One of the technological products of the current year is undoubtedly the Amazon Fire Stick, the mini box to be attached to the TV to make it “smart,” that is, to add an internet connection and the necessary apps to be able to watch on TV and stream from the internet, without having to turn on the computer, movies from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and videos from Youtube.
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The Fire Stick, like an Android mini PC, can be bought on Amazon for 60 euros in its basic version, which, compared to the more advanced versions available only in the USA, lacks some features such as voice commands and support for pens. It works well and is also very easy to set up and use.
Since the Fire Stick is an Android device, even if very personalized and limited in settings, it still has many more functions than those that can be read in the manual included in the package and allows, in addition to watching movies from Netflix, also to do many other things, as we are going to find out in this article.
Below, therefore, is the guide to the Amazon Fire Stick with the best tricks and apps to take advantage of every function, even the most hidden ones.
ALSO READ: Optimize the Fire Stick for Fast Video Streaming to TV
1) Using Your Smartphone as an Amazon Fire Stick Remote
There is a remote control included with the Fire Stick, but you can also use an Android or iPhone smartphone as a remote control for the Fire Stick.
Installing the Fire TV Remote app, which can be found in the app stores for Android and iPhone, is required.
The arrangement of the original remote control is replicated on the phone’s screen, with the six buttons at the bottom of the screen and a touchpad in the middle of the screen. You can use your finger to swipe left, right, up, and down on the touchpad.
The buttons necessary to access the Stick’s settings as well as the apps that have been installed are located at the very top.
Unfortunately, no key can be used to perform global searches, and voice commands do not work because the Stick Basic does not support them.
2) Using the Fire Stick on hotel TVs
Because there are never more than a handful of channels available on the televisions at hotels, we can use the Fire Stick anywhere we go as long as there is a wifi network available.
The most important thing is to ensure that it is connected to the appropriate wifi network by navigating to the Settings > Network menu and selecting the network to which you wish to connect.
If necessary, you will be required to log in from a registration web page, and the button with the three lines can be used to navigate the different forms.
3) Fix apps that don’t start and recover memory space
Imagine that a certain application, like Amazon Prime Video or Netflix, does not launch or has trouble loading movies. In that scenario, you can fix the application by erasing the data saved during its prior use of the program.
The next step is to navigate to Settings > Applications > Manage installed applications, find the application that isn’t functioning properly, press on it, and then reset it by selecting “Clear data” and “Clear cache.”
This technique is also handy for reclaiming space on the stick’s internal memory, which, as we recall, only has a capacity of 8 GB and cannot be enlarged (support for USB sticks is only available in version 2)
4) Play Android games with a joypad
On Amazon Fire Stick, you can install many of the games developed for Android, such as Asphalt 8, Tetris, and many others.
These games can be played on the remote, the Remote app on the phone as seen in step 1, or with a Bluetooth JoyPad, which is best.
You can buy an Amazon Stick joypad on Amazon, paying the price between 20 and 30 euros.
To configure the joypad on the Fire TV, you must go to Settings> Controllers and Bluetooth devices> Game controllers.
5) Install applications and games for Android not present in the Amazon lists
The Amazon Fire Stick is an Android device just like any smartphone made by Samsung or Huawei, but, unlike other phones, the Fire Stick features a customized user interface that is quite different from the standard Android experience.
In addition to the other restrictions, accessing the Google Play Store to download programs is not feasible.
You can navigate to the category menu on the Amazon Fire Stick and select the one you want to download to locate new applications to put on the stick.
If you wish to install a game or a specialized app that Amazon does not currently sell, you will need to look elsewhere.
The first thing you need to do is navigate to the Settings menu on your Fire TV. To the section labeled Device > Developer Options, turn on the options to allow applications from unknown sources and to debug via ADB.
Installing the Apps2Fire application on an Android smartphone is necessary to move applications from the phone to the Fire Stick. This application is known as Apps2Fire.
The initial configuration is fairly straightforward, and Apps2Fire will instantly recognize the stick if it is linked to the same Wi-Fi network as the mobile device.
Apps2Fire enables you to transmit an application’s APK installation file to the Fire Stick from the phone’s list of currently installed programs. At this point, you can continue with the installation process without encountering any problems.
Installing Kodi on the Fire Stick, SkyGo and NowTV, and other video-watching apps (including Youtube) is possible.
To find out more details, you can read the guide on ways to download and install android apps on Amazon Fire TV Stick.
6) Surfing the Internet on Amazon Fire Stick
The Amazon Fire Stick allows you to surf the Internet on your television in the same way you would on a computer.
