You can share Kindle books with your spouse, children, or other adults in your home by setting up an Amazon Household and enabling the Family Library feature. This lets your family access each other’s purchased Kindle books on their own devices while keeping their reading progress and personal settings separate.
What you need to share Kindle books with family
To share Kindle books, you must create an Amazon Household. Each adult in the household needs their own Amazon account. The two adults must agree to share payment methods. An Amazon Household can include up to two adults and four children, but the original specifies up to four child profiles.
How to set up an Amazon Household and add members
- Go to the Amazon Household page on a web browser.
- Choose “Add Adult” or “Add a Child” depending on who you want to add. During setup, you can add a teen by choosing "Add a Teen" on the Amazon Household page.
- If adding an adult, you can send an email invitation or sign up together to verify accounts. When adding an adult, you need their email address and permission to share their payment information. The adult must accept the invitation and agree to share payment methods.
- If adding a child, provide their name and birthdate. They will be added as a child profile under your account. For child family members, you will have control over their settings and content access.
The number of household members you can add may depend on your Amazon Prime membership plan.
How to enable Family Library and share your books
During Amazon Household setup, you will be prompted to review content-sharing settings for the Family Library, where you can choose to share eBooks. To enable Family Library, go to "Manage Your Content and Devices" > "Settings" tab > "Households and Family Library". If your books were not automatically shared during setup, you can manually share them.
- To manually share books, navigate from "Accounts & Lists" > "Manage content and devices" > "Books", select titles, and click "Add to Library" (or "Add to Family Library").
- Choose the family member you want to share with from the dropdown menu.
Sharing Kindle Unlimited and other important rules
Kindle Unlimited subscriptions are tied to a single Amazon account, but borrowed titles can be shared with other members of your Amazon Household. Teen accounts (13-17 years old) cannot share content through Family Library. Adults in an Amazon Household cannot see each other’s orders, browsing history, or personal content. Not all Kindle books are eligible for sharing; publishers can disable the sharing feature for their books. If a book is not eligible, you will not see the option to add it to your Family Library.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I share Kindle books with family members who are not in the same household?
No, the Family Library feature is designed to share books only with members of your Amazon Household.
Can I share Kindle books with family members using different devices?
Yes, shared books can be accessed from any compatible Kindle device or the Kindle app on smartphones and tablets.
Is there a limit to how many Kindle books I can share?
There is no set limit on the number of books you can share, but only books that are eligible for sharing can be added to the Family Library.
Is there a limit to the number of family members I can share Kindle books with?
Up to two adult members and four child profiles.
What is Amazon Kindle Unlimited?
Amazon Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service that lets you borrow and read as many eBooks as you like from a large catalog. While the subscription is tied to one account, borrowed titles can be shared with your Amazon Household.
Can I share books with my teen in an Amazon Household?
No, teen accounts (ages 13-17) cannot share content through Family Library. They can still access books you purchase for them through other methods.
Related reading: How To Share Kindle Books With Your Family And Friends.
