Kobo Digest
Free during betaRequest an invite

Your newsletters, waiting on your Kobo each morning.

Kobo Digest gathers the newsletters and blogs you follow into one neatly formatted book, and sends it to your Kobo e-reader every day. Read them on calm, paper-like e-ink, away from your inbox and your phone.

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Free to use for a limited time. Your Kobo Store books, library loans and Kobo Plus keep working as normal.

Why read newsletters on a Kobo?

Good writing deserves better than a crowded inbox. Kobo Digest turns it into something you sit down and read.

  • One book, not a pile of emails

    Each day's new posts arrive together as a single book, with a contents page to jump between newsletters.

  • Easy on the eyes

    E-ink doesn't glow, ping or pull you into another app. Finally read the long pieces you keep saving for later.

  • Tidies up after itself

    Old digests remove themselves from your Kobo after 7, 14 or 21 days. You choose.

  • Works with paid newsletters

    Many paid newsletters give subscribers a private feed link. Add it once and paid posts arrive in full.

  • Private by design

    No account and no password. Feed links are stored encrypted, and your Kobo login is never stored.

  • Nothing to install

    No app and no plugin. You change one line in a settings file on your Kobo, once.

Everything else on your Kobo keeps working.

Kobo Digest adds one book a day to your library. Everything else passes straight through to Kobo, so nothing you already use changes.

Changed your mind? Put one line back and your Kobo talks to Kobo directly again.

How it works

  1. Sign up with your invite code

    You get a private settings page. There's no password: the page's link is your key, so bookmark it.

  2. Add your newsletters

    Paste the feed link for each newsletter or blog you want. Pause or remove them any time.

  3. Set up your Kobo, once

    Change one line in a settings file on your Kobo, following the steps below. It takes about ten minutes.

  4. Sync and read

    Each day's digest appears in your library like any other book.

Setting up your Kobo

You do this once, after you sign up. Pick your computer below.

Which computer are you using?

On Windows

  1. Plug your Kobo into your computer with its USB cable. On the Kobo, tap Connect.
  2. Open File Explorer. Your Kobo shows up as KOBOeReader under This PC.
  3. Show hidden folders. On Windows 11, choose View, then Show, then Hidden items. On Windows 10, open the View tab and tick Hidden items.
  4. Open KOBOeReader, then the .kobo folder, then the Kobo folder inside it.
  5. Make a backup: copy the file Kobo eReader.conf to your desktop. If anything goes wrong, you can copy it back.
  6. Right-click Kobo eReader.conf and choose Open with, then Notepad.
  7. Press Ctrl + F and search for api_endpoint. You'll find a line that starts with api_endpoint=. Replace that whole line with the line from your settings page. You get it after you sign up. Change nothing else in the file.
  8. Press Ctrl + S to save, then close Notepad.
  9. In File Explorer, right-click KOBOeReader and choose Eject. Unplug the cable once Windows says it's safe.
  10. On your Kobo, tap Sync. Your first digest arrives after the next daily delivery.

On a Mac

  1. Plug your Kobo into your Mac with its USB cable. On the Kobo, tap Connect.
  2. Open Finder. Your Kobo shows up as KOBOeReader in the sidebar, under Locations.
  3. Click KOBOeReader, then press Cmd + Shift + . (the full stop key) to show hidden folders.
  4. Open the .kobo folder, then the Kobo folder inside it.
  5. Make a backup: hold Option and drag Kobo eReader.conf to your desktop. This copies it. If anything goes wrong, you can copy it back.
  6. Control-click Kobo eReader.conf and choose Open With, then TextEdit. If you see a formatting bar, choose Format, then Make Plain Text.
  7. Press Cmd + F and search for api_endpoint. You'll find a line that starts with api_endpoint=. Replace that whole line with the line from your settings page. You get it after you sign up. Change nothing else in the file.
  8. Press Cmd + S to save, then quit TextEdit with Cmd + Q.
  9. In Finder, click the eject button next to KOBOeReader, then unplug the cable.
  10. On your Kobo, tap Sync. Your first digest arrives after the next daily delivery.

To stop using Kobo Digest, follow the same steps and change the line back to api_endpoint=https://storeapi.kobo.com, or copy your backup file back. A Kobo software update can reset this line. If digests stop arriving, check it again.

Questions

Do I need to be technical?

No. If you can copy a file and change a line of text, you can set it up. The steps above cover every click, on Windows and on Mac.

Which Kobo e-readers work?

Kobo e-readers that are signed in to a Kobo account. It's been tested on the Kobo Clara BW so far. If yours gives you trouble, email contact@akash.gg.

Where do I find a newsletter's feed link?

Most newsletters and blogs have one, called an RSS feed. On Substack, add /feed to the end of the newsletter's address, like example.substack.com/feed. Elsewhere, look for an RSS link, or try adding /feed or /rss to the site's address. Paid newsletters often list a private feed link in your account settings.

When does my digest arrive?

Every morning at 7am in your time zone, or at any time you pick on your settings page, in half-hour steps. Your Kobo picks it up the next time it syncs. If none of your newsletters posted anything new, there's no digest that day.

Is my Kobo account safe?

Your Kobo keeps signing in to Kobo itself. Kobo Digest passes your Kobo's requests on to Kobo and never stores your login. Feed links are stored encrypted, because a paid feed link works like a password.

What does it cost?

Nothing. Kobo Digest is free to use for a limited time while it's in beta, and you never enter payment details.

How do I stop?

Follow the same setup steps and change the line back to api_endpoint=https://storeapi.kobo.com, then sync. Your Kobo talks to Kobo directly again. Digests already on your Kobo stay until you delete them.

Get started

Kobo Digest is invite-only while it's in beta, and free to use for a limited time.

Have an invite code?

We'll send you an email to verify this address.

There's no account or password. You get a private settings page instead, and its link is your key. Bookmark it: it's the only way back.

Need an invite?

Email contact@akash.gg and say which Kobo you have. Invites go out in small batches.

Email for an invite