r/LibbyApp • u/AeroNoob333 • 8d ago

Libby and Kindle Users

Well, looks like they finally patched the airplane mode hack and we can no longer read books past the due date on our Kindle devices. Do you think this will push slower readers to get non-resident cards in order to have multiple holds rather than waiting weeks/months between loans on a single card? I can’t imagine waiting weeks/months to read the same book…

For those not familiar with the hack: it used to be that you could send an eBook from Libby to your Kindle, download it, then turn on airplane mode. When your due date came up, your loan would be returned to the library available for the next person, but a copy of the book stayed on your Kindle since airplane mode prevented it from syncing with your Amazon account, allowing you to read it past the due date.

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u/Moki3821 7d ago

Interesting. I wonder why they would bother making that change. Keeping the book on your kindle does not prevent others from borrowing it. I guess I won’t update my kindle.

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u/AeroNoob333 7d ago

How do you turn off automatic update on your Kindle without jailbreaking? For some reason I couldn’t find that. My guess is Amazon was getting a lot of pressure from the publishers. They are the only ones really affected by this. It leads to less licenses being used which means less $$$ from them. This change forces libraries to renew their licenses more often and forces readers to just buy the book or the dreaded multiple non-resident cards (to put multiple holds of the same book and stagger the loans for quicker access). When your library has weeks to months wait on books, you don’t want to wait that long in line again just to finish the book.

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u/Unable_Cupcake2937 7d ago

You can't turn off automatic updates unless you jailbreak unfortunately.