method to Reddit, the place some customers expressed their appalled fury whereas others delightfully mentioned they might be joyful to choose into the subscription to take care of entry to the function. The discourse caught Instapaper’s consideration, and Donohue jumped in along with his personal assertion:

The choice, it appears, wasn’t made on a whim. For years, he talked about, Instapaper has supplied the service without spending a dime to over 100 thousand customers — which provides up tremendously relating to all of the processes above. Operating any service at a loss is not good for enterprise, and whereas it would not appear “honest” that Kobo customers nonetheless have entry to the function without spending a dime, it appears like Instapaper’s try to interrupt even quite than a money-grab aimed toward each single consumer. In reality, Donohue even says that “Kobo integration is predicated on [their] API, would not require as [many] assets to run, and can stay free.”

One Redditor even responded to an irritated remark about dropping the function by prompting them to “ask Amazon to do it then — how can a 3rd celebration hold doing it without spending a dime?” One other consumer replied to this with “promoting,” which essentially goes towards Instapaper’s complete existence.

Getting upset with Instapaper as a enterprise is futile — it isn’t sustainable for something to be working at a deficit. Nevertheless, it does immediate the concept that Amazon might make this course of simpler for both particular person customers or third-party apps on the whole. How, precisely, is as much as the web large itself.

Storage

16GB

Display screen Measurement

6-inch E Ink (300ppi)

Connections

USB-C

Battery

As much as 6 weeks

Amazon’s base-level Kindle ships with 16GB of storage, a 6-inch E Ink show, and a ruggedized exterior shell that may face up to the weather.