You will receive an HDMI module and a remote control in a compact box where they are packed in a cardboard backing.
Installation is effortless: you need to connect a micro-USB power cable to the Fire TV Stick, and connect the module itself to the HDMI interface. The module starts independently, the user goes through a simple installation process, during which the Fire TV Stick connects to the home Wi-Fi network. Then a video is shown in one of the European languages where Amazon services are officially available.
Amazon has traditionally used the Fire OS operating system, which is developed independently by the company and is based on Android. In it, in particular, there are restrictions on installing applications. Unlike regular Android devices, apps are not available through Google Play, but only through the Amazon App Store. The set of applications for the player is less than for tablets Fire Tablet or smartphone Fire Phone. Experienced users, of course, can use the installation via apk to install, for example, the popular Kodi HTPC application on Fire TV Stick.
How to Download Applications on Amazon Fire TV Stick
With its compact size and ultra-affordable price, Fire TV Stick is one of the best Amazon devices you can buy.
It comes with a small app and game store, but you can also add more. Fire Stick runs on Android, so theoretically you can download almost any Android application, just like on your phone or tablet.
This means that you can launch Kodi, a web browser, podcast player or VPN on your Fire Stick. In this guide, we will cover the best ways to add apps to your Fire Stick.
Set up your Fire TV Stick for side loading
First things first: Before you get started, make sure you read our introduction to Amazon Fire Stick. Then you need to change a couple of settings on your Fire TV Stick.
Turn on your Stick and go to Settings> My Fire TV> Developer Options, Set the options for ADB Debugging and also Applications from unknown sources in ON.
Press the back button on the remote control and select Device> About> Network, you will see the IP address of your Fire Stick indicated in the right column. Write it down for later.
You can also get Amazon Fire TV Stick IP by going to “Settings | System | About | Network” and write down the IP address indicated there.
Download apps using your Android phone
The fastest way to install apps on your Fire Stick is with your Android phone or tablet. Apps2Fire, a free app from the Play Store, simplifies the process with just a few taps.
It’s also important that it allows you to install applications from the Play Store itself, instead of tracking APK files from unknown parts of the Internet.
Install applications through Apps2Fire
Install Apps2Fire on your phone. While you are doing this, install all the applications that you want to transfer to your Fire Stick, if you do not already have them on your phone.
In Apps2Fire, go to Configure and enter the IP address that you entered on your Amazon Fire Stick, then click Save. The application will now connect to the Stick. You may be prompted to accept an incoming connection on your Fire Stick. If so, click OK.
Swipe to Local applications. Here you will see a list of all applications installed on your phone. You can copy any of them through. Find the application that you want to install on your Fire Stick, click on it, then select install.
The application starts downloading wirelessly. This may take several minutes, especially if it is a large application. Keep your phone awake until it’s done
Once the download reaches 100 percent, there will be a delay of a few more seconds until the application automatically installs. When it ends, you will be alerted both by telephone and on television.
How to Download APKs to PC
If you don’t have an Android device, install the application on the Fire TV Stick using your PC. To do this, first download the Raccoon utility (from the manufacturer’s website onyxbits.de ) and run it.
No installation is required; however, Raccoon will require the Java Runtime Engine to run.
On the main page, enter your Google account information, leave all other settings alone and click on “Login”.
In the panel on the top, enter the name of the application, for example, Google Chrome – Raccoon will start searching on Google Play. To download the APK-file, click on the “Download” button on the left side of the result found. For convenience, create a folder on your desktop called Android.
Save the desired file to it. Rename complex and long names to simple ones, for example, “chrome. apk “(it’s important to leave the extension!). This will facilitate future work.
Connect Fire TV Stick to PC
Download the Minimal ADB and Fastboot utility ( minimal-adb-and-fastboot.en. Lo4d.com/details ). Run the installer and change the installation path to the “Android” folder on the desktop. After that you will find there an additional folder “Minimal ADB and Fastboot”.
Open it and double-click on the MAF32 application. In response to this, the command line will open. In it, enter “adb connect” (without quotes), and then the previously recorded IP address of the Fire TV Stick. Click on Enter.
After a short time, the devices will be connected. If an error message appears, make sure that the media player and computer are connected to the same network!
Send data from the PC
Now at the command prompt, type “adb install,” followed by the exact path to the file and the name of the APK file that you want to transfer. In our case, the line sounds like this: “adb install c: \ users \ andreas \ desktop \ android \ chrome.apk”.
As you can see, in this case, a simple way and renaming the APK made the task easier. Click on Enter. The transfer of the APK to the Fire TV Stick starts, the speed of the process depends on the speed of your network. Upon completion of the transfer, the corresponding message “Success” will appear.
Launch Applications
Pick up the remote control for Fire TV Sticks and from the main window go to “Settings | Applications | Manage Installed Applications ”and find it in the Chrome list. Select this application and click on “Start”. To delete this application later, go to the same menu item.
One more tip: Sideload installed apps on the Fire TV Stick will not automatically receive updates. They will have to be reinstalled every time, which, of course, requires first uninstalling the application
Connect the keyboard and mouse
It will become much more comfortable to work with the Remote Mouse for Fire TV application , available in the Amazon Application Store and the Apple App Store.
Install the utility on the Fire Stick and phone.
