Jailbreaking a Kindle Touch 5
#kindle #jailbreak
I've had a Kindle Touch 5 (KT5) since they were released, around 2012. I've used it on and off over the years, and it's still rock solid. I can't really fault the device, it's the only piece of hardware that I've owned for 10+ years that still works without issue.
Despite not having any issues, I've recently become interested in Jailbreaking my device. The main motivation for this is gaining root access to the device and installing KOReader which appears to be a much improved eink reader app. Jailbreaking my device should allow for better integration with my home server setup, without purchasing a new/different device.
Finding the right jailbreak
Most of the kindle jailbreaking info is on the MobileRead forums. The main issue is figuring out which jailbreak to use. This depends both on the device you are using and the installed firmware.
See here for identifying the device. Once you've identified the device, I suggest checking out this snapshots page. It basically aggregates all the kindle jailbreaks into a single location. Using both your device firmware and device version, you should be able to identify the most suitable jailbreak.
Just search for that and you should be able to find an appropriate MobileRead post with instructions.
Jailbreaking
For my device and firmware I found the following to be most suitable:
- K5 JailBreak (5.0.x - 5.4.4.2)
This is available here. This is a neat little jailbreak, allowing me to root the device without factory resetting.
I'll reproduce the instructions below for posterity:
Download the K5 JailBreak package from the Snapshots thread, and unpack it. In here, you'll find a few files. Unzip the contents of the kindle-5.4-jailbreak.zip archive to the root directory of your Kindle.
Now, eject & unplug your Kindle, and go to [HOME] -> [MENU] > Settings -> [MENU] > Update Your Kindle. The updater won't actually ever run, this is normal. After a few seconds, the words **** JAILBREAK **** will appear at the bottom of your screen to confirm that the device is jailbroken. You won't see this message again, it's simply a confirmation message.
And that's it, your Kindle is now ready to install custom hacks!
Since v1.11.N: If you need to use something MKK-powered immediately, be aware that MKK will only be active on the next boot. Installing another package through the Update mechanism will do the trick, or you can manually trigger a device restart: > ([HOME] -> [MENU] > Settings -> [MENU] > Restart).
I should note that the jailbreak worked. Now to install some new software.
KUAL
Most of the the third-party kindle software relies on KUAL. This is an app launcher for kindle, and is usually a requirement for any apps. Installing this is straightforward. I've reproduced the instructions below.
... you may need to install MKK: if your device runs on FW 5.x, and you're using the K5 JB >= 1.11.N (or the associated "hotfix"), you don't need to do anything, MKK is bundled with your JB. If you're using an older device, you will need to install MKK yourself
Finally, you need to install KUAL itself, by putting the appropriate azw2 file somewhere in the documents/ directory tree of your device. First, download the latest KUAL archive from the Snapshots thread and unpack it. Then, if your device runs on FW 5.x, use the KUAL-KDK-2.0.azw2 file. If your device is older, use the KUAL-KDK-1.0.azw2 file.
And that's it for the basics!
For my jailbreak, MKK came installed, meaning I can just copy the azw2 file to the documents directory.
I did this, then tried to launch KUAL immediately and failed. Turns out I needed to reboot my device to properly install the jailbreak. After rebooting, KUAL launched as expected!
KUAL Extensions!
KUAL isn't really much on it's own. Instead, it aggregrates extensions. Let's start by installing the recommended extensions!
First I installed Helper and blocked OTA updates. Silent OTA updates might break the device...
Next I installed MRPI.
KOReader
To install KOReader, you can follow the instructions here. In short,
download the right release and unzip to the root directoty. I used the kindle
release.
I was initially a little bit underwhelmed by KOReader. I tried reading my
.mobi files and they were atrociously slow and poorly styled. Note that these
were automatically converted from the .epub source by Calibre. Given that
.epub support was part of my motivation for switching, I downloaded the same
book [Rhythm of War - Grant Sanderson] in epub format onto my Kindle. Wow.
The speed of epubs was outstanding and they maintained the correct formatting.
I customised the look and feel--line spacing, margins, alt status--downloaded dictionaries, and looked through some of the menus. I'm really impressed. There are some great features, like the reading statistics and plugins, that really sell this as a major upgraded for an otherwise very old kindle.
Conclusion
If you're on the fence definitely give jailbreaking a go. I highly recommend KOReader. There are some quirks, like menu overlay issues on waking, but the experience is much better overall than the stock kindle reader. You get granular control over text rendering, rich format support, better reading statistics and much more.