What goes around, comes around. But if you lose an item without any way for it to come back around to you, it makes it harder for good karma to get it back in your hands. Most journals have a page that designates its owner, and luggage tags ensure that your belongings make it back to you. So why, out of all your belongings, should you not create a simple message on your expensive devices?

Most devices – especially in theAppleecosystem – have built-in measures to put phones, tablets, laptops, and more in a sort of ‘Lost Mode’ that can either protect your private data in the case of theft or help a Good Samaritan who found your device get it back to you. A couple of years ago, I left myiPhonein a restaurant and someone kindly returned it to me as soon as I sent a message to the lockscreen on whom it belonged to.

Kindle Paperwhite tag

Good people are out there, and they would want someone to make the same kind of gesture and return their device if the roles were reversed. There are also bookworms out there who would perish without their belovedKindle– if you’re one of them, you need to update this one setting immediately so that a fellow reader can get it back to you if you lose it.

Kindle Paperwhite (2024)

Amazon’s new Kindle Paperwhite is its fastest yet, with 25 percent faster page turns. It also has a larger 7-inch display.

Don’t take your Kindle to the beach without reading this first

Amazon says it’s safe, but here’s what you actually need to do if your Kindle makes a splash.

Create a recovery message

By adding personal info

If I lost my Kindle Paperwhite, I wouldn’t shut up about it until I had another in my hands. Kindles are simple devices, devoted to digital reading almost exclusively, but that doesn’t undermine their value in this society of do-it-all devices. I quite literally treat the skinny tablet as a book itself, and have next to no personal information on it – which includes a passcode to unlock it.

So, if someone recovers my unsupervised Kindle on a train car, they’ll be able to identify who it belongs to and be able to return it. But if I’m worried about theft or my data, I can deregister my account remotely. Since Kindles are expensive, though, I’d like to give someone the chance to get my Paperwhite back to me. So, I created a recovery message in the event that someone kind comes along:

Holding a Kindle Paperwhite in front of a wave picture.

How many books can your Kindle actually store?

From a 16GB base to a 32GB Signature Edition, here’s a breakdown of how much literature your device can actually store.

You don’t want to give sensitive personal information away – such as your address – but a way to contact you is ideal. For my recovery message, I wrote:

A Kindle with Personal info open.

If found, please contact (PHONE NUMBER) or email me at (EMAIL). Thank you so much!

If you get in contact with someone who wants to return your model, I highly recommend having them mail it to a neutral location, meeting in a public place to pick it up, or having them return it to a front desk, store clerk, or lost and found. Your safety trumps that of the device’s, always.

Holding a Kindle Paperwhite over the pool.

It’s just a measure that could save you a couple of hundred dollars on a replacement Kindle. Someone with good intentions may have no way of returning your device to you if they have no idea who to bring it back to or where.

There’s only one Kindle actually worth buying right now

With three core reading models, you might be wondering which Kindle is worth your money. I’m here to answer that question.

Kindle graphic.