Kindle 6 e-reader phoning home while "off"

[bonacker]

I recently bought the cheapest Kindle e-reader. I think it's called the Kindle 6, but I've seen different model numbers for it. Amazon introduced it in October '14. It seems to have the same firmware as the new Paperwhite.

I found something interesting that I thought I'd post: Even when the power is off, the Kindle phones home. I saw this while looking through the log of my WiFi router. It went to Amazon.com. This means that "off" doesn't really mean power off.

If the WiFi is disabled with Airplane Mode on, I assume the phoning home proclivity can not over-ride Airplane Mode, but I often forget to turn Airplane Mode on. I'll be keeping an eye on my router log to see if it also phones home with Airplane Mode on.

I realize that the Kindle is going to communicate with Amazon for various reasons (I have the model that displays downloaded ads), but since the universally held assumption about power buttons is that power buttons turn off the power to devices completely, this seems to me sneaky.

One possibility is that the device will activate its WiFi on a plane or other place where WiFi should not be used, with the user confident that that couldn't happen, because the power has been switched off.

[Dave329]

Are you sure you are powering off?

to power off ,press the the power button for several seconds and you will get an option to turn screen off . select that and you will see a blank screen.Then it is powerd off

pressing the power button once just puts the kindle to sleep and you see the screen saver.its not actually powering off.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by bonacker

If the WiFi is disabled with Airplane Mode on, I assume the phoning home proclivity can not over-ride Airplane Mode, but I often forget to turn Airplane Mode on. I'll be keeping an eye on my router log to see if it also phones home with Airplane Mode on.

I realize that the Kindle is going to communicate with Amazon for various reasons (I have the model that displays downloaded ads), but since the universally held assumption about power buttons is that power buttons turn off the power to devices completely, this seems to me sneaky.

One possibility is that the device will activate its WiFi on a plane or other place where WiFi should not be used, with the user confident that that couldn't happen, because the power has been switched off.

I think that's why Amazon includes the Airplane Mode -- so you can make sure the Kindle definitely does not come on when you're on an airplane. Just hitting the power switch puts the Kindle in Sleep Mode. If you want to power off your Kindle, you'll have to follow Dave320's instructions. I'm pretty sure your Kindle won't power itself back on, but it definitely will come out of Sleep Mode to check for ad updates.

[dsmid]

Sorry guys, Kindle cannot be powered off completely.
To do that, you would need SSH access.
It can only suspend to RAM, with or without blanking the screen.

See this thread for more:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=252327

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bonacker

I recently bought the cheapest Kindle e-reader. I think it's called the Kindle 6, but I've seen different model numbers for it. Amazon introduced it in October '14. It seems to have the same firmware as the new Paperwhite.

I found something interesting that I thought I'd post: Even when the power is off, the Kindle phones home. I saw this while looking through the log of my WiFi router. It went to Amazon.com. This means that "off" doesn't really mean power off.

You can't "power off" a Kindle. All you can do is put it to sleep.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Dave329

Are you sure you are powering off?

to power off ,press the the power button for several seconds and you will get an option to turn screen off . select that and you will see a blank screen.Then it is powerd off

No, that's just "sleep mode with a blank screen". You can't power off a Kindle. You can reboot it, but you can't power it off.

[dordale]

Originally Posted by bonacker

If the WiFi is disabled with Airplane Mode on, I assume the phoning home proclivity can not over-ride Airplane Mode, but I often forget to turn Airplane Mode on. I'll be keeping an eye on my router log to see if it also phones home with Airplane Mode on.

As others have posted, you can't really power off a Kindle--and it is normal for the Kindle to communicate--downloading updates, etc from Amazon when it is in sleep mode. When Wi-Fi is off (airplane mode on) there won't be any attempts by the Kindle to contact Amazon's servers. If you don't want your Kindle to contact Amazon when sleeping why not just leave Airplane Mode on most of the time? That will save battery life as well. Then you just have to turn wi-fi on when you want to connect to Amazon.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You can't "power off" a Kindle. All you can do is put it to sleep.

Okay, but there is a difference between what you get when tap the off/on button and when you hold it down for 20 seconds, isn't there? Couldn't one be called "Deep Sleep?"

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Okay, but there is a difference between what you get when tap the off/on button and when you hold it down for 20 seconds, isn't there? Couldn't one be called "Deep Sleep?"

Holding it for 20 reboots it.

I am not sure what holding it down for ~7-10 seconds does do, but I am pretty sure it still uses WiFi...

[dsmid]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Okay, but there is a difference between what you get when tap the off/on button and when you hold it down for 20 seconds, isn't there? Couldn't one be called "Deep Sleep?"

No. There's no difference besides the screen state.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Holding it for 20 reboots it.

I am not sure what holding it down for ~7-10 seconds does do, but I am pretty sure it still uses WiFi...

Yeah, I meant 7-10 seconds (it's been a while). Okay. So the only way to turn off is the WiFi is to "Turn off Wireless" in the Touch (and probably the newer Kindles) and use "Airport Mode on the K4 (and older Kindles). It shouldn't be any harder to remember to turn off WiFi on the Kindle then it is to remember to turn it off on the cellphone.

Thanks.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by dsmid

No. There's no difference besides the screen state.

So your Kindle is just lulling you into a false sense of security. Sneaky little devils.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Yeah, I meant 7-10 seconds (it's been a while). Okay. So the only way to turn off is the WiFi is to "Turn off Wireless" in the Touch (and probably the newer Kindles) and use "Airport Mode on the K4 (and older Kindles).

Yes, that's absolutely right.

[Readirect]

Originally Posted by bonacker

I recently bought the cheapest Kindle e-reader. I think it's called the Kindle 6, but I've seen different model numbers for it. Amazon introduced it in October '14. It seems to have the same firmware as the new Paperwhite.

I found something interesting that I thought I'd post: Even when the power is off, the Kindle phones home.

There's a fix that I found awhile back (around here, I think) which claims to prevent Amazon's drive-by updates. I've been using it for several months now and, so far, it has left my firmware untouched.

Create an empty folder on the Kindle's root with the name

update.bin.tmp.partial

The concept (as I recall) is that Aunt Amazon sees that folder and expects to find a partial download. When it can't find anything, Auntie gets confused and goes away. It doesn't stop the Kindle from phoning home, it just keeps bad things from happening as a result (like firmware 5.6.1)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Readirect

There's a fix that I found awhile back (around here, I think) which claims to prevent Amazon's drive-by updates. I've been using it for several months now and, so far, it has left my firmware untouched.

Create an empty folder on the Kindle's root with the name

update.bin.tmp.partial

The concept (as I recall) is that Aunt Amazon sees that folder and expects to find a partial download. When it can't find anything, Auntie gets confused and goes away. It doesn't stop the Kindle from phoning home, it just keeps bad things from happening as a result (like firmware 5.6.1)

This is well-known, but appears to have absolutely nothing to do with the topic of this thread.