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A major update to Amazon’s Comixology app will be rolling out this fall – one which will further integrate the comics reading platform with the main Amazon site. According to an email to users from Comixology co-founder/CEO David Steinberger (who is also Amazon’s head of comics worldwide), these are “important changes” – some of which are in response to customer demand.
Full integration with Amazon
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The biggest change will be a complete integration of Comixology into Amazon in terms of purchases and the platform. When the Comixology app update rolls out, Steinberger says the Comixology.com homepage will be redirected to an Amazon.com section – so no more Comixology.com.
While previously you could visit Comixology.com directly or peruse its collection through Amazon (and its app), once the app update comes through browser users’ only option will be through Amazon.com. All Comixology users will be required to merge their accounts with an Amazon account – something it has been recommending (but not requiring) for the past few years.
This is part of what Steinberger calls a “revamped digital comics shopping experience,” and appears similar to how people who visit Kindle.com are redirected to a section of Amazon.com.
The Comixology section of Amazon.com (opens in new tab) is already online, if you’re interested.
Reading comics
As far as the actual reading of comics on Comixology, Steinberger says there will be some “fun” but unspecified new navigation features in its Guided View presentation, as well as more options for filtering and sorting the comics in Comixology (and your personal) collection.
The fall Comixology app update is also expected to result in “faster, more reliable” downloading for Android and iOS devices. And a feature iOS users have had for some time, being able to read a comic while it’s downloading, will be added to the new iteration of the Android app.
Kindle & Prime users
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For those who read comics using a Kindle device or the Kindle app, you will now be able to read the comics you buy regardless if you purchased them through the Comixology app or through Amazon itself.
And speaking of Kindle, for those who are members of Kindle Unlimited and/or Amazon Prime, the new version of the Comixology app will allow you to input your credentials in order to directly read various Comixology Originals and other comics available to members of those Amazon services. This would include the eight upcoming creator-owned titles Scott Snyder is writing.
Additional details about what Steinberger calls “our new features and exciting changes” will be revealed in “the next couple of weeks.”
And for those comics readers who have asked Comixology (and us) when Comixology Unlimited will be available outside the US, the company says “this is a popular request but we don’t have anything to announce just yet.” That being said, Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading (which are both available outside the US) will be able to read Comixology Originals titles in either the Kindle or Comixology apps this fall.
Amazon hasn’t specified when exactly this fall this Comixology app update will release but it says that once it does, previous versions of the app will no longer be supported and will become completely inoperable “soon” after the update.
Comixology is one of several ways to read comics digitally. Check out our recommended best digital comics readers.
