Ever since the Xteink X4 landed in early 2026 I’ve been intrigued by this tiny line of ereaders — I loved the idea of sticking one to the back of my phone and carrying it everywhere, but at that point they just had a few too many missing features for my liking.
Then the Xteink X4 Pro launched, and with the addition of a touchscreen and front light, I decided it was finally time to take the plunge and try one for myself. As a tech lover and early adopter it’s a decision I don’t regret, but this still isn’t quite the device I want it to be.
First impressions — before I turned it on — were positive. This thing is extremely slim and light. It’s 111 x 69 x 5.95mm and 72g, numbers which may or may not mean much to you, but essentially this weighs almost nothing, and it’s thin enough that it doesn’t stick out much beyond the camera bump on my iPhone 16 Pro Max when I use its built-in magnets to stick it to the back.
Fragile and exposed
The Xteink X4 Pro doesn’t exactly look or feel expensive, but then few ereaders do, and at $109 / £84 / AU$159 (currently reduced to $99 / £76 / AU$145) it doesn’t need to. The back of your phone is also isn’t really the place for a more expensive device — if that’s where you plan to stick the X4 Pro, then it’s quite exposed.
It ships with a basic flip cover, but I found the magnets weren’t strong enough to securely attach it to my phone while in a case. So if I drop my phone, the Xteink X4 Pro is liable to break.
In fact, even with the magnets, it can shift around a bit and come loose in my pocket, or if I press a button too hard. Maybe it would stay in place better if my phone wasn’t in a case, but that’s not an option for me. So I sort of expect this thing won’t last long, especially as epaper displays tend to be very fragile.
That’s my first issue with it, as even at its fairly low price, it’s not something I want to constantly be replacing. Of course, attaching it to your phone is optional — some people will want to keep it separate, and it’s perhaps better suited to that. But I already have (and love) a phone-sized ViWoods AiPaper Reader, so I don’t really need another standard small ereader, even if this one is even tinier.
No, the magnets were the main draw for me, and coupled with a fairly crisp 4.3-inch touchscreen with a capable front light, this is a pleasure to read books on.
The battery seems long-lasting too, which is good, because — presumably in an effort to keep this as small as possible — this uses a slightly fiddly proprietary charger rather than USB-C.
Restrictive software
That extensive life is probably partly because of the software — unlike the ViWoods AiPaper Reader or some other compact ereaders, this doesn’t run resource-hungry Android. Instead, it uses Xteink’s own operating system, which is… not good. The interface is ugly and clunky, and it just makes the thing feel a bit unpleasant to use.
But it almost seems like Xteink realizes this, because the version sold on their site is a developer edition, which allows you to very easily flash alternative firmware onto the device.
I did this after all of about half an hour — I already knew I probably would, having seen most owners in the Xteink subreddit seem to ditch the stock software at the first opportunity. But while switching up the interface is easy, choosing which firmware to flash isn’t, as there are a surprising number of options.
So far, I’ve settled on CrossInk, and I’ll probably stick with that as I’m happy enough with it. It gives you a decent amount of customization options and offers more ways of getting books onto the X4 Pro. But that last point is probably my biggest issue with this device, as the lack of Android also means it can’t run the Kindle or Kobo apps.
That means you’ll typically have to buy books on another device and then transfer them to the Xteink X4 Pro. And in many cases you’ll also have to remove their DRM first — something which recently became a lot trickier with Kindle books.
So, in other words, getting books onto this is a bit of a chore, and if you already have a library of Kindle books, you might find you can’t read them on the Xteink X4 Pro.
That, coupled with the need to flash new firmware to get the most out of it, means I can’t really recommend this to the average ebook reader. It’s very much for people who are comfortable with tech — and ideally people who enjoy fiddling and configuring, rather than having a device that just does exactly what they want out of the box.
Plenty of potential
But I do fit into those categories, so I’m having fun with the Xteink X4 Pro — and right now it’s my main ereader.
I take it with me everywhere because it’s attached to my phone, and just like the ViWoods AiPaper Reader before it, that means I’m reading in moments when I wouldn’t otherwise, because it’s always present and easy to whip out even when I only have a few minutes to spare.
Still, phone attachment aside, it also fills a very similar role for me to the ViWoods, so I’m not sure I’ll continue using both much. Right now, given all the friction points above, I think I’ll probably find myself returning to the AiPaper Reader.
But the Xteink X4 Pro does almost make that device look big, so on days when I want to travel as light as possible, I might still turn to this. And if the Xteink X5 Pro runs Android, then I might rethink things.
