Kobo can run apps now
Cobalt is a new open-source platform that enables users to run third-party applications on Kobo e-readers. It features a signed app store, a Rust SDK, and a runtime that isolates apps in unprivileged processes.
Why it matters
It transforms dedicated e-reading hardware into a more versatile, programmable device without compromising the core reading experience.
Cobalt is an open-source application platform for Kobo e-readers: a launcher, a signed App Store, a Rust SDK, and a runtime that keeps every app in its own unprivileged process.
Install it once over USB. Every app after that installs, updates and removes on the reader itself, over Wi-Fi. A reboot returns to the stock Kobo reader.
Every app is a static ARM binary running as its own unprivileged process on stock hardware. The App Store installs, updates and removes them over Wi-Fi, with signatures verified before anything launches.
These are photographs of the device, not simulator captures. The arXiv app reads the HTML rendering arXiv publishes for every paper since December 2023: abstracts, sections, math and result tables, paginated for the panel.
Every screenshot below is a capture from a Kobo Clara BW. Store apps version independently of the platform; the rest ship with the platform install.
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