Can You Lend Kindle Books? Easy Ways to Share eBooks

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While you can no longer lend Kindle books to others, there are alternatives

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: October 24, 2025 Fact Checked

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Using Amazon Family Library

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Gifting the Book

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Other Options

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Video

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Q&A

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Tips

While it used to be possible to lend Kindle books to others, Kindle Lending has been discontinued.^{[1]
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Research source} But what if you want to share an ebook with someone? Fortunately, there are other ways to share a Kindle book or make it freely available for someone to read. This article will cover the best alternatives to lending a Kindle book.

Lending Kindle Books: What to Know

Amazon used to allow you to lend Kindle books to others through the Kindle Lending Library, but this feature has been discontinued.
Instead, you can add the person to your Amazon Family Library, which allows you to share ebooks and your Prime perks with them for free.
You can also gift the book, or see if it's available through the library, Prime Reading, or Kindle Unlimited.

Section 1 of 3:

Using Amazon Family Library

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Add the person to your Amazon Family. Now that Amazon no longer allows you to lend Kindle books to others, the best way to give someone access to one of your Kindle books is to do so through Amazon Family Sharing. As long as you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you'll be able to share digital content (including Kindle books) and other Amazon Prime perks with one adult family member, and up to 4 children.^{[2]
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- Mobile
  - Tap the person icon at the bottom of the app.
  - Tap Account at the top.
  - Tap Program options to expand the menu.
  - Tap Amazon Family.
  - Tap + New.
  - Follow the on-screen instructions to add a family member.
- On a computer
  - Go to the Amazon Family homepage.
  - Click + New.
  - Follow the prompts to add a family member.
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Open your digital content library. The steps are a little different depending on your device:^{[3]
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- Mobile
  - Tap the person icon at the bottom of the app.
  - Tap Account at the top.
  - Tap Account settings.
  - Tap Digital content library.
- On a computer
  - Go to your digital content library homepage.
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Select Books. This displays a list of Kindle ebooks associated with your Amazon account.
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Click or tap the menu on the book you want to lend. On a phone or tablet, tap See more to open the menu. On a computer, click More actions.
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Select Manage Family Library. A list of family members will expand.
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Choose a person and select Make Changes. This adds the selected Kindle book to the person's library. Now, they'll be able to read the book on their Kindle and/or in the Kindle app.
- The book will remain in the person's library as long as they are a member of your Amazon Family.
- If you want to stop sharing this book with the person, you can either return to the same location and remove the checkmark next to their name or remove them from your Amazon Family.

Section 2 of 3:

Gifting the Kindle Book

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Open your Kindle book list. Another easy way to get a Kindle book to a friend or family member is to buy it for them as a gift. There's no way to buy a Kindle book for someone else using the Amazon mobile app, but it's pretty easy if you're using a computer:^{[4]
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- Hover your mouse cursor over Accounts & Lists at the top-right corner.
- Click Content Library in the left panel.
- Click Books.
- Click More actions under the book you want to share.
- Click Gift Now.
- Enter the email address of the person you want to send the book to.
- Enter a message (optional) and delivery date.
- Confirm your payment information and click Place your order.

Section 3 of 3:

Other Ways to Share Kindle Books

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Borrow the ebook from the library If the person you want to lend a book to has a library card, they may be able to borrow the Kindle version of the book through their library using an app like Libby or Hoopla. Most libraries use Libby, but they'll need to check their library's website to determine which app to use. All they'll need is a library card and an account on their library's website to get started.^{[5]
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- If their library uses Libby, they can download the Libby app on their iPhone, iPad, or Android (or head to Libbyapp.com), sign up, connect their library account, and search for the book they want to read. If it's available, they can check out the ebook like any other.^{[6]
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- To learn the step-by-step process of checking out library books on your Kindle, check out our guide to using Libby on Kindle.
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Prime Reading If the person you want to lend the book to is an Amazon Prime subscriber, they can use the Prime Reading perk to read free Kindle books–no extra subscription fee required! Search the Prime Reading catalog for the book–if it's there, all they'll need to do to read it is click the book, then select Add to Library.^{[7]
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Kindle Unlimited If the book you want to lend is available through Kindle Unlimited, and the person you want to share it with has a subscription (or is willing to sign up–there's often a free trial), just send them a link to the book, and they can instantly add it to their Kindle. Before suggesting this option to your friend or family member, search the Kindle Unlimited catalog to make sure the book you want to share is available. Once they're signed up, they can download the book onto their Kindle and give it a read.^{[8]
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Can a Kindle book be sent to a Gmail address?

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