You don't need to register your Kindle Paperwhite 11th Gen to use it

[onyxmage]

- Firmware Version: Kindle 5.16.9 (424650033)

I'd let this be a new thread than be buried in an old one.

Because being a new Kindle user, I was nudged into registering my Paperwhite because I thought I need the registration to actually use it. I don't mind being tethered to the Amazon ecosystem. I didn't even mind the ads. But when the AI books infested my ad screen, I was compelled to buy the ad removal option. Then I availed of Kindle Unlimited. Then Amazon flagged my account and wiped my sideloaded books from my kindle.

I thought everything was in vain, but I did the following steps:

1. Did a factory reset on my kindle
2. Did not register any wifi to the kindle
3. Chose the 'setup later' options.
4. Connect kindle to a pc with Calibre, and configure it to limit formats and not use subfolders (I found subfolders to cause some jank with Kindle's book detection)
5. Enabled the Settings >> Device Options >> Display Cover.

The only nag screen I have to endure now is the registration prompt, but this beats looking at pointless ads for AI books.

I share this post to help new buyers of Kindle Paperwhite, if in case they don't want to suffer AI book ads, since it is not obvious that Paperwhite works without registration.

An online search at a glance shows that you can just register then activate airplane mode, but it is not shared that you can just not register and not connect to the internet entirely. Plus you actually get access to the display cover settings, which I thought was just a deprecated feature; apparently is it hidden the moment you register the device. I think.

If you find this inapplicable to your device or if there's a catch to this approach, feel free to comment.