Epub books no longer showing cover on lock screen

[GnRFan79]

For some reason within the last few days I've noticed that Epub books that I send to my Kindle don't show the cover on the lock screen any more.

I sent three at the beginning of the week and these showed the cover image on the lock screen fine.

Then I removed those epubs last night and sent a couple more but these don't show the cover on the lock screen.

I've experimented with half a dozen epub files today and none of these will show the cover on the lock screen.

I've tried sending the epub via email and also sending the epub to my iphone and then sharing it out to the Kindle app - the same behaviour occurs each time.

I also get the same whether I send the epubs direct or if I pass them through Calibre and convert them from epub to epub before sending.

I'm still on firmware 5.15.1 which I've been on since it was released.

Has anyone else noticed this behaviour?

[monophoto]

There are a number of posts on the Amazon forum about this issue.

I've never used the lock screen cover picture option on my Kindle, but out of curiosity, I just enabled as a test. I found that if the book last opened before the Kindle went into sleep mode was a Kindle-format book (from the public library), the lock screen would display its cover. But if the book last opened was a 'document' (a non-Kindle format document that I transferred using the 'send to kindle' function), the lock screen image was just one of the generic images that came with Kindle, and there was a note at the bottom of the screen saying 'What you are reading doesn't have a cover'.

So my suspicion is that when epub documents are transferred to Kindle, Amazon treats them as generic documents rather than books, and therefore doesn't recognize the cover.

[Quoth]

Use USB transfer. Also means Amazon doesn't get copies of stuff that isn't theirs.
You may need to connect to Calibre a 2nd time to fix covers.

[GnRFan79]

I use the sync features so I can read on all of my devices so wouldn't be looking to transfer via USB.

I've just had a look on the Amazon forums and there are a couple of posts on there about this same issue.

I'll check back here and on the Amazon forums in case someone comes up with a solution.

Strange one though especially as there's not been any firmware updates. I presume amazon are doing something at their end when it converts the files?

[jhowell]

I reported on February 16 that this was still working for me. I tried it again today using the same send-to-Kindle book that I was reading then and today only generic images show on the lock screen for that book. Since the book and firmware are the same I suspect that Amazon has used their ability to remotely enable and disable features to turn this off.

Thanks Amazon

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I reported on February 16 that this was still working for me. I tried it again today using the same send-to-Kindle book that I was reading then and today only generic images show on the lock screen for that book. Since the book and firmware are the same I suspect that Amazon has used their ability to remotely enable and disable features to turn this off.

Thanks Amazon

Still works on Scribe (had to turn on Cover display to check; turned it back off after).

So with any luck, when they roll out KFX-from-ePub to the other Kindles (not clear to me if that requires a software update), it will start working again.

[GnRFan79]

There’s an active thread on Reddit about it. Someone has spoken to Amazon about it as well.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kindle/comm..._for_download/

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Still works on Scribe (had to turn on Cover display to check; turned it back off after).

So with any luck, when they roll out KFX-from-ePub to the other Kindles (not clear to me if that requires a software update), it will start working again.

I have sent a pdf today in preparation to maybe getting a Scribe. It doesn't work with a cover either, but then for PDFs it doesn't even if sideloaded. Interesting enough, PDF still show up as PDF on my Oasis, even thpugh it can understand print replica KFX if sideloaded.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

I have sent a pdf today in preparation to maybe getting a Scribe. It doesn't work with a cover either, but then for PDFs it doesn't even if sideloaded. Interesting enough, PDF still show up as PDF on my Oasis, even thpugh it can understand print replica KFX if sideloaded.

Reminder (in case you have not picked up on it): only Scribe is getting Print Replica (one of several fixed-layout KFX formats). And it while it may look like the PDF you sent, it does not (yet) walk and talk like one. In particular, you cannot select, highlight, do dictionary lookup, or search for text, even though that all works with Store-bought content in Print Replica format with the Kindle apps.

Everything else (including Kindle apps) still getting the PDF you sent. So PDF behavior means nothing in terms of what it does on Scribe.

You can generate Print Replica to test on non-Scribe Kindles (running latest firmware), and apparently they can render them.

But it's anyone's guess when the update to provide the expected functionality (interacting with text) will show up. It's now almost 3 months since Scribe shipped. Wonder if the layoffs in the devices org have delayed things.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Reminder (in case you have not picked up on it): only Scribe is getting Print Replica (one of several fixed-layout KFX formats). And it while it may look like the PDF you sent, it does not (yet) walk and talk like one. In particular, you cannot select, highlight, do dictionary lookup, or search for text, even though that all works with Store-bought content in Print Replica format with the Kindle apps.

Yes, I am aware that it doesn't walk and talk like a duck pdf delivered as print replica. Every new FW we get I will try to catch a print replica download with table of contents, links, dictionary lookup on something other than a Scribe. 5.15 is capable with sideload, 5.16 downloads it, maybe once it goes to 5.17 it will be officially supported.