Now this is my own opinion, but Amazon seem to make their hardware to an absolute price point. For the sake of keeping costs low, they will produce something which is absolutely fine for the here-and-now. The result of that is that, a couple of years down the line, their devices are slow and laggy. I found this with FireTV and the Kindle is no different.
On top of that recent change to their UI, which also saw a shift in the programming framework being used, has led to more bugs which Amazon seem reluctant to spend too much time on fixing (software updates don’t come out very often).
So, unless you’re rocking the very latest and greatest Kindle, there’s a chance you’ll experience some lagging and, worst still, complete lock-ups. I’ve put together a number of things to check and do that will help reduce this, based on feedback and general advice from Kindle users.
Some thing I’ve omitted because they make no sense and/or certain facts seem to be un-evidenced. However, if you’ve come across anything that you think could be added to this list, please let me know in the comments below.
The Quick Fix
How to restart a Kindle
The immediate fix is often to turn the device off and then switch it back on – it will often then awaken. If this doesn’t work, holding down the power button to cause the Kindle to restart, will. However, you may not be fully restarting the device – to do this properly you need to…
- Unplug the Kindle from power.
- Hold the power button down for a full 40 seconds
- Ignore the power menu that pops up
Quick Checks
Check for storage issues
Kindles start to behave erratically if they are near their storage limit.
- Go to Settings -> Device options -> Storage management
- If you have limited free space, the device will struggle to swap files during the wake-up process. Try removing a few heavy books or audiobooks
Check you’re on the latest software
It’s always worth just checking that you’re on the latest firmware too.
- Head to Settings -> Device options -> Software updates
- If you are on the latest release, a little pop-up will inform you of this
Habit Changes
There are some thing you can do to prevent freezes just by changing how you use the Kindle.
Exit to Library
- Before puting the Kindle to sleep, tap the top of the screen and hit the “Home” arrow.
This closes the part of the Kindle software that is rendering the book – if a specific book has a “memory leak” or complex formatting that hangs the processor during the wake-up transition, waking up to the Home Screen instead of the book page often skips the freeze entirely.
Check your battery level
Like a car with an internal combustion engine, an e-ink screen needs a burst of power to start up. If your battery is low then it may not be enough. Whilst Amazon haven’t said anything on this, users generally recommend 30% as the best minimum for your battery level.
Additionally, if you have a Kindle that displays adverts on the lock screen, this additionally requires Wi-Fi access as well, further adding to the power requirements.
So, keep your battery level above 30% or, if it drops below, and it locks up, try plugging it in. I’ve had this exact circumstance happen to me and simply by plugging it in gave it the power it needed to come on.
Other Possible Causes
Covers on Lock Screen
This is a relatively new feature that sometimes causes a hang-up during the wake-up transition from the “Cover” image back to the “Text” screen.
- Go to Settings -> Screen and brightness
- Toggle Show covers on lock screen to OFF
If the freezing stops, it means the Kindle was struggling to process the image file of a specific book cover while waking up.
Power Saver
Many recent Kindle models have a Power Saver mode that puts the device into a deeper sleep. In some firmware versions, the Kindle “handshakes” poorly when coming out of this deep sleep, leading to the freeze you’re seeing.
- Select Settings -> Device options -> Power saver
- Turn it OFF
This prevents the Kindle from entering hibernation, keeping the UI “warm” and responsive. You might lose a tiny bit of battery life, but it often stops the wake-up freezing entirely.
“Stuck” Indexing
When you add books, the Kindle indexes them so you can search. If a file is corrupt, the Kindle gets stuck in a loop trying to index it, draining the battery and causing the UI to freeze upon waking.
- From the Home screen, tap the Search bar and type a nonsense string (e.g.,
zxcv123) - Tap “Search Everywhere.”
- If the results show 0 and they are not clickable, and faint, then it checked ALL possible books so all books are indexed
- If the search result is 0 but it is darker and clickable then click on it and it will show you how many books are not indexed and which those are
So, if the index is stuck, how do we fix it?
- Connect your Kindle to a computer via USB. Look for a folder named
searchindex - You can safely delete the contents of this folder
The Kindle will immediately realise its search index is missing and start rebuilding it from scratch.
The Vocabulary Builder
This feature tracks every word you look up and stores it in a database. For prolific readers, this database can become corrupted or simply too large for the Kindle’s low RAM to handle during a wake-up cycle.
- Head to Settings -> Home and Library -> Reading options -> Vocabulary Builder and turn it OFF
If you do a lot of highlighting
If you’re a heavy highlighter then the file that contains these can become massive. Every time you add a highlight or wake the device, the Kindle uses this file. If it’s several megabytes of text, it can cause a noticeable lag or crash during the “syncing” phase of waking up.
What to do about this? You have 2 options…
- Connect to a computer and delete the My Clippings.txt file (found in the documents folder). This will remove all your highlightings
- Alternatively, if you to to clippings-manager.com, and create an account, you can use this to manage your file, reducing it in size
The Nuclear Option
If all else fails, a factory reset of your device should cure it (for a while, anyway).
This is going to put your Kindle back to box-fresh condition, wiping out any downloads, etc. and making you have to sign back in again to your Amazon account. So, don’t do this unless you need to (particularly as, unlike trying the above, it’s not going to help you narrow down the cause of your problems).
- Go to Settings -> Device options -> Factory reset
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