It’s Not Possible to Deauthorize my Kobo Remotely
Browsing a thread on Mastodon this morning I learnt that it is not possible to remotely deauthorize a Kobo eReader. That came as a shock to me. This is not a good situation if you have had your Kobo eReader stolen, as was the case with the original poster of the thread that I was reading, or you loose it.
From my memory it is possible to do this on Kindles, a reader that I have left in the last year. And of course the iPhone on which I am writing this can be wiped if I loose it.
This is not a good sate of affairs if your Kobo is easily accessible (more on this in a bit). Anyone who finds your Kobo has full access to all the books on your device as well as being able to use your account to buy more books. In fact worse still, they could change the password for your account so that you can no longer login to your Kobo account remotely and remove your credit card.
A lot of potential hassle there.
Lock with a PIN Code
Returning to the accessibility of your Kobo. It is possible to have a secure PIN code that has to be entered as soon as you open your reader. In much the same way that our phones can be locked with a numeric code.
As it happens I recently decided to start using a PIN code on my Kobo in case one of my grandkids found it and start messing with the contents of the reader. I am now seeing a reason to keep this in place at all times. Lost or stolen, I have a line of defense to keep hands off my Kobo account.
Adding a 4 Digit PIN
To set a PIN for when you open your Kobo, follow these directions:
- From your Kobo home screen, select More in the bottom right corner.
- In the next page, select Settings.
- In Settings select Energy Saving and privacy.
- About half way down the Energy Saving and privacy is PIN LOCK.