Kobo is launching a new monthly subscription service called Stack that lets you upload your own ebooks and documents to the company’s servers where they’ll 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 is being introduced as part of a major 6.0 update to the company’s e-reader software, which is available in beta now as an optional upgrade ahead of a wider official release. Supported document types include EPUBs and PDFs up to 200MB in size and files can be pushed 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.
Your uploaded documents are synced and available anywhere you’re logged in to your Kobo account, including the iOS and Android apps, the Kobo website, and the company’s e-readers. Kobo Stack’s e-reader support is currently limited to recent devices including the Clara BW, Clara Colour, Libra Colour, and the Elipsa 2E, but access for older devices “made between 2018 and 2024 will arrive soon,” according to Kobo’s website.
The initial rollout of Kobo Stack is limited to Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, 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 is offering a free 90-day trial for those wanting to test it out, and there’s a 60-day grace period if you choose to cancel your subscription. That gives you around two months to download and back up any files you’ve uploaded, and to 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 several libraries through Libby, lower stylus latency on devices with pen support, improved accessibility with even larger font options, and support for EPUB files protected by LCP DRM.