Why remove the progression bar?

Hi everyone,

I recently upgraded to a Kindle Paperwhite 12th generation after years of using an older model (Gen 4 from 2012), and I have to say I’m feeling pretty frustrated. :( On the older models, there was a progress bar at the bottom that showed the percentage of the book you had read and, most importantly, the chapter divisions. It was super helpful because it gave you a quick idea of chapter lengths—whether they were long or short—and helped you plan your reading time better. The bar even had a little arrow that marked where you started your reading session, as well as the total percentage of the book you’d completed.

With the technology available in these newer generations, I believe this progress bar could easily be brought back as an optional setting in the preferences, so no one would be forced to use it. I don’t understand why such a useful feature was removed in the first place.

The newer Kindles have added "modern" features, like the estimated time to finish a chapter or the book. While that’s fine in theory, it lacks key information. With the older progress bar, you could see EVERYTHING at once: the percentage of the book you’d read, the chapter sizes, how many chapters were left, and your starting point for the session. With the current options, you can only view one piece of information at a time, which feels limiting.

I’m not planning to return my Kindle 12th gen. I’m sure I’ll eventually get used to it (or so I hope). But I’m seriously considering writing an email to Amazon to explain all this, even if one email alone probably won’t make a difference. That’s why I encourage the Reddit community to do the same.

Adding this feature back in future software updates wouldn’t be difficult, and I’m sure many users would appreciate it. Which option are you using that you miss the progression bar?

Thanks for listening to me vent 😅.