I switched my Kindle to this secret view, and I’m never going back

Planes, trains, and airplanes — all places you’ll find me with my trusty Kindle Paperwhite in hand. I’m a voracious reader who doesn’t have the muscle mass (or a strong enough tote) to lug around a library and a half of hard covers. Even a modest re-read of my favorite series, Throne of Glass, is too much paper to carry for one girl alone. Five-thousand and some pages really does add up.

It’s true that, in most public transportation and social settings, readers will usually be found posted up in a chair, reading their e-readers in normal vertical format. It’s the default, after all, and traditional books are typically printed in portrait. However, catch a reader mid-series on a beach towel or at 3AM saying “just one more chapter,” and they’ll probably have a game-changing setting enabled to make reading on their side even more convenient: landscape mode.

Didn’t know your Kindle could play that way? Lots of people don’t. So, here’s how to enable Landscape mode and read sideways like a pro.

How to put your Kindle in Landscape mode

Only five taps

Just like every other setting on Kindle, finding Landscape mode is easy and relatively intuitive. You don’t even have to exit out of the book you’re currently reading.

1. Start within a book you’re already reading. Tap the top of the page to open the menu options.
2. Tap the Aa option.
3. Select the Layout tab.
4. Under Orientation, tap the second option depicting Landscape mode.
5. Tap out of the menu, and your text will reorient.

There you have it — now rotate your Kindle 90 degrees and enjoy longer lines in your current read.

Why would I put my Kindle in Landscape mode?

Change of pace, or otherwise

Yes, dear reader, I know what you’re thinking: the text doesn’t change orientation no matter how you hold the Kindle — unlike on tablets and phones where we have to use Portrait Lock to keep the orientation the same when we lie on our sides. But there are a few reasons why Kindle-lovers out there are flocking to this not-so-new way to read.

First, readers who like lying on their side (especially to even out a tan if you’re at the beach or pool) thoroughly enjoy the landscape layout. It’s also incredibly popular for late-night readers, with users all over TikTok expressing their awe and excitement at discovering the setting.

Pocket-lint / TikTok

Finally, it’s simply a nice change of pace. Kindles may be single-use technology, but they’re still much more advanced than a regular hardcover or paperback. The ability to change text styles, font sizes, margins, and more provides a more refreshed reading experience in general. Not to mention, if someone isn’t particularly fond of reading normal physical books, they might find that the lack of passion was in the formatting, not the contents or act of reading books themselves.

If Landscape mode isn’t your cup of tea, don’t fret. There are plenty of other fun settings to mess with on your Kindle, not to mention on the Kindle app as well on your smartphone or tablet.