Xteink X4 alternative: read on the phone you already have

The best Xteink X4 alternative is the phone already in your pocket, with a reading app kept and everything else that pulls at you removed. Install Kindle, Apple Books, or Libby, then delete the social apps, lock the App Store, and replace Safari. When the feeds are gone, your book is the most interesting thing left on the phone, so the spare minutes in a line or on the bus turn into a few pages instead of a scroll. You keep one device, and you don't buy a second.

The X4 is a clever little product, and the people buying it are after the right thing. Here's what it does, where it falls short, and how to get the same habit from your iPhone.

What is the Xteink X4?

The X4 is a small e-ink reader, a little smaller than a phone, with a 4.3 inch screen. It snaps magnetically to the back of a MagSafe or Qi2 phone, and it comes with stick-on magnetic rings for phones and cases that don't have magnets. The original X4 is $69. The X4 Pro is $99 and adds a touchscreen and a front light.

Nearly every review sells it the same way: as a way to stop doomscrolling. When you reach for your phone out of boredom, you flip it over and your book is there. Digital Trends' reviewer said it "quietly rearranged how I spend the dead minutes of my day."

That's the real idea, and it's a good one. Most of your phone time doesn't happen in long sessions. It happens in the two minutes waiting for coffee, the five minutes before a meeting, the ten minutes in bed. Whatever is easiest to open fills those minutes.

Why it works, and why that's not about the screen

The X4 works because it has no feed and no notifications. There's nothing on it to refresh and nothing calling you back. When you open it, the only thing to do is read.

The e-ink screen is nice, but it isn't the reason the habit changes. The reason is that the book is the easiest thing to reach.

You can get that on your phone. The problem was never that your phone can't show a book. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube sit right next to the book, and they're built to win. Take them off the phone and the book stops losing.

What the X4 can't do

Be fair to it, but know the limits before you buy one:

• It can't open Kindle books. The X4 doesn't support DRM, so books from the Kindle store and library loans from Libby won't open on it. You load your own EPUB and TXT files over a microSD card or Wi-Fi.
• The stock software is basic. Reviewers say it's much better with community firmware like CrossPoint, which means flashing your reader before you get started.
• The original has no front light. You need a lamp or a book light at night. The X4 Pro fixes this.
• It's another device. Another thing to charge, carry, and remember. And your phone is still right there, with every app on it, one flip away.

That last point matters most. A reader on the back of your phone puts the book next to the feed, but the feed is still there. If you reach for Instagram anyway, the X4 hasn't changed anything.

How to set your phone up for reading

Install your reading apps first. Once downloads are blocked, you won't be able to add them without your Screen Time code.

• Kindle for the books you already own on Amazon.
• Libby for free library loans with a library card.
• Apple Books if you buy from Apple, or for free classics.

Then install Anti Browser, set it as your default browser, and do the four steps from our dumbphone guide:

1. Block Downloads, so the apps you delete can't come back.
2. Block Safari, so the habit doesn't move to the browser.
3. Delete the social apps, video apps, and spare browsers.
4. Lock the settings with a Screen Time code.

Anti Browser walks you through these steps during onboarding, and it can generate your Screen Time code and keep it in its vault.

Buying books still works. In the Kindle app, tapping Get Book opens the Amazon page in your default browser. With Anti as your default, that page opens in Anti, and you can sign in and buy the book there. It syncs to the Kindle app like any other purchase.

Make reading the easiest thing on your phone

Once the feeds are gone, a few small changes make the book the first thing you see:

• Put the reading app in the dock. Or in the spot where Instagram used to be. Your thumb already knows where to go.
• Always have a book open. Finish one, start the next before you close the app. Opening to a book in the middle is easier than choosing a new one.
• Read in small chunks on purpose. A page in line. A chapter on the bus. You don't need an hour. Those spare minutes add up to a lot of books in a year.
• Turn off notifications. Except for the people who need to reach you. A buzz in the middle of a page pulls you out.
• Keep short books around. Essays, short stories, poetry. They're good for the two-minute gaps.

If you still reach for your phone without deciding to, that's normal for the first week or two. Our post on the phone dopamine detox explains why the urge hangs on, and why giving the reach somewhere new to go helps.

The Anti Phone System is built for this part. It comes with a guide to why your phone is so hard to put down and how to get through the first month without sliding back. It also includes Gentle Screen Time for the apps you can't delete, like email or YouTube for music. Gentle gives each one a session, then a short rest, so a quick check doesn't eat the time you'd have spent reading.

The cost of a second device

The X4 isn't expensive. But a second device has costs beyond the price.

Most of an electronic device's carbon footprint comes from making it, not using it. Amazon publishes carbon footprint estimates for its own Kindles, and materials and manufacturing make up the largest share of the total. Using the device is a tiny fraction. Xteink doesn't publish a figure for the X4. Whatever the exact number, a second reader means mining, manufacturing, and shipping a device to do a job your phone can already do.

The phone you already own has already been made. Using it for reading adds no new hardware.

When an e-reader is worth it

The phone approach is for small chunks of reading throughout the day. A dedicated e-reader is still better in some cases:

• You read for an hour or more at a time. E-ink is easier on the eyes for long sessions.
• You read outside a lot. E-ink is easy to read in direct sun.
• You want the phone out of the bedroom. A reader on the nightstand lets you leave the phone charging in another room.

If any of those sound like you, an e-reader is a good buy. If you already have a Kindle in a drawer, start there.

But if what you really want is to stop scrolling and start reading in the spare minutes, you don't need new hardware. Remove the apps that win those minutes, and the book on your phone will take them back.