Inksky
If you’ve already installed KOReader and Plato using the one-click script, you’re in good shape — but the defaults leave a lot on the table. Both readers are deeply configurable, and a few targeted tweaks can transform them from “neat alternative” to “daily driver.”
KOReader gesture configuration
KOReader’s gesture system is the deepest of any e-reader software. Open the gesture manager at Top menu → Gear icon → Taps and gestures → Gesture manager. The most impactful changes:
- Bottom-left corner tap → toggle frontlight (replaces fumbling for the Kobo’s physical brightness slider)
- Two-finger swipe down → show the full system menu (useful when you’ve hidden the status bar for immersive reading)
- Bottom-right corner tap → toggle the status bar. Combined with the above, you get a completely clean reading surface.
- Edge swipes: Swipe up from the bottom edge to open the table of contents. Swipe down from the top edge to open bookmarks. These are one-handed-friendly on the Libra and Sage.
Each gesture can be context-sensitive — different actions in the file browser vs. inside a book. Spend ten minutes here and KOReader will feel tailor-made.
Syncing reading progress with kosync
KOReader has its own sync plugin called kosync. It’s not as polished as Kobo’s built-in sync, but it works across any KOReader instance — on a Kobo, an Android e-reader, or a desktop Linux install. Set it up under Search → Gear icon → Kosync. You can either run your own kosync server (the code is on GitHub — deployable on a free-tier VPS or a Raspberry Pi) or use the community-maintained public server (check the KOReader forums for current availability).
Once configured, KOReader syncs last-read position across devices. It doesn’t sync annotations or highlights, but it does sync the reading progress bar, which is the 80% use case. If you read sideloaded books across multiple KOReader devices, this is the feature that keeps you from manually hunting for your page every time.
Optimizing KOReader for manga
KOReader is the best manga reader on any e-ink device, and a few settings take it from good to perfect:
- Right-to-left page turns: In Top menu → Gear icon → Taps and gestures → Page turns, set “Invert page turn tap zones.” Now tapping the left side advances and the right side goes back — matching manga’s right-to-left reading direction. This is optionally per-book, so your regular books stay left-to-right.
- Fit to width: In the bottom menu while reading, tap the crop icon (or Bottom menu → Zoom → Fit to content width). This crops white margins and zooms manga panels to fill the screen width. Kobo’s 7-inch screen at 1264×1680 maps beautifully to standard manga page ratios with fit-to-width enabled.
- Contrast boost: Under Bottom menu → Gear icon → Screen → E-ink settings, push the contrast slider to 1.2–1.4. On a Kobo Libra Colour, this compensates for the slightly lower contrast of the Kaleido 3 colour layer, making black ink pop against white backgrounds.
- CBZ/CBR metadata: KOReader reads embedded metadata from archived comic files. Rename your files as
Series Name - Vol. 01.cbzand KOReader will group them into series automatically in the file browser.
For colour manga and webtoons on the Libra Colour or Clara Colour, KOReader renders panel colours accurately (unlike Kobo’s stock reader, which dithers aggressively). The difference is night and day on coloured title pages and two-page spreads.
Plato’s killer feature: PDF reflow
Plato’s superpower is PDF handling. Open any PDF, tap the centre of the screen, and select Reflow from the reading menu. Plato strips the PDF’s fixed layout and reflows text to fit your screen, preserving paragraph order, font styling, and even embedded images. It’s the best PDF reflow implementation on e-ink — significantly better than KOReader’s (which occasionally drops images) and miles ahead of Kobo’s stock PDF viewer (which doesn’t reflow at all).
For academic papers, set Reflow mode → Columns and Plato will intelligently detect multi-column layouts, flowing text column-by-column. Combined with the font size adjustment (swipe up/down on the right edge in reflow mode), you can read A4-formatted journal articles comfortably on a 7-inch screen.
Plato also has a unique reading statistics panel — tap the centre and then the charts icon to see your reading speed (words per minute), session duration, and estimated time to finish the current chapter. It’s lightweight and never phones home.
The two-reader workflow
The most practical setup for a jailbroken Kobo is a two-reader workflow:
- Nickel (stock reader) for Kobo Store purchases — DRM’d Kepubs sync reading position, annotations, and reading stats to Kobo’s cloud. The stock reader also handles OverDrive library loans natively. Keep audiobook playback here too; neither KOReader nor Plato supports Kobo’s audiobook format.
- KOReader for everything sideloaded — DRM-free EPUBs, CBZ/CBR manga, PDFs, and any large file where the stock reader’s performance chokes. KOReader opens files faster, renders complex CSS more accurately, and handles 200MB+ omnibus editions without freezing.
To switch between them: install KFMon (Kobo File Monitor) alongside KOReader and Plato — it adds PNG launcher icons to your Kobo’s home screen that boot directly into KOReader or Plato. No need to launch NickelMenu every time. KFMon is installed automatically by the standard one-click script; if it didn’t take, re-run the script and select the KFMon option.
This setup gives you the best of both worlds: Kobo’s polished, synced ecosystem for purchased content, and KOReader’s speed and configurability for everything you bring from outside.