Five Life Hacks Every Xteink User Should Know.

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Most people read e-books on their phones or Kindles, and that’s fine. But for more discerning (if not daring) digital readers, I recommend exploring the world beyond the Amazon ecosystem—especially with one of the tiny e-readers from Xteink, a Chinese tech company with an unfortunate name but excellent devices.

Right out of the box, the Xteink X3 , X4 , or X4 Pro might seem a bit finicky or even intimidating. But once you master the basics of their clunky operating systems and loading a few books, you’ll quickly discover they’re incredibly portable and a pleasure to read without distractions. And once you become a fan, you can use these tips and tricks to get even more out of your incredibly small e-reader.

Xteink X4 Pro Pocket E-Reader

$99.00 at Xteink

$99.00 at Xteink
Xteink X3 Pocket E-Reader with 3.7-inch Screen

$69.00 on Amazon
$79.00. $10.00 off.

$69.00 on Amazon
$79.00. $10.00 off.
Xteink X4 Pocket E-Reader with 4.3-inch Screen

$69.00 on Amazon

$69.00 on Amazon

Convert your EPUB files to XTC format to preserve their formatting.

While matching e-book formats to print formats has always been a challenge, the built-in software included with all Xteink devices is particularly poor at this. While you can read EPUB files loaded onto them, they may display incorrect formatting, such as extra spaces between paragraphs or missing indents. Furthermore, these devices still can’t display bold or italicized text, let alone books with embedded diagrams or images.

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This problem can be solved by converting your books to the proprietary XTC format before uploading them to your e-reader. Unlike a text document, an XTC file is essentially a set of bitmapped images of the original e-book. This means all images, stylized headings, and text formatting will be preserved, but with some drawbacks: the image may appear slightly less crisp, and the file size will be significantly larger—50 MB or more, depending on the book, compared to approximately 2 MB for most EPUB files.

There are several ways to convert your EPUB files to XTC files, but the easiest is a web converter that allows you to customize font selection, page orientation, text alignment, and other settings, and then download the finished result for installation on your device.

For additional features, flash a custom operating system.

If switching to XTC seems too complicated or limiting, you have another option: replacing the Xteink firmware entirely. Xteink devices run on extremely simple ESP32 processors, and they’re largely open-source and easily hackable—meaning you can overwrite the stock firmware without any prior jailbreaking. If that sounds complicated, it’s not: in less than a year since the Xteink X4’s launch, the device has amasseda huge online following of techies and enthusiasts . They’ve not only created a custom firmware for Xteink devices —called CrossPoint Reader —but also developed a website with a tool that lets you flash the new firmware to your device with a single click . (Note: As of this writing, CrossPoint is not yet available for the new X4 Pro, although it is in development.)

After upgrading to CrossPoint, you’ll suddenly find your Xteink eReader much more enjoyable to use: menus and options are simplified, and there are numerous improvements, including a wider selection of fonts and expanded support for customizing margins, line spacing, and more. But there’s more to it. There are numerous CrossPoint “forks,” built on the same core platform but offering different tools and custom options. Flashing them requires one extra step—first downloading the .bin files from GitHub and then selecting “Custom .bin” on the CrossPoint flashing page —but it’s still a fairly straightforward process. Here are a few interesting options worth considering, or you can browse the full list :

  • CrossInk : This popular variation of the CrossPoint font features improved features and adds basic reading statistics.

  • CrossWordle : This option adds a Wordle-like game to the CrossPoint firmware.

  • CPR-vCodex : This CrossPoint branch is statistics-focused and offers detailed tools for tracking and gamifying the reading process.

  • CrossPet : This program somehow adds a virtual chicken that looks like a Tamagotchi to your e-reader.

  • Biscuit : Aiming to turn your Xteink device into more than just an e-reader, Biscuit takes tile-based navigation and adds features like a Bluetooth scanner, a simple chat app, a password manager, calculator and flashcard apps, and a few games (including a perfectly decent Tetris clone).

