If you’re looking for an e-reader that allows you to buy expensive bestsellers at your local independent bookstores, your research will inevitably lead you to Rakuten’s Kobo e-reader. But it turns out that this reputation is largely based on outdated methods of purchasing Kobo books, which involve signing up for a Kobo account on bookstore websites.

While there are a handful of independent bookstores around the country that still support Kobo through this website method, most of that type of support ended years ago. I have found it impossible to purchase e-books for my newly purchased Kobo at any of my beloved local bookstores.

I want to support these bookstores and I don’t want to have a physical copy of every book I read. I also want to use an e-reader instead of an Android or iOS app on a phone or tablet because e-readers offer long battery life, digital ink, and low-glare screens. These allow me to read comfortably for hours, even outdoors, similar to a physical book.

One solution for Kobo owners, originally promised for 2025, was a partnership with Bookshop.org, an Amazon competitor that supports local bookstores with every order. Bookshop.org currently offers eBooks through its mobile app for iOS and Android.

That partnership was initially promised for 2025 and then delayed until 2026, and for a brief period earlier this year it looked like it would be delayed indefinitely.

After Bookshop.org changed the wording on its webpage referencing Kobo support, removing “2026” and replacing it with “sometime in the future,” I reached out for a status update.

Bookshop.org founder and CEO Andy Hunter told me in an emailed response that progress has already been made with Kobo. The website has been updated and it says once again that support is expected to roll out “later this year.”

“The Kobo integration is something that both Kobo and Bookshop.org want to see happen,” Hunter said.

The delay has been on both the commercial and engineering sides to ensure that it is “done in a way that respects publishers’ requirements for digital rights management. It took us some time to negotiate the commercial terms and allocate the necessary engineering resources,” he explained.

Hunter, whose company also competes with Amazon by selling physical books, says his engineers have been focused on improving the mobile app, which launched about 15 months ago.

Now its focus is once again on Kobo support, although the timing remains vague. “We have recently reached a commercial agreement with Kobo and are confident that the collaboration will happen, but we cannot promise a specific release date until the engineering work is more advanced,” Hunter said.

Obviously, whether Bookshop.org discovers Kobo support or not, Kobo users don’t have to buy all their books from Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten. Kobo users can read a large selection of books without digital rights management (DRM) on their readers and a large selection (but not all) of library books offered through Overdrive. Independent e-book store eBooks.com also offers DRM-protected books in a Kobo-compatible format, it says.

Another solution, if your goal is to help local bookstores with e-book purchases, is to use a different e-reader. An Android reader like Boox or Meebook that supports the Google Play app store should be able to download the Bookshop.org app, the bookseller says.

Still, like many other Kobo owners, I’m in favor of the Bookshop.org integration coming to fruition. Supporting local independent bookstores was my main motivation for purchasing this particular e-reader, fooled by my online research (and ChatGPT’s trusting advice).

Now that I have a Kobo Libra Color, I really love its reading screen, fast response, and long battery life. I also still keep my six-year-old Kindle for the same reasons.

But I also love local small-business bookstores with their personalized recommendations, support of local authors, and pure love of books. We expect the leading e-commerce site supporting local stores, Bookshop.org, to soon support the popular Kobo device, which has 12 million users in 190 countries.