Do You Need A Kindle To Use Kindle Unlimited?

There are a lot of voracious readers out there, and if you count yourself among that number, the cost of new books can be wallet-draining. If you're purchasing physical books, they can also take up a lot of space in your home. The obvious way to fix that second issue is to switch to an e-reader, and while e-books are generally cheaper than physical ones, purchases can still stack up. That's why some have found it worth it to get Amazon's Kindle Unlimited. Amazon's e-book subscription service gives you access to over 5 million e-books, plus thousands of audiobooks, for $11.99 per month, and you're able to read and listen to as much as you want with that subscription.

One might think that a service like this would only be available to those who read their e-books on Amazon's own Kindle e-reader. Well, that's not the case. If you're using a device that can download the Amazon Kindle app — be it a smartphone, tablet, or computer — you can use an active Kindle Unlimited subscription. Just download the app and sign in to your account. If you don't want to download an app, you can also use it through Kindle for Web.

You won't be able to access Kindle Unlimited on some non-Amazon e-readers, like Barnes & Noble's Nook. However, if the e-reader runs on an Android operating system, you can still download the Kindle app from the Google Play Store. For example, the Boox e-reader from Onyx allows e-reading from Kindle, Google Play Books, and the Onyx Boox Library app.

Just because you can use the Kindle app with Kindle Unlimited on many different devices doesn't necessarily mean you'll enjoy the experience. Well, the good news is that customer reviews of the Kindle app are generally very positive. On the Apple App Store, the Kindle app has an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars based on 5.9 million ratings, so it's a pretty substantial sample size. Importantly, that rating is for the iPhone and iPad versions of the app. The Mac app has a 4.8-star rating with only 111,000 ratings, as the portability of the other devices likely makes them the more popular choice.

Android users are also quite happy with their version of the Kindle app. The phone version has the most reviews with 4.1 million, averaging a 4.8-star rating on the Google Play Store. The tablet version gets 4.7 stars, but the desktop app goes all the way down to 4.3 stars. Many of the low ratings for that version are fairly recent and complain about the app crashing on Chromebooks.

For some things, the Kindle app may actually be superior to the actual e-reader. For example, there are lots of comic books available on Kindle Unlimited. Many Kindle devices can't produce full-color images, and the Kindle Colorsoft, which does, leaves quite a bit lacking in image quality and color vibrancy. Lifehacker notes that a nearly decade-old 6th-generation iPad outperforms a new Kindle Colorsoft in this department. You maybe should think twice before buying a Kindle anyway, and knowing Kindle Unlimited is available elsewhere may make that decision easier.