Kindle Battery Not Holding Charge? – Fix Guide

Are you having problems with your Kindle battery not holding charge? You’ve come to the right place, as we have proven solutions to help you fix it.

If your Kindle battery does not gain battery percentage when it’s plugged in and you’re using it, you need to take a closer look at it.

It’s a matter of your Kindle using up too much battery power that your charger can’t keep up.

Let’s find out how to fix this issue!

To fix your Kindle not holding a charge, you want to check the components that consume a lot of power.

This includes the screen and the Bluetooth and WiFi modules. You also want to turn on power saving and sleep mode to conserve battery.

We can now look at the different causes of why your Kindle is not holding a charge properly.

Reasons Why Kindle Not Holding Charge

There are several possible culprits to quickly zoom in on whenever your Kindle uses up battery power.

Your screen and connectivity hardware are some components you need to look into.

✅ Bright screen settings

The screen on your Kindle is its most power-hungry component. It uses up a lot of power, especially if its brightness is always set to high.

✅ Continuously searching for signal

Whenever your Kindle searches for a WiFi or Bluetooth signal, it will use up more power than just connecting. It will continually scan until it can connect to a network or paired device.

✅ Indexing error

Your Kindle’s software also plays an important part in power consumption. If there’s an issue with your files or account, it can index your content library, which consumes much power.

✅ Faulty Kindle battery

We can’t disregard faulty hardware, especially if your device is more than 2 or 3 years old.

Now that you have a good idea of the different causes of this particular error.

We can now move on to the various solutions so you can fix it as soon as possible.

How to Fix Kindle Battery Not Holding Charge Error

One of the first things you need to do if your Kindle is not holding a charge is to reboot it.

A simple restart can reset all of your device’s component hardware, stopping them from using too much power.

Restarting your Kindle will also reboot the software, stopping unnecessary battery usage.

Most of the time, rebooting your device will resolve this error. In case it doesn’t, you can also follow the different solutions.

Solution #1: Lower the Brightness on Your Kindle’s Screen

Your Kindle’s screen is the component that uses up the most power on your device.

If you always set this to the highest brightness, it will use up your battery power.

Couple this high power consumption with a not-so-optimal battery life, your device may not hold a charge long enough even with it is plugged in.

You can try lowering your Kindle’s brightness levels to confirm that this is the case with your device.

Turn it down and check if the batteries can hold a charge while using your device.

Here’s how to lower the brightness on your Kindle’s screen:

1. On the home screen, swipe down to open the Quick Actions menu.
2. Locate the brightness controls on the menu.
3. Press the minus button to lower the brightness.
4. Press as many times to lower it completely.

Note: You can also use the Auto-Brightness feature by checking the box on the Quick Actions menu.

Solution #2: Disable Your Kindle’s Bluetooth and WiFi

After the Kindle’s screen, the next power-hungry components of your device are the Bluetooth and WiFi modules.

For the most part, you should not experience any issues with these. However, leaving this on for a long time can consume much more power than expected.

Leaving these modules on, especially if they’re always searching for a signal, will also cause added power consumption.

Here’s how to lower the power consumption of your Bluetooth and WiFi modules:

1. Go to your Kindle’s Settings menu.
2. Select WiFi and Bluetooth.
3. Toggle the switch to turn off the WiFi.
4. Toggle the switch for Bluetooth.

Pro Tip: Alternatively, you can also switch on Airplane Mode then see if charging your Kindle works better 

Solution #3: Deactivate Page Refresh on Your Kindle

Kindle’s page refresh feature works great for eliminating ghosting. Ink displays like the Kindle are prone to this phenomenon, especially when looking at large illustrations.

The text on the previous page will appear on your current page, disrupting your reading experience.

You might experience some display issues if you disable page refresh.

However, there’s a lot of battery-saving potential here to help you get your Kindle to hold a charge better.

Here’s how to deactivate page refresh on your Kindle:

1. Open the Settings menu of your Kindle.
2. Go to Reading Options.
3. Toggle the switch for Page Refresh to off.
4. Check your Kindle’s battery status after turning it off.

Solution #4: Turn On Your Kindle’s Power Saving Mode

One of the best ways to resolve your battery usage issue on your Kindle is to activate power saving mode. Turning this on puts your device in low power mode reducing consumption.

This will improve your Kindle’s ability to hold a charge, especially when you have battery problems.

Now there are also downsides to turning on power saving mode on your Kindle.

However, if you’re looking to minimize battery usage, it’s one of the best steps you can take.

Here’s how to switch on your Kindle’s power saving mode:

1. Open your Kindle’s Settings.
2. Select Device Options.
3. Go to Advanced Options.
4. Choose Power Saver.
5. Toggle the switch to the On position.

Note: Your Kindle can boot slowly when the power saver is enabled.

Solution #5: Put Your Kindle in Sleep Mode 

Apart from power saving mode. Kindle also has a sleep mode feature that puts it into low-power mode.

It will shut down the screen, so it doesn’t use much battery power whenever you’re not using it.

In sleep mode, however, some components of your Kindle can continue to run. It can still connect to the internet and run down your batteries.

It’s not going to be as much, so it should not have a problem holding a charge.

Here are the ways to put your Kindle in sleep mode:

1. Go to your Kindle’s Settings.
2. Select Display.
3. Tap on Advanced.
4. Choose Sleep.
5. Shorten the screen timeout time.

Note: Choose between 1 minute to 2 minutes for optimum battery saving. 

The default is 10 minutes, so you’re going to be saving a lot by changing this.

Solution #6: Stop Your Kindle from Indexing

Indexing is the process of your Kindle saving your books to a database allowing you to search for them at a later time.

It can be handy, but there are not a lot of practical uses for having all your books indexed.

If you love books and add tons of them every time, you will have problems indexing them.

It can take a good chunk of time, and while your Kindle is indexing, it will also use up a lot of power.

Here’s how to stop your Kindle from indexing your new books:

1. Plug your Kindle into a computer via a USB cable.
2. On your computer, open your Kindle to access its folders.
3. Navigate to the directory system\Search Indexes.
4. Delete the folder to stop indexing your books.

Note: Doing this step won't remove or delete the books from your library.

If none of these steps resolve your issue, you want to check if you’re using a case for your Kindle. In some cases can stop your device from going into sleep mode.

If you suspect it’s your case, you can remove it and see if your Kindle will start to hold a charge better.

Bottom Line

That’s it! These steps will help your Kindle battery not holding charge issues. These quick and proven solutions will help you resolve it in no time.

Additionally, if these steps don’t fix it, you’re looking at a possible battery issue, and you’ll have to contact Kindle support for assistance.

Read Next: Why Kindle Paperwhite Won’t Turn On?