Kindle app Archives

Do you read books using the Kindle app on your phone? Have you ever tried to delete a book you didn’t want? You can’t, but you can using the method revealed here. Clean up your Kindle library.

Related: 5 ebook readers that are better than iBooks on the iPhone

As you buy books or add free books to the Amazon Kindle app, they are added to the library. This causes it to grow and grow until it becomes difficult to find the books you want to read.

Too many books can clutter the display.

Sometimes you read a book and don’t want to read it again. How do you remove it from the Kindle library?

Sometimes you download a book and don’t like it. I often go online and download all the latest free ebooks for the Kindle reader app and read them on my phone. Some free books turn out to be brilliant, but a few are not to my liking and I would rather get rid of them. How?

There is no obvious way to delete books on the phone, but it can be done.

I will be using an Apple iPhone for this, but everything applies to Android too.

Hide books in the Kindle app

The Kindle app on the iPhone does not let you delete books. However, they can be hidden.

Books that are stored on the device have a tick icon. Go to your library and if you slide right to left over a book that has been downloaded and then press the Archive button.

Archiving a book in the Kindle app only deletes the copy stored on the device. It deletes the local copy, but it is still there in the Kindle library. This is a bit like deleting apps you have downloaded to your phone and they remain in your account so they can be downloaded again.

Down at the bottom of the Kindle app screen are two tabs, Cloud and Device. Select the Device tab and only downloaded books are listed.

Swipe and archive books to remove them from the Device screen. They remain on the Cloud tab though.

Log in to Amazon

The way to delete books from your Kindle library is to delete them from your account at the Amazon website.

Go to the Amazon site, press the Sign In button at the top of the page and enter your username and password.

Go to your account and there is a long list of settings. Find Content and Devices and press it.

Select and delete books

There is a menu button at the top to select the type of content to display. Select Books if it is not already selected.

Find a book you never want to see again and press the checkbox to select it. Press the Delete button to delete it.

The Kindle app on the phone syncs with your online account, so the next time it is started, the book will be removed from the library listing.

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Hello Elizabeth,

I’ve subscribed to your newsletter for quite a while now, and have had some problems solved by you after reading questions posed by others.

My dilemma now is related to my Kindle and my iPad. I love being able to download books to the Kindle which my husband and I share, and I love being able to sync the books to my iPad. The problem I have is: I don’t know how to remove a book from the iPad once I have read it. I remove it on the Kindle (and it seems to still be archived when I do that) but it still appears in my Kindle library on the iPad. It seems so cluttered and I would like to get rid of the icon for a book I’ve finished. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks for all you do for us iPad newbies.

Judy

Dear Judy,

I also have both a Kindle, and the Kindle app on my iPad. I love being able to read and study on both devices and have them sync with each other. Even my highlights and notes are synched.

After reading your question, I am guessing one of two things is happening. Either you have the Kindle app on your iPad set to view all the books archived on Amazon, or you don’t know how to remove a book from the iPad.

Let’s start with the two different views available to you on the iPad.

The Kindle app on your iPad will either show you only the books that you have downloaded to the iPad, or it will show you your entire library archived on the Amazon web site.

When you are viewing your list of books, you will notice several buttons across the bottom. In the middle of the bottom is one that says either, “Archive (all Items)” or “Home”. If the button says, “Home” tap on it to view only the books that are currently on your iPad. If the button says, “Archive (All Items)” you can tap on it to view all the books on your Amazon account.

To remove a book that is on your iPad, just follow these directions:

1. Make sure you are looking at the “Home” screen on your Kindle app. (the button at the bottom will say, “Archive (All Items)”)

2. Tap and hold your finger on any book for a few seconds. A column of red circles will appear to the left of each book shown.

3. Tap on the red circle next to the book you want to remove. A red icon will appear to the right of the book that says, “Archive”.

4. Click on the “Archive” button to remove the book from your iPad.

I hope this helps you keep your books organized!

Elizabeth

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From this page ->Using Kindle for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch

Removing Content from the Kindle Application

The Kindle application allows you to remove individual items from your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch so you don't have to use your device's memory to store all of your reading material. See Downloading Archived Items to the Kindle Application for information about accessing your Kindle Library on Amazon.com.

To remove individual items from the Home screen:

For the iPhone and iPod touch:

Tap the desired title and slide your finger to the right to reveal the Archive or Delete button. Content that is purchased from the Kindle Store is archived and can be re-downloaded at any time; sideloaded content is permanently deleted. Then tap the Archive or Delete button next to the title.

For the iPad:

In cover view: Tap Press on the icon cover for the title and hold it until the "X" appears on the cover. Then tap on the "X" to finish deleting the title.

In List view: Swipe your finger across the title toward the left to display the Archive or Delete button. Content that is purchased from the Kindle Store is archived and can be re-downloaded at any time; sideloaded content is permanently deleted. Tap Archive or Delete to remove the book from your Home screen. Archived content will remain in your Archived Items.

To delete all content by uninstalling the application:

1. Visit the device's Home screen by pressing the Home button on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.
2. Tap and hold the Kindle icon until the icons start to shake.
3. Tap the "X" icon on the upper left-hand corner of the icon.
4. Tap the Delete button to remove the application and its contents.

Removing Kindle content from the Kindle application or uninstalling the application does not remove purchased items from your Kindle Library stored on Amazon.com. You'll still be able to redownload your content to registered devices from www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle.