This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, solveyourtech.com earns from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
To lend a Kindle book today, share it through Family Library: add the other person to your Amazon Family, open the Content page on Amazon, choose Books, select the title, and select Add to Library. That is the sharing method Amazon currently documents for books you already own.
The older Loan this title feature, which sent a book to any friend for 14 days, is no longer described anywhere in Amazon’s help pages. If the person is not part of your household, the documented alternative is to buy them their own copy with Buy for others.
What Happened to “Loan This Title”
For years, Amazon let you loan an eligible Kindle book to anyone with an email address. You opened Manage Your Content and Devices, found the book, and picked Loan this title from its menu. The published rules at the time were that a book could be loaned once, for 14 days, and that you could not read it while it was out.
As of October 2026, Amazon’s help pages that explained lending and borrowing no longer load, and the Kindle Content Help page does not list a lending topic. Some guides say the feature ended in 2022, while others still describe it. Amazon has no current page that confirms either version, so treat the old loan steps as unsupported.
If you do see Loan this title in a book’s More actions menu, the book was marked as lendable by its publisher. You should not count on the option being there, and most books never had it. The two methods below are the ones you can rely on.
Family Library is part of Amazon Family, the feature Amazon used to call Amazon Household. It links separate Amazon accounts so they can share digital content. Check these points first:
- Separate accounts. Each adult needs their own Amazon account. The other adult must be 18 or older.
- One other adult only. An Amazon Family holds you, one other adult, and up to four children. Teens can be included only in limited cases, and Amazon says teen logins cannot share content through Family Library.
- A shared payment method. Amazon uses payment sharing to verify that two adults belong to the same household. In a new Amazon Family, the Family Organizer (the adult who creates it) shares their payment method with the other adult.
- A reading device or app. The other person reads shared books on a Kindle or in the Kindle app signed in to their own account.
Before you add an adult: the other adult will be able to see the payment method you share. Amazon also mentions a 12-month waiting period before an adult who leaves can join a different Amazon Family. Only link accounts with someone you trust and actually live with.
Step 1: Add the Other Adult to Your Amazon Family
Skip this section if the person is already in your Amazon Family. These steps follow Amazon’s Add an Adult to an Amazon Family help page.
- Go to Amazon.com and sign in to the account that owns the Kindle books you want to share.
- Open the Amazon Family page from your account settings.
- Under New – Add a new member, select Add Adult.
- Enter the person’s name and email address, then select Continue. Amazon sends them an invitation. As an alternative, choose Sign up together on this device if they are sitting next to you.
- Review the Family Library sharing settings when Amazon shows them. Leave eBooks checked to share your books, or clear the boxes if you would rather pick titles one at a time later.
The invited adult has 14 days to accept. Nothing is shared until they do.
Once the other person has joined, you can share individual titles. Amazon lists these steps on its Share Content Using Family Library page.
- Sign in to Amazon in a web browser and open the Content page. This is the content section of Manage Your Content and Devices.
- Choose Books to see the Kindle books on your account.
- Select the title you want to share.
- Select Add to Library. A new window opens with the Family Library options.
- Choose the family member who should get the book, then confirm.
Unlike the old loan feature, this is not a timed loan. The book stays in your account and you can keep reading it. The purchase always remains on the account that bought it.
How to Confirm It Worked and How to Undo It
Ask the other person to open their Kindle or the Kindle app while signed in to their own Amazon account and look in their library. The shared book should be available to download there. If it does not appear right away, have them sync the device and check again.
To take a book back, return to the Content page, select the same title, and open the Family Library options again to remove the member. Amazon says you can set sharing differently for each family member, so removing one person does not affect the others.
Keep two consequences in mind:
- When Family Library sharing is turned off, shared books that were already downloaded stop working on the other person’s devices. Their own purchases are not affected.
- When an adult leaves the Amazon Family, they lose access to shared content immediately. Each adult keeps what they bought themselves.
Lending to Someone Outside Your Household
Amazon does not document a way to hand a book you already own to a friend in another home. What it does offer is Buy for others, which purchases a new copy that the recipient keeps. This costs the price of the book, so it is a gift and not a loan.
- Open the Kindle book’s product page on Amazon.
- In the Buy for others box, select the quantity you want.
- Select the Buy for others button and enter the recipient’s email address at checkout.
- Complete the purchase. Amazon emails the recipient a link to redeem the book.
The recipient selects Redeem your gift in the email, then Redeem now, signs in, and picks the device the book should go to. Amazon’s Buy Kindle Books for Others page notes one important limit: the recipient must be in the same country as you. Copies that have not been redeemed can be sent to someone else or refunded.
If you skipped the email address at checkout, go to Your Orders, find the order, select Manage eBooks, and use Copy link with instructions to send the link yourself.
Sharing Kindle Unlimited Books
Kindle Unlimited titles are borrowed, not owned, so they follow a different path. Amazon’s help page for this says to select Share Your Kindle Content on the Home screen of the Kindle app, select the Amazon Family member, select the books, and then select Share Items. Only the primary Kindle Unlimited account holder can borrow the titles in the first place.
Troubleshooting
There is no “Loan this title” option
That is expected. Amazon no longer documents the feature, and even when it was active, only books whose publishers allowed lending showed the option. Use Family Library or Buy for others.
“Add to Library” is missing or does nothing
Check that you have an Amazon Family with another member in it and that the invitation was accepted. You also need to be signed in as an adult. Teen logins cannot share through Family Library. Menu names on the Content page change from time to time, so look for a Family Library entry in the book’s menu if the button is worded differently.
The other adult never received or accepted the invitation
Invitations expire after 14 days. Confirm that you used the email address tied to their Amazon account, then send a new invitation from the Amazon Family page.
Amazon will not let the person join
An Amazon Family allows only one other adult. Someone who recently left another Amazon Family may also have to wait before joining yours, because of the 12-month waiting period Amazon describes.
The gift recipient cannot redeem the book
This usually means they are in a different country. Amazon says the book may be unavailable there because of copyright restrictions. In that case the recipient may be offered an Amazon gift card in exchange, or you can request a refund for the unredeemed copy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still lend a Kindle book to a friend for 14 days?
Amazon’s current help pages do not describe 14-day loans to friends, and the old lending help page is gone. The documented ways to share are Family Library, for one other adult and children in your Amazon Family, and Buy for others, for anyone in your country.
Can I read a book while it is shared through Family Library?
Yes. Family Library gives the other person access to the book without removing it from your account. That is different from the old loan feature, which blocked the owner from reading during the loan.
Does the other person need a Kindle?
No. They can read shared or gifted books in the Kindle app on a phone, tablet, or computer, as long as they sign in with their own Amazon account. If you are shopping for an e-reader, you can Click here to see the Kindle devices on Amazon.
Do I have to share my whole library?
No. When you set up your Amazon Family you can uncheck the content types you do not want to share, and then add single books from the Content page with Add to Library.
Can I share Kindle books with my children?
Yes. Amazon says adults can share eBooks, apps, and games with child profiles in their Amazon Family, and can choose which titles each child sees. Sharing with children does not require payment sharing.
Is there a free way to let a friend read the same book?
Not through your own copy. Amazon does support borrowing Kindle books from public libraries, so a friend with a library card may be able to borrow the title that way, depending on what their library offers.
Next Steps
Set up your Amazon Family first, since the invitation can take a while to be accepted, then share one book and confirm it appears in the other person’s library. To read your own Kindle library on your phone as well, see how to sync Kindle books with your iPhone.
Related: How to Add Your Own Books (Like MOBI Files) to the iPad Kindle App.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read hundreds of millions of times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.