E-readers are truly a book lover’s best friend, allowing you to store thousands of books in a single compact device. And with the newest models sporting waterproof builds and backlit displays, you can read in low light without straining your eyes or take your book to the beach without ruining the pages. Many even let you translate, highlight, or look up the definitions of words with a single touch.

E-readers are great devices for readers of any age, but they include some features that make them especially convenient for older adults. Nearly all of them come with robust accessibility options that let you change the size or boldness of the font, so each page is comfortable to read. They also tend to be streamlined devices with interfaces that are easy to set up and navigate.

Whether you’re shopping for yourself or for a book lover in your life, we’ve done the research to find the best e-readers for seniors. You can also check out our more general list of the best e-readers.

Best Overall

  • Waterproof

  • Screen looks like paper

  • Integration with Audible audiobooks

  • Cheaper model has built-in ads

“Setting the Paperwhite up was very easy and user-friendly. It flits through the general settings, such as language selection, and then boots up, providing an easy bar to show its progress.” — Rebecca Isaacs, Product Tester

Best Features

  • Budget price

  • Wider array of tablet features

  • Alexa compatibility

  • Screen does not read like paper

  • Limited processing power

“Navigating the menus of the Fire HD 8 is mostly enjoyable, but multitasking becomes problematic if you’re used to the speed and fluidity of an iPad.” — Jordan Oloman, Product Tester

Best Essentials

  • Front-lit display

  • Battery lasts for weeks between charges

  • Integration with Audible audiobooks

  • Lower-resolution screen

“Finding books is very easy. Tapping the Kindle store button (aptly shaped like a shopping cart), shows you all your options.” — Rebecca Isaacs, Product Tester

Best Splurge

  • Waterproof

  • Adjustable light temperature

  • Ergonomic design

  • More expensive

  • Cheaper model has built-in ads

“Functionally, we loved the addition of the grip. The wedge naturally shifts the weight of the device into your palm for a comfortable grip.” — Sandra Stafford, Product Tester

Best Large Screen

Kobo Forma

  • 8-inch display at 300ppi

  • Adjustable light temperature

  • Waterproof

  • More expensive

  • No audiobook support

The Forma is their largest model, offering a spacious eight-inch screen with 300ppi resolution. Like other high-end e-readers, the Kobo Forma’s display is grayscale and looks like paper, remaining glare-free even in direct sunlight. The front light gently illuminates the screen for comfortable low-light reading, and the light temperature is adjustable from warm to cool. Despite the large screen size, the Forma’s ultra-slim design makes it lightweight and very comfortable to hold, and it can support both landscape and portrait orientation depending on how you like to read. 

“The touchscreen page-turn prompts are also very responsive. I chose to turn off touch prompts and stick with swiping motions only.” — Yoona Wagener, Product Tester

Featuring a six-inch glare-free display, the Nia is the most portable device in the Kobo lineup. And while many other e-readers can support library lending, the Nia puts this feature front and center with built-in public library borrowing through OverDrive. If you prefer borrowing to buying, other e-readers can complicate this process by only supporting certain kinds of ebook file formats. The Nia has wide format compatibility and simplifies the borrowing process by allowing you to browse your local library’s collection right on your device. If you prefer to buy, it also includes access to millions of titles in the Kobo eBookstore.

Best for Library Borrowing

Kobo Nia

  • Adjustable display brightness

  • Excellent battery life

  • Streamlines public library borrowing

  • Less ergonomic design

The Nia features excellent battery life, an adjustable ComfortLight display brightness setting, and enough storage for 6,000 e-books. It has a typical tablet shape and relatively small bezels, which makes it travel-friendly but not quite as ergonomic.

“One of the coolest features I fell in love with was the OverDrive app on the Kobo Nia, which allows you to connect with an online library feature to check out books through the built-in Wi-Fi feature.” — Rebecca Isaacs, Product Tester

With a six-inch screen, the Nook GlowLight 3 is a great option for a reasonably priced e-reader. It incorporates Ambien GlowLight technology to block out blue light while allowing for hours of bedtime reading on a crisp, clear 300ppi display. 8GB of storage will hold thousands of books and can be easily stored on a cloud to create a digital library for subway commutes or flights. 

