Bad Kindle rendering on iPad Pro

September 27, 2020 6:13 AM

Why is the Kindle app on my new iPad Pro rendering fonts badly on one side of the screen, and can I expect the problem to resolve itself?

I just bought an 12.9 inch iPad Pro (4th generation), which immediately updated to iOS 14.0.1 when I started it up.

My issue is with the Kindle app (up to date, so version 6.34). It renders fonts badly near one side of the screen (the right side in landscape mode, the bottom side in portrait mode). If I flip the iPad the bad region flips too, so it's not associated with a physical area of the device. Example screenshots can be found at https://imgur.com/a/anKDnjf and https://imgur.com/a/FfC1luN.
A 12.9 inch iPad Pro (2nd generation) running iOS 14.0.1 and the same version of the Kindle app has no problems. I factory-reset the new device and reloaded everything, same problem. Deleted the Kindle app, reinstalled it, same problem.

I can't find any discussion of anything like this in 15 minutes of searching the internet.

My main question is whether I can expect this to resolve itself in the short term (it's a bug in iOS 14.0.1 or the current Kindle app that is likely to get fixed) or not (something is wrong with the physical device, or there's unlikely to be a software fix).

Does anyone else with similar devices see this behavior, or have ideas for more tests or potential solutions on my end? (It would be particularly informative, although disappointing, if you have the same setup and don't see it.)

posted by dfan to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

Mine looks fine. What theme and font settings are you using, and have you tried fiddling with them? Also, have you tried it with a different book?
posted by slkinsey at 6:23 AM on September 27, 2020

Is this with all books in the Kindle app?

Have you played with the text formatting? Like, switch from justified to unjustified? Change text size? Select a different font? I am unfamiliar with the Kindle app or how much adjustment you can do to the text formatting, so I'm just offering ideas that might work.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:25 AM on September 27, 2020

Response by poster: I've tried multiple fonts, multiple books, multiple justifications, multiple text sizes. Same issue. I'm happy to provide more screenshots.
posted by dfan at 6:27 AM on September 27, 2020

You might take the iPad to an Apple store and see if they find any hardware faults.

Assuming this is some corrupted cache file, perhaps:
* delete the Kindle app
* turn off the iPad
* turn on the iPad
* re-download the Kindle app from the App Store.

I know that's all a pain...

Good luck.
posted by blob at 7:02 AM on September 27, 2020

For what it’s worth, I’m also seeing font rendering issues with a late-2018 iPad Pro in the Kindle app, in the bottom lines of text in portrait mode. I don’t recall it occurring in 13.x, so my assumption is that’s it’s a bug. I haven’t found any workarounds or fixes. It is quite irritating, so I likewise hope it’s sorted soon.
posted by Mostly Harmless at 7:28 AM on September 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

I’m having the same issue on the same device as Mostly Harmless. It’s a little bit more subtly weird than what you’re seeing, but it’s there.
posted by MadamM at 8:16 AM on September 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

It seems more likely this is a Kindle app problem (some incompatibility with iOS 14) than an iPad hardware or software problem. Especially if everything else is working fine on the iPad. You've tried all the usual reboot and reload options. So I would suggest contacting Amazon Kindle app support, via the app's Help item on the menu, then under Additional Help, Contact us / App Issues / Other Issues, which will then give you the option to either email or phone. Email is probably a better idea since you can attach screenshots and list the things you've already tried.

Chances are, they'll tell you it's a known bug and they're working on it. Like iOS, the Kindle app gets upgraded to new versions pretty often.
posted by beagle at 9:21 AM on September 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: In case anyone comes here looking for info: I opened a case with Amazon Customer Support on September 27, 2020 (seven months ago as I write this). I check in every month or two to tell them that it's still an issue, and basically have to start from square one each time as far as providing information goes. I don't have any sense that it is actively being worked on, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised some day. It's rather disappointing.

One workaround (courtesy of one of the customer support representatives) is to use Kindle Cloud Reader, although it's not as full-featured as the regular Kindle app.
posted by dfan at 9:46 AM on April 27, 2021

Best answer: I had exactly the same problem.
Turn on "Page Turn Animation" under Font -> More. I know, it doesn't make sense, but the Kindle app renders the page differently as soon as you turn on the animations.

Just for reference, I found the solution on AmazonForum.com:
https://www.amazonforum.com/s/question/0D54P00007r1dqrSAA/display-problem-with-kfx-books-on-kindle-for-ipad
posted by karlsfre at 5:07 AM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Wow, karlsfre, thank you! That worked, as predicted. I'm not a big fan of the page turn animation but since it fixes the problem I'll live with it.
posted by dfan at 9:11 AM on May 8, 2021

Response by poster: Last update: five days after I saw the workaround, and seven and a half months after reporting the bug to Amazon, it seems to be fixed with version 6.42 of the Kindle app.
posted by dfan at 4:06 AM on May 14, 2021