Readers of Kindle books on Android device are in a dilemma. So far buying a Kindle book on the Amazon app on an Android device has been easy but not for long, it seems. Over the weekend, there have been reports from the US that while purchasing ebooks via the app on Android, users are being redirected to a new screen that explains why the option is gone. In India, we are still able to buy Kindle books via the app.

First spotted by Ars Technica, a note explains why the option to buy books in the Android app has been removed — “to remain in compliance with the Google Play Store policies”.

Google Play billing takes a percentage of in-app purchases (it’s usually 30 per cent but in some cases it’s 10 per cent) and this is making several big companies remove purchases from the Android apps. Companies not using Google Play for in-app purchases have technically been blocked from issuing app updates since March 31 and a note on Google says: “Developers that are not compliant with the Payments policy will not be able to submit app updates until they bring their app into compliance unless an update is needed to fix a critical security issue. Starting June 1, 2022, any app that is still not compliant will be removed from Google Play.”

The same note adds that developers in India have until October 31, 2022 to comply “due to unique circumstances with the payments landscape in the country”.

Amazon stopped offering digital book buying support from iOS devices way back in 2011 to avoid Apple’s App Store taxes. Epic Games is dragging Google to the court over the taxation issue and Barnes & Noble has disabled digital purchases on its own Android hardware.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t read Kindle ebooks. All you have to do is access the Amazon store via the laptop browser (not the app) and buy the book. In India, purchases remain unaffected at the moment.