Kobo
Kobo is Amazon's Kindle's main competitor in the ebook market. It's a Canadian company that sells ebooks, audiobooks and e-readers. Kobo offers free reading apps for Windows and Mac computers, as well as Android and iOS smartphones - all apps can sync seamlessly. You can subscribe to the Kobo Plus or Kobo Plus Listening service for unlimited access to audiobooks and ebooks, or purchase books individually. Kobo's library offers 3 million ebooks, including new releases, bestsellers, and free classics.
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Here are the latest news about Kobo:
04.04.26. Kobo app gets better recommendations
The updated Kobo app for Android and iOS has significantly improved personalized book recommendations. After completing a onboarding quiz designed to identify books you're interested in, the app instantly displays recommendations right on the home screen. It's not yet clear whether you only need to complete the quiz once or whether the home screen will automatically populate with ebook data and update every few days or weeks. Also, there doesn't appear to be an option on the home screen to let Kobo know you're not interested in a particular book or genre.
2026. Kobo VIP pricing is doubling very soon
Kobo is sending emails to customers whose VIP subscriptions are expiring, informing them that the price will increase from $10 to $20 per year, with no additional benefits. Kobo VIP members receive exclusive benefits, such as a 10% discount on ebooks and audiobooks, exclusive sales and giveaways for VIP members and a free ebook each year. Members also receive double Kobo Super Points for every ebook and audiobook purchase and up to 10x points on bonus days. The actual price increase appears to go into effect in April 2026, so new customers can purchase an annual VIP subscription at the old price until then.
2025. Kobo discontinued its desktop app
Kobo has discontinued its desktop app for PC and Mac, which was launched in 2010 and allowed users to purchase and read ebooks, manage books on their Kobo eReader and sync reading progress across devices. The first sign of problem was that the desktop app didn't work with new models Kobo Libra Color, Kobo Clara Color and Kobo Clara BW. And now the app can't download new books and Kobo redirects users from kobo.com/desktop to its online reader kobosetup.com. Their web reader was launched in 2023 as a response to Kindle Cloud Reader. It's known to be quite confusing. To use the web reader, you must log in to your Kobo account and it does not support offline reading.
04.04.26. Kobo app gets better recommendations
The updated Kobo app for Android and iOS has significantly improved personalized book recommendations. After completing a onboarding quiz designed to identify books you're interested in, the app instantly displays recommendations right on the home screen. It's not yet clear whether you only need to complete the quiz once or whether the home screen will automatically populate with ebook data and update every few days or weeks. Also, there doesn't appear to be an option on the home screen to let Kobo know you're not interested in a particular book or genre.
2026. Kobo VIP pricing is doubling very soon
Kobo is sending emails to customers whose VIP subscriptions are expiring, informing them that the price will increase from $10 to $20 per year, with no additional benefits. Kobo VIP members receive exclusive benefits, such as a 10% discount on ebooks and audiobooks, exclusive sales and giveaways for VIP members and a free ebook each year. Members also receive double Kobo Super Points for every ebook and audiobook purchase and up to 10x points on bonus days. The actual price increase appears to go into effect in April 2026, so new customers can purchase an annual VIP subscription at the old price until then.
2025. Kobo discontinued its desktop app
Kobo has discontinued its desktop app for PC and Mac, which was launched in 2010 and allowed users to purchase and read ebooks, manage books on their Kobo eReader and sync reading progress across devices. The first sign of problem was that the desktop app didn't work with new models Kobo Libra Color, Kobo Clara Color and Kobo Clara BW. And now the app can't download new books and Kobo redirects users from kobo.com/desktop to its online reader kobosetup.com. Their web reader was launched in 2023 as a response to Kindle Cloud Reader. It's known to be quite confusing. To use the web reader, you must log in to your Kobo account and it does not support offline reading.
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