Kobo 6.0 beta renders certain e-readers unusable

Kobo's rollout of its 6.0 beta software has left a trail of frustrated e-reader owners, with users reporting missing books, annotations, reading statistics and other data following the update. Kobo’s own troubleshooting page confirms that software versions 5.18.270971 and 6.0.274403 are affected, specifically on the Libra Colour, Clara BW and Clara Colour. The company says its engineering team has identified the bug and is preparing a fix.

User reports indicate that the problems extend beyond missing content. One Clara BW owner described a sluggish interface, frequent "loading" messages and a lost Libby login after installing the beta. Other users have reported issues involving sideloaded books, collections and Libby synchronization, highlighting a range of problems rather than a single isolated fault.

As can be seen in the screenshot above, Kobo states that the missing data has not actually been deleted and should be restored automatically via a forthcoming software update. Crucially, affected owners are warned against rolling back or reinstalling older firmware, as doing so can permanently delete the missing content.