4 ways to repurpose an old Kindle eReader

Credit: Joe Fedewa / How-To Geek | Amazon Published Sep 18, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT Joe Fedewa has been writing about technology for over a decade. Android and the rest of the Google ecosystem have been a focus for years, as well as reviewing devices, hosting podcasts, filming videos, and writing tutorials. Joe loves all things technology and is also an avid DIYer and food blogger. He has written thousands of articles, hundreds of tutorials, and dozens of reviews. Before joining How-To Geek, Joe worked at XDA-Developers as Managing Editor and covered news from the Google ecosystem. He got his start in the industry covering Windows Phone on a small blog, and later moved to Phandroid where he covered Android news, reviewed devices, wrote tutorials, created YouTube videos, and hosted a podcast. From smartphones to Bluetooth earbuds to Z-Wave switches, Joe is interested in all kinds of technology. After several years of jailbreaking and heavily modifying an iPod Touch, he moved on to his first smartphone, the HTC DROID Eris. He's been hooked ever since. Sign in to your How-To Geek account eReaders are particularly great gadgets because they tend to stay perfectly usable for a long time. However, there will eventually come a time when you want to upgrade. So what should you do with the old one? We have some ideas for you. Turn it into a smart home display The best feature of your old Kindle is the thing that made it so great for reading—the e-paper display. Since the e-paper only uses power when the screen changes, it’s a great device for a smart home dashboard. There’s an excellent guide from Matt Healy for setting this up with an old Kindle. It essentially just shows a web page, but it’s much easier to update the web page remotely than mess around on the Kindle itself. Attach this to your fridge and it’s a great little hub. Make an E-Paper clock If a full smart display feels like too much work, you can pare it down to the essentials. An e-paper clock is one of the coolest clocks you can have, offering extreme visibility without the annoying glow of an LCD or LED display. As long as your Kindle isn’t super ancient, you can literally just open up time.is in the browser and let it run. Sure, this isn't the most mind-blowing use for an e-paper display, but we're working within the confines of the stock software. Jailbreak it for full control Credit: Faisal Rasool / How-To Geek In reality, there’s not a lot you can do with an old Kindle in its factory state. If you want true freedom and flexibility, you're going to have to jailbreak the thing. Doing this opens the door to far more than just custom home screens and new display hacks. Once liberated, you can install custom software and use the device for things Amazon never intended. The good news is it’s probably a lot easier to do this than you might think. Check out our full guide for a general walkthrough. Trade it in for a new one Credit: Adam Davidson / How-To Geek Alright, maybe you're a person who doesn't want to spend an afternoon tinkering with old tech. If you want the least painful path, you can repurpose your Kindle by using it to buy a new Kindle. Amazon offers a trade-in program that gives you an Amazon gift card and a nice 20% discount on a new Kindle. The discount is the real selling point here, though—Amazon typically offers only $5 for old Kindles. Don't let old Kindles go to waste! The takeaway here is that even the simplest, most limited tech can often be turned into something useful instead of gathering dust in a drawer. You got a little more mileage out of your money, and now you’re ready to start filling up your new e-reader with all the books you can handle.