Best Buttons

Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight3

  • Smooth plastic design

  • Warm light to ease blue light reading

  • Customizable display

  • Bezel buttons for easy reading

  • Higher pixel density

  • Disjointed home page

  • Lower battery life

  • Not waterproof

  • Slow processor

Perhaps the most striking advantage is that it boasts a total of six buttons: two page-turning buttons on the left and right bezel, the power button up top, and the Home button on the bottom that can also activate the GlowLight feature. Gripping the device is comfortable and those who have issues interacting with touchscreen will find using this e-reader a breeze.

“Ambient technology ensures that you not only have just a light, but you can adjust the warmth to your liking.” — Rebecca Isaacs, Product Tester

About Our Trusted Experts

Emmeline Kaser is a former editor of Lifewire’s product round-ups and reviews. She has several years of experience researching and writing about consumer tech, including e-readers.

Rebecaa Isaacs has been writing for Lifewire since 2019 and has reviewed a large chunk of the e-readers on this roundup. As an avid reader herself, she owns a variety of Kindle devices.

Sandra Stafford is a writer who specializes in tech and writes about all sorts of gadgets, including tactical flashlights, blue light-blocking glasses, and e-readers.

Yoona Wagener has a background in content and technical writing. She tested the Kobo Forma on our list, and appreciated how responsive the touchscreen page-turn prompts were.

What to Look For in an E-Reader for Seniors

Size and Weight

If you’re looking for an e-reader for a senior, size and weight are things to take into consideration. Someone having trouble with fine motor control should consider a larger device with a big screen. If that’s not a problem, look into getting a lighter device so it doesn’t become burdensome to hold.

  • Will an e-reader save you money?
  • While the price gap between paperbacks and e-books has diminished somewhat in recent years, e-books are still almost universally cheaper, and there are tons of programs from various retailers and via various apps for getting free e-books weekly or monthly, or getting several as part of a sign-up incentive. Beyond that, there are apps like Scribd that offer unlimited access to a huge library of e-books (as well as magazines, audiobooks, and podcasts) for a single low monthly fee.
  • Should you buy an e-reader or tablet?
  • Deciding between an e-reader or tablet is largely about use case. If you already have a great smartphone, a lot of the functions of a fully featured tablet will probably be redundant, while an e-reader will offer a specialized device far superior for reading. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a connected device for a wide variety of functions, a tablet is definitely the way to go.
  • What are the best places to get e-books?
  • Beyond the aforementioned Scribd, there are a number of great outlets to pick up books for your e-reader. There’s the market leading Kindle app, of course, as well as Project Gutenberg, which hosts thousands of free e-books. On the paid side, some of the biggest available libraries are on Apple Books, eBooks.com, and Barnes and Noble’s online bookstore.

While the price gap between paperbacks and e-books has diminished somewhat in recent years, e-books are still almost universally cheaper, and there are tons of programs from various retailers and via various apps for getting free e-books weekly or monthly, or getting several as part of a sign-up incentive. Beyond that, there are apps like Scribd that offer unlimited access to a huge library of e-books (as well as magazines, audiobooks, and podcasts) for a single low monthly fee.

Deciding between an e-reader or tablet is largely about use case. If you already have a great smartphone, a lot of the functions of a fully featured tablet will probably be redundant, while an e-reader will offer a specialized device far superior for reading. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a connected device for a wide variety of functions, a tablet is definitely the way to go.

Beyond the aforementioned Scribd, there are a number of great outlets to pick up books for your e-reader. There’s the market leading Kindle app, of course, as well as Project Gutenberg, which hosts thousands of free e-books. On the paid side, some of the biggest available libraries are on Apple Books, eBooks.com, and Barnes and Noble’s online bookstore.

Contrast and Backlight

Many seniors have eyesight trouble, so you want to make sure the e-reader you choose has great contrast. You should also consider a model with a backlight, which makes reading easier regardless of lighting conditions.

Text Size

One of the advantages of e-readers—as opposed to traditional books—is that you can make the text much larger. It’s worth playing around with different e-readers to ensure that the text size is big enough for you (or the senior in your life) to read.