How to Turn Off a Kindle Paperwhite

This article explains how to turn off a Kindle Paperwhite screen and enable airplane mode. There is no way to turn off a Kindle Paperwhite in the traditional sense, so turning on airplane mode and turning off the screen is the closest you can get.

How to Turn Off a Kindle Paperwhite

Your Kindle Paperwhite is designed to go into a low power mode automatically after you haven’t used it for a while, but you can also completely shut off the screen if you want to save more power. If you aren’t going to use your Kindle for a while, you may want to consider using this method to shut off the screen.

Here’s how to turn off a Kindle Paperwhite screen:

1. Press and hold the power button.

2. Tap Screen Off.

3. The Kindle screen will turn off.

How Do I Completely Turn Off My Kindle Paperwhite?

There is no way to completely turn off a Kindle Paperwhite. Unlike tablets, phones, and other devices, the Kindle Paperwhite isn’t designed to completely turn off. You can restart it, and you can turn the screen off, but you can’t actually turn the device off in a way that will leave it in a fully powered down state.

If you want to prevent your battery from draining when you aren't using your Paperwhite, you can turn on airplane mode in addition to turning off the screen. Airplane mode disables the communication hardware in your Paperwhite and causes it to enter the lowest possible power state.

Here's how to turn on airplane mode on a Paperwhite:

1. Tap and pull down from the top of the screen.

2. Tap Airplane Mode (airplane icon).

3. Your Kindle will enter Airplane Mode.

Why Does My Kindle Paperwhite Not Turn Off?

The Kindle Paperwhite is an e-reader, so it’s designed to provide an experience as close to reading on paper as possible. Generally, these devices designed it to be ready the moment you pick it up (it would be annoying to wait for a book to boot up every time you want to read it). Also, e-ink screens only use power when changing states, so when text (or an image) is displayed on the screen, it's not using any power to do so.