It’s a well-known—and highly annoying—fact that you can’t buy Kindle books directly from the iOS Kindle app.
Sure, there is a way to buy Kindle books on an iPhone or iPad by navigating to the Kindle store from the Safari web browser, but it’s a clunky solution.
But while you still can’t (and likely won’t ever be able to) buy Kindle books directly from the Kindle iOS app, the app will, in fact, let you download free samples—no Safari required.
The trick? Here goes…
- Just launch the Kindle app, go to the main Library screen, tap the Menu button in the top-left corner, then tap Search.
- Next, type the name of any book or author.
- Any matching books in your personal Kindle collection will appear at the top of your search results. Below that, though, will be a second list labeled “Kindle Free Samples.”
- Tap a title in the list, and the free sample should start downloading instantly. Once the download is completed, you’ll find it in your Kindle library, or you can just tap the title directly from your search results.
- Want to buy the complete book? Well, you can add it to your Amazon “wish list” by tapping a button, but you’ll still need to jump back to Safari to hit the “Buy Now” button.
Click here for more iOS tips, or click here for Kindle help!