Debug & advanced features for reMarkable 2

Since several of you have purchased a reMarkable 2, and some for a month now, it’s time to reveal some advanced features that aren’t in the user manual, which I’ve translated and annotated here.

Before touching anything, open your reMarkable 2, go to Settings => Help => Copyrights and licences => General information

and take a photo of the part I’ve shown here (without the stylus; I’ve hidden the password displayed there). This password will come in handy if you mess up your hack installations. Note that this password will change if you do a factory reset, so after each reset, you’ll need to note the new password.

OK, now that we’re less afraid of bricking the device, we can continue.

Debugging the Windows app

Since the Windows app update, I’ve had some file synchronization issues. I uninstalled and reinstalled without success. But I found a workaround.

First, disable your antivirus.
Go to my.remarkable.com and disconnect the Windows app from your reMarkable account.
Uninstall your reMarkable app.
Navigate to: C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\Local\ and delete the remarkable folder.
Open the Registry Editor on Windows.
Find Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\remarkable and delete the entire remarkable folder.
Restart your computer.
Disable the antivirus.
Reinstall the app and reconnect it to your my.remarkable.com account.

Backing up with the reMarkable app for Windows/Mac

Remember that the reMarkable cloud isn’t really a backup.

To back up your files (in PDF, SVG, PNG formats), I recommend opening the Windows/Mac app at least once a month.

Go into each category: notebooks/pdf/ebooks and select all files in each category.
Then choose to export these files to a folder that will be synced with your preferred cloud (Dropbox, Drive, OneNote…).

Retrieving/uploading files: Drag & Drop via the web interface

If all this seems too complicated and you need a quick way to retrieve or upload a file to the tablet, it’s simple.

Connect your reMarkable to your computer using the provided cable.
Go to Settings => Storage and for USB web interface, choose ON.

Open your browser and enter http://10.11.99.1/ and you’ll have access to the files.
You can export one file at a time, only as PDF when using the interface.

But you can drop multiple files by going to the correct folder and simply drag and drop. Only PDFs and EPUBs are supported.

Go to Settings => Storage and for USB web interface, choose OFF (it’s my paranoid/obsessive side, but you can leave it ON forever if you want).

It’s a good fallback solution, or for those who don’t want their device to have cloud access. Of course, not having cloud or not using the official apps removes some features (like PNG, SVG export…).

Quickly switching between documents

You know, people often complain about the lack of split screen (viewing two documents side by side). So if you want to read a PDF and then take notes on a separate notebook (not on the PDF, but separate), you have to juggle between two files.

Since update 2.9, it’s become easier in two gestures. Use two fingers and swipe up and down, and you’ll see the list of the 4 most recently opened documents. Click on the file, and voilà, you can switch between two documents in two gestures.

The hacks

Hacks will completely void your reMarkable warranty, so think carefully before installing them. With each update, reMarkable removes all hacks installed on your tablet, so even if developers are very responsive and offer versions compatible with reMarkable updates, you need to wait for them to confirm compatibility before installing the hack on a new reMarkable version.

The most well-known hacks for reMarkable are:

freeremarkabletools : made freely available by a developer who was bored during Covid. Its features include: the ability to choose colors for export (changing the color of the highlighter, notes…) and also adding templates and changing screensavers
RCU : paid tool ($12): for adding templates, changing screensavers. However, RCU has an extra feature: it restores custom templates for each document after every reMarkable update, which freeremarkabletools doesn’t do
ddvk : made freely available by a developer. It’s the most polished tool of all. It allows, among other things, multiple gestures to change pens, activate the eraser, use other EMR pen erasers, and have more advanced drawing tools… But it completely changes the minimalist interface
koreader (video): which involves installing an app to better read ePubs and PDFs. The idea is to switch between the reMarkable software and koreader with a single gesture. So you can only use the highlighter, but can’t write on reMarkable, and files read on koreader will be on your tablet but not synced to the cloud.

If the installation of these hacks goes wrong (especially ddvk or koreader), that’s where the password I asked you to take a photo of comes into play. With this password, you can save your tablet and restore the previous system. Note: a factory reset will change the password, so in case of a problem, stay calm, have your password handy, and then you’ll find a solution.

Extending battery life

Use always the provided cable
Plug only your tablet into the computer to charge, because reMarkable only supports up to 1.5A and 5V, which isn’t necessarily the case with standard wall chargers
When you receive the tablet, charge it once fully to 100%, then use it down to 5%
After that, don’t charge beyond 90% and don’t discharge below 10%. Personally, I don’t charge it at night but during the day so I can monitor the charging.
When you don’t use it for several days/weeks, go to Settings => General => Power off instead of letting it discharge completely.
By default, sleep mode activates after about 20 minutes; I recommend keeping this setting. It’s very bad to completely drain an e-ink battery; it could cost you your tablet. E-ink devices with drained batteries risk never waking up again.
Don’t leave the pen on the tablet when you’re not using it, but on the side

What we want to avoid is “battery swelling” (photo taken on another e-reader). If the battery is charged too quickly or too much, it may swell and completely crack the reMarkable screen. So again, absolutely follow all the instructions above!

Changing the screensaver

If it’s just to change the screensaver, there’s no need to install a bunch of apps. It’s very easy to change it via Filezilla or WinSCP with the password I mentioned earlier.

Here are the links showing you how to change the screensaver: link 1, link 2 and here’s a screenshot of my Filezilla settings. I plugged reMarkable into the computer

Here’s mine, made on Canva (size 1404x1872px). It’s my cat Rosalie in the photo. I added my name and my WhatsApp in case someone finds it.

Beta-testers

You can join the “beta-testing” program to get updates before everyone else. But the risk is that the beta version contains bugs. Recently, beta versions were full of bugs and people ended up with an unusable tablet. If you’re not tech-savvy, avoid joining this program. Wait for the official update!

reMarkable Wiki

Enthusiasts have created a Wiki for reMarkable. You’ll find tips there, including:

how to add your own templates
a non-exhaustive list of nibs and pens compatible with reMarkable