Readers who keep their own ebook files will soon face a new charge from Kobo. The company is preparing a monthly Kobo Stack subscription that stores personal documents on its servers and keeps reading positions, highlights, and annotations aligned across devices and apps.
What the service does
Stack accepts EPUB and PDF files of up to 200MB. Files can be transferred by dragging and dropping them on Kobo’s website or by sending them to a personalized email address issued to subscribers. Once uploaded, the material lives in Kobo Cloud and appears wherever the user signs in: the iOS and Android apps, the Kobo website, and compatible e-readers.
The concept closely mirrors Amazon’s Send to Kindle tool, which lets users add a broad range of files to their Kindle libraries at no cost. Kobo’s implementation differs in one obvious respect: it carries a recurring fee.
Device compatibility and rollout
On the hardware side, Stack works with several recent models — the Clara BW, Clara Colour, Libra Colour, and Elipsa 2E. Kobo says support for older devices manufactured between 2018 and 2024 is coming later.
The service is not launching everywhere at once. According to remarks from Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn, the first markets are Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Spain. The United States is not included in this initial group.
Pricing varies by country. Canadian subscribers pay $3.99 a month, while UK readers are charged £2.99 a month. Kobo is also providing a 90-day free trial.
Cancellation terms
Anyone who signs up and later walks away gets a 60-day grace period. During that window, uploaded files can be downloaded and backed up, and notes and annotations can be exported. Once the 60 days pass, the stored material is permanently removed.
The wider 6.0 firmware update
Stack arrives alongside a substantial revision to Kobo’s e-reader software. Version 6.0 is currently available as an optional beta upgrade before a broader release.
Several other changes come with the firmware:
- Users can register multiple library cards, allowing them to borrow from more than one library through Libby.
- Stylus latency is reduced on devices that support pen input.
- Accessibility improves with larger font choices.
- The software gains support for EPUB files protected by LCP DRM.
A paid answer to a familiar question
For years, owners of dedicated e-readers have been able to sideload their own files, but keeping those files and their reading state synchronized across phones, tablets, and multiple devices has required workarounds. Stack turns that convenience into a subscription product, and positions Kobo’s cloud as a paid home for content the company did not sell.
The beta period gives Kobo room to test demand in six countries before deciding how far the service travels. For now, the offer is straightforward: a few dollars or pounds each month for storage and synchronization, a free trial to sample it, and a fixed window to retrieve everything if the subscription ends.