You may find and install many web browsers by searching the suggested programs and the Web Browser category. Among these, Firefox and Silk are the two web browsers currently considered superior to the rest.
Both operate effectively, despite the many restrictions on readers when they attempt to read a site like this using remote control instead of a keyboard.
7) See Youtube on Amazon Fire Stick
The YouTube app, as well as the YouTube Kids app, are now both accessible through the application list on Fire TV. You can also use the web browser normally installed on your Fire Stick to visit YouTube.
The FireStick remote doesn’t have a great interface for using YouTube. Therefore, the best way to search for and browse through videos on the platform is to download the YouTube app on an Android or iPhone smartphone.
The Youtube app on the Fire Stick allows users to select the video they want to watch and then cast it to another screen by clicking the “Cast” button on another screen, which may also be the Youtube app on the Fire Stick.
See the instructions to remote controlling Youtube on a PC with your mobile phone for additional information; it also applies to controlling Youtube on the Fire Stick TV.
8) Watch computer videos on Amazon Fire TV
It is possible to utilize the Fire Stick in the same way as a Chromecast, which is a device that allows you to stream video from your personal computer to a television or other screen. Our is one of the most exciting tactics on this list.
Plex, which can be found in the catalog of apps emphasized on the main screen, is the software that should be used in this scenario.
You’ll be able to activate the media center and show our movies on TV once you install Plex on your PC.
9) Watch videos from an Android smartphone or tablet on Fire TV
AllCast is another application that enables you to broadcast films or photographs from your Android phone or tablet, and it is available in the Amazon app store. If you are interested, you can learn more about it here.
After installing AllCast on the Fire TV, you must download AllCast on Android, open it, select the FireTV from the available devices, and then choose the content to transmit from those in the phone’s internal memory or tablet. The Cast To TV app is also excellent and supports Chromecast and Amazon Fire Stick.
10) Cast the screen of PC or Android on the TV with Fire Stick
This is possibly the most exciting trick on the list since it enables you to cast the screen of your computer or Android phone onto the television so you can view any content you want without having to utilize any applications. The Amazon Fire TV Stick is a Miracast receiver, a protocol natively supported by Windows 10.
To begin receiving Miracast content, press and hold the Home button on the remote control until a few buttons, including one labeled “Duplicate,” show on the screen. This will enable Miracast reception.
When you select Duplicate on the Fire TV remote, the system is prepared to receive content from another device.
You can enter the Start menu on a computer running Windows 10 and navigate to Settings > Devices from there.
Click on the Add button in the Bluetooth and other devices section, then wait for the PC to recognize the Fire TV before establishing the connection.
The desktop will instantly appear on the screen of the Fire TV, functioning in the capacity of a secondary desktop.
The windows on the personal computer’s desktop can then be shifted to the right to display them on the television.
Because of this, it is possible to stream video even from websites that do not have an application, thanks to the Miracast broadcast, which also allows audio.
To view your mobile phone’s display on the television when using Android, either tap the Mirror Share button in the switch bar or navigate to Settings > Device Connection (on Huawei, it works, but not all Android smartphones have this function).
11) Hear the radio on the TV with Fire Stick
Simply search for and download the TuneIn app, which can be used to listen to any streaming radio broadcast, and you will be able to listen to any radio station from your television.
12)See all the photos on the phone
Amazon Prime Images is a feature available to users who subscribe to Amazon Prime. With this feature, users can make an unlimited cloud backup of all the photos stored on their mobile devices.
The Prime Photographs app, available on the Fire Stick, makes it easy to locate all of these photos and view them in a large format on the television.
13) Listen to TV via Bluetooth headphones
You can listen to the sound of movies that you watch on Netflix or videos that you watch on YouTube by pairing your Fire TV with a set of Bluetooth headphones.
To make the headphones compatible with the Amazon Fire Stick, navigate to the Settings menu, select Controllers and Bluetooth Devices, and select Other Bluetooth Devices. This will allow you to establish a connection between the two devices.
14)Re-pair the remote if it no longer works
If the remote for your Fire Stick is malfunctioning for any reason, you can quickly resolve the issue.
To reconnect it, you must depress and hold the Home button for five seconds.
15) To restart the Fire Stick from the remote
If the operations become sluggish if there are performance issues, or if it freezes without moving anymore, then you can restart the Fire Stick from the remote by going to Settings> System> Restart, or even better, by holding down the Play and Select buttons in the center of the circle on the remote control at the same time. This will allow you to restart the device in either of these scenarios.
