Kobo is launching a new monthly subscription service called Stack that lets you upload your own e-books and documents to the company’s servers, where they will be synced across multiple devices and apps, including your reading progress, highlights, and annotations. Kobo Stack is similar to Amazon’s Send to Kindle feature that allows users to upload a wide variety of files to their Kindle libraries for free, but Kobo’s version will cost a few dollars each month.
Kobo Stack comes as part of a major 6.0 update to the company’s e-reader software, which is now available in beta as an optional update ahead of a broader official release. Supported document types include EPUB and PDF up to 200MB in size, and files can be sent to Kobo Cloud using a drag-and-drop interface on the company’s website, or by emailing them to a custom address you get when you subscribe to Stack.
Uploaded documents sync and are available anywhere you’re signed in to your Kobo account, including the iOS and Android apps, the Kobo website, and the company’s e-readers. Kobo Stack e-reader support is currently limited to recent devices, including Clara BW, Clara Color, Libra Color, and Elipsa 2E, but access for older devices “manufactured between 2018 and 2024 is coming soon,” according to Kobo’s website.
The initial launch of Kobo Stack is limited to Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Spain, according to details Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn shared on Threads, but not the US. Canadian pricing is $3.99 per month, while in the UK it’s £2.99 per month. Kobo offers a 90-day free trial for those who want to try it out, and there is a 60-day grace period if you decide to cancel your subscription. That gives you about two months to download and backup any files you’ve uploaded and export your notes and annotations. After 60 days, everything will be permanently deleted.
Other features being introduced as part of the new Kobo firmware update include the ability to add multiple library cards so you can borrow books from multiple libraries through Libby, lower stylus latency on pen-compatible devices, improved accessibility with even larger font options, and support for LCP DRM-protected EPUB files.
