Kobo’s latest 6.0 beta update is causing serious problems for some e-readers. Users are reporting missing books, annotations and reading statistics, as well as sluggish performance and synchronisation issues.
The affected models are the Kobo Libra Colour, Clara BW and Clara Colour, according to Kobo’s own troubleshooting page. The company says software versions 5.18.270971 and 6.0.274403 are affected. Its engineering team has identified the bug and is working on a fix.
The problems appear to go beyond a few missing files. Owners have reported issues with sideloaded books, collections and Libby synchronization. Meanwhile, one Clara BW user described a sluggish interface, repeated “loading” messages and a lost Libby login after installing the beta.
The good news is that Kobo says the missing data hasn’t actually been deleted. According to the company, books, annotations, statistics and other affected data should be restored automatically. This will happen once the forthcoming software update is installed.
There is, however, one particularly important warning for anyone affected: don’t try to roll back to older firmware or reinstall an earlier version of the software. Kobo says doing so could permanently delete the missing content.
That makes this a slightly awkward situation for anyone who installed the beta expecting to try out the latest software. The affected e-readers aren’t necessarily losing their data permanently. However, the current software can make important parts of the library and reading history appear to have disappeared.
Kobo hasn’t provided a specific release date for the fix yet, only confirming that its engineering team is preparing one. Until then, affected owners should leave the device as it is rather than attempting a firmware rollback.
For anyone who hasn’t installed the 6.0 beta yet, the current reports also make a good case for waiting. It would be wise to hold off until Kobo resolves the issue before jumping in.
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