Related: 8 Audiobooks Services Better Than AudibleĪmazon will no longer sell books through the Kindle app because it requires them to use Google’s billing system, through which Google receives a share of the profits. That is, until June 1 when Google decided to crack down. Google has a similar caveat for selling digital goods through their store, but it was largely unenforced, allowing Amazon to sell their digital goods for full profit to their own company. This is because anything sold in a digital app on the iPhone has an “ Apple tax,” where a portion of the proceeds must be paid to Apple. While this abrupt change may come as a shock for Android users today, this is no surprise to iOS users as Amazon pulled the plug on in-app purchases on the Kindle app for iPhones years ago.

Why You Can No Longer Purchase Books Through the Kindle App Amazon’s explanation for changing this process is that they must “remain in compliance with Google Play Store policies”, which is a fairly quaint explanation. We can still peruse books and see things like Bestsellers and Daily Deals, but instead of purchasing the books with the “Buy Now One-Click” button, we will have to open a completely separate window or tab to do so. Instead, they must go to /ebooks in a web browser and purchase them. Android users can no longer buy books in the actual Kindle app.

If you’re an avid Kindle user like me, and you own an Android phone, you’ll have noticed that within the last week, Amazon has changed the way the Kindle app works.

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