FAQ: Mobipocket Files on the Kindle for Android App

Let’s say you have some books in Mobipocket format. For example, you might have these books, to pick a publisher and author at random.

How do you read them on the Kindle for Android app?

While the app itself is definitely geared towards buying Kindle books straight from Amazon, you can sideload Mobipocket files as well.

If you mount the external storage of your Android device, you should see a kindle/ directory containing books. Just copy the .mobi file in there, and unmount the storage. When you next run the Kindle app, your new book should show up.

Note that this may not work for encrypted Mobipocket files — I have only tested on unencrypted ones, because I only own unencrypted ones.

Bear in mind that many technical books, like these fine books, are not designed to be read on really small screens, like on Android phones. Code listings, in particular, may be difficult to read. If you have the book in multiple formats — such as these books in PDF, EPUB, and Kindle — you might swap between formats. For example, the free Adobe Reader app for Android is fairly lousy for ebooks, because it does not remember where you left off. On the other hand, it will show code listings better. So, you might use the Kindle app for reading and the PDF reader for examining code listings of interest.