Use this Calibre plugin to optimize your books for CrossPoint.

Even with custom firmware, achieving the desired appearance of eBook files on Xteink devices can be challenging, but another one-click tool can help. Calibre is a popular free program for managing your eBook library on your computer, allowing you to customize files before transferring them to your device. A team of developers has created a plugin for the Calibre app that automatically optimizes EPUB files for use with CrossPoint.

To get started , download the .zip file from this page . Open Calibre, then in the Preferences menu, select Advanced > Plugins > Load Plugin from File and select the .zip file to install. Restart Calibre. Add the tool to the toolbar by going to Preferences > Interface > Toolbars & Menus . To use it to optimize your EPUB files, select one or more of them in Calibre, then click EPUB Workflow in the toolbar. Check the options you want to change, from reducing image size to removing unnecessary code and fixing errors in the file, then click OK.

After this, you can use another Calibre plugin to send books directly to your device. To use it, follow this link , download the .zip file, and repeat the process described above to install it. On your Xteink device with CrossPoint installed, connect to the same Wi-Fi network as your computer, then go to File Transfer > Connect to Calibre Library . Your device will now appear in Calibre, and you can use the “Send to Device” button to download files directly to it.

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Create a KOreader account to sync your reading progress across multiple devices.

E-ink devices (Xteink) are great for reading on the go, but perhaps you prefer using a larger-screen device when you’re out and about. There’s an easy way to sync your reading progress between devices, provided you have another e-reader that supports KOReader —a free, open-source app specifically designed for e-ink displays. KOReader automatically syncs with Kobo devices, but you can also install it on an Android device, whether it’s your phone or an Android tablet with e-ink, such as the Boox Palma . On iPhone, you can install the Readest app from the App Store; it has a plugin for syncing with KOReader. (There’s no easy syncing option with a Kindle, unless you’re willing to jailbreak the device .)

Syncing your progress is quite simple—all you need to do is upload the same EPUB file to both devices and sign in to the same KOsync account (and the same server) on both devices. The CrossPoint Reader website has a page where you can create a KOsync account : choose a username and password, and leave the server as default. Then, sign in to KOReader Sync on your Android device (the process may vary depending on the device or app you’re using) and use the same credentials on your Xteink device by going to Settings > System > KOReader Sync . Once you’re properly signed in, syncing your progress is as simple as returning to the KOReader Sync menu on your Xteink device and selecting “Authentication.”

Try these sources to find public domain ebooks with a more attractive appearance.

Xteink-based devices are great because they use an open platform that doesn’t lock you into any specific retailer (unlike the Kindle, which locks you into Amazon). The downside is that finding books to read on them can be much more difficult, as retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble typically load their ebooks with digital rights management (DRM) software, preventing you from downloading them to just any device.

In my Xteink X4 Pro review , I discuss the “DRM issue” in more detail and suggest several places to buy DRM-free books, but the easiest way is to look for books freely available in the public domain. Unfortunately, not all DRM-free EPUB files are created equal—for example, those found on Project Gutenberg may have poor formatting, making them look like a website from 1991.

Luckily, there are several places to find public domain ebooks that don’t seem worth the price you paid for them (which is to say, nothing). Here are a few I’d recommend the next time you’re in the mood for a classic:

  • Global Grey E-Books : This site is a labor of love for the woman who runs it; she personally formats all the EPUB files to ensure they’re easy to read. I’m not a fan of the AI-generated covers she prefers, but that’s a minor gripe considering she does it all for free.

  • Standard Ebooks : According to the About page, this donation-supported ebook repository, Standard Ebooks, is “a volunteer-run project whose goal is to create a collection of high-quality, carefully formatted, accessible, open-source, and free public domain ebooks that meet or exceed the quality of commercial ebooks.” I’d say they’ve succeeded: every book in their collection I’ve reviewed looks indistinguishable from a commercial ebook. Even the covers are quite attractive, created using classic works of art, also in the public domain.

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