Amazon Kindle

Is the Kindle app safe?

Yes, for reading. Kindle shows you books, magazines and comics, with no chat, no friend lists and no strangers who can contact you. We found no breach of Kindle accounts, and Amazon pays security researchers who find bugs in both the iPhone and Android apps. We score it 67/100, a little below Audible (69) and well above Amazon's shopping app (54).

The weak points are data and ownership. Amazon records in detail how you read, uses much of that data for its own marketing, and sells you a licence to each book rather than the book itself.

What Amazon learns from your reading

The Kindle Store Terms of Use, last updated in December 2025, are blunt about it. The app tells Amazon your last page read, the content you use, send or archive, your viewing data and your search queries, along with technical data such as memory and log files. Amazon may store that information outside your country.

Apple's App Store label adds the purposes. There is no "Data Used to Track You" section, so Amazon tells Apple it does not follow you across other companies' apps. But nine types of data are linked to you, and coarse location, name, email, phone number, search history, user and device IDs and product interaction are all listed under "Developer's Advertising or Marketing". In other words, your reading habits help Amazon sell to you.

Google Play's data safety section goes further for Android. Approximate location is shared with other companies for advertising and fraud prevention, and in-app search history, app interactions and device IDs are collected for advertising or marketing.

The app points to the Amazon.com Privacy Notice, updated on 30 June 2026. It says Amazon gives ad companies an advertising identifier, such as a device ID or a scrambled email code, but not your purchases or searches. You can turn off interest-based ads on Amazon's Your Ads Privacy Choices page.

You license Kindle books, you do not own them

This is the point most readers miss. Amazon's terms say Kindle content "is licensed, not sold" by the publisher, for personal use on the number of devices the store allows. Your rights end automatically if you break the terms, and Amazon may change, suspend or discontinue the service "at any time without notice".

None of this means your books are likely to vanish. It does mean your library, notes and highlights live inside your Amazon account, protected by DRM, and leave with it if that account is closed. If you link Kindle to Goodreads, Amazon's book-tracking network, your Kindle books and highlights also sync to a service where shelves and reviews are public by default. That is why we score transparency and control at 58, below Audible.

Security and the bug bounty

Amazon runs a paid Vulnerability Research Program on HackerOne. Its scope lists the Android Kindle app and the iPhone app by store ID, both eligible for bounties, as well as Kindle e-readers. We found no breach of Kindle accounts in Have I Been Pwned or in news reports.

Your library is only as safe as your Amazon password. Amazon offers two-step verificationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary, and turning it on also protects the payment card saved on the same account.

What children can find

The App Store rates Kindle 13+ and lists sexual content or nudity, mature themes, profanity, realistic violence and drug references. That reflects the store, which sells romance, horror and adult fiction next to picture books. The listing mentions no kids mode inside the app; Amazon sells a separate service, Amazon Kids, for that.

The store is also open to self-publishers. In September 2023 Amazon told Kindle Direct Publishing authors to disclose AI-generated text, images or translations, and capped new titles at three a day, after reports of AI-written books including foraging guides. Check the author and reviews before you trust a practical book.

Regulators and Amazon

No privacy or consumer regulator has fined Amazon over the Kindle app, as far as we found. The European Commission accepted commitments from Amazon in May 2017 to drop clauses in its e-book contracts with publishers, without a fine. That case was about publishers and rival shops, and the decision does not name Kindle, so it is context only. Amazon's large FTC cases, including the $2.5 billion Prime settlement in 2025, concern Prime, Alexa and Ring.

How to read on Kindle more safely

1. Turn on two-step verificationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary for your Amazon account.
2. Turn off interest-based ads on Amazon's Your Ads Privacy Choices page.
3. Do not leave the app signed in on a device your child uses.
4. Check the author and publisher before buying self-published health, money or foraging guides.
5. If you want a library alternative, Libby lends Kindle-format books in the US, though sending a loan to Kindle passes it through your Amazon account.

How we scored it

The regulatory record (85) is Kindle's strongest factor, with no fine or order naming the app. Scams and harmful content (75) and security (72) are solid: no messaging, no known breach and a paid bug bounty. Privacy (55) is the weakest, because detailed reading data feeds Amazon's own marketing, and transparency and control (58) is held back by licences Amazon can end.