The wait is over. HBO and Amazon have reached an agreement and have announced that an official HBO Max app will be arriving on Amazon Fire TVs, Firesticks, Fire TV Edition televisions, and Fire tablets this Tuesday, November 17. The new version of HBO has only been available on Fire TVs via sideloading since it launched earlier this year in May. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to get it from the Amazon Appstore, as you’d expect.
The existing “HBO” app in the Amazon Appstore will simply be replaced by the new “HBO Max” app. That means you won’t have to do anything if you have the current HBO app installed, as it should automatically update to the new HBO Max app. Just like the xisting HBO app, the new HBO Max app will be compatible with every Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Cube, and Fire TV Edition model.
If you’ve sideloaded HBO Max, the recommendation is to uninstall your sideloaded version once the official HBO Max app is available and then install the official version from the appstore by searching for HBO Max on your Fire TV. For instructions on how to uninstall an app, see this guide. Note that you will need to re-login/re-activate the app.
With the arrival of an official HBO Max app on Fire TVs, that just leaves Peacock as the last major streaming service not available on Fire TVs. Well, at least it’s the last of the ones we expect should be on the platform. You can still sideload the Peacock app while you wait for Amazon and NBC to, hopefully, work out a deal to bring the official app to your Fire TV.
@AFTVnews
AFTVnews
Good to hear. I pay for hbo through amazon channels, hopefully I can still watch hbo stuff through the amazon player if I want to.
Just in time for the end season of the 2 shows worth watching on HBO. Sorry Amazon but this news is too little of an improvement and way too late to be of any use.
OK Color Me Stupid, so please don’t flame me. Why must there be an arrangement between HBO-Plus or any other streaming application for that matter and Amazon. Is the issue Amazon wants to be paid to add the app to there app-store? Perhaps Amazon rewrites or certifies that the the app works properly on the Fire devices? Any of the above just makes me want to side load all apps to the fire devices and bypass the amazon store completely. Maybe I’m just naive, the model of cable services is to force channels to pay the to be in their lineup. Doesn’t this practice just set us (we the consumer) to end up paying more for access because the various app stores will force providers to pay them more and more and we the consumers end up in the exact place where we are at the mercy of whatever app store we are locked into? Sounds to me there needs to be an app store where the app store takes a one time or annual fee like $2.00 (let’s be realistic hosting servers does cost money) access fee to have access to all their apps not a month by month fee paid to the app store. Most people are not aware why their able bill is so high. Every channel that is not local even local Pays the cable/internet provider retransmit what you can receive with an antenna. This web page explains the issue pretty well I don’t know the rules here to post URLS https://bluevalley.net/blog/2019/03/21/the-rising-cost-of-cable-tv-%E2%80%93-the-story-behind-the-story or https:// bluevalley dot net/blog/2019/03/21/ the-rising-cost-of-cable-tv- %E2%80%93-the-story-behind-the-story. Just a thought because if we are not informed we will be right back to paying the same or more than what people pay now for cable. I find it greedy that some networks want 6$ up to what ever Disney+ wants to charge and even more to view without commercials (which is just wrong as playing direct to customers often has a profit that is 200-500% more revenue than OTA. it’s just greed. Yes providers have different content than what is available on their OTA stations. I personally plan to sign up for the different internet providers for a month or two watch what is only available on the by Disney+, HBO, or Hulu and all the others for what was created from the last time I signed up. Sorry for the rant but I think this already getting out of hand.
The issue with this particualar deal was that Amazon wanted the MAX content to be available with their existing HBO Amazon channel and HBO wasn’t willing to do that. They want Max to only be available on the Max app. Seems Amazon caved so we still get HBO as an Amazon Channel and HBO Max as a standalone app. No doubt there are other things under the table that we won’t ever know about but that was the basic beef between them.
Does anyone know if the HBO max app on Fire TV sticks and Fire TV cubes support Dolby Atmos at HD 1080p?
Dolby Atmos? They don’t support 4K OR HDR/DV yet. You would think that a premium priced service would offer 4K HDR/DV and ATMOS at launch. But, we are 6 months in with 1080p SDR and 5.1 audio.
yay
Nov.17 9:40cst
I don’t see HBO Max in amazon app store yet.
I clicked on an HBO Max ad on the home screen and it took me directly to it.
I have four (4) FTV4K sticks and only one (1) of the four (4) has the official HBO Max app available for download as of noon today. The sponsorship ad will take you to HBO Max app if you have it sideloaded, but I don’t think it will integrate with search until you install the official app.
Ah. Good tip. I uninstalled the sideload version of HBO Max on FTV4K devices that were not showing HBO Max in Amazon store and used the Promo Sponsorship on home page to go to HBO Max and officially install on all FTV4K devices. Thanks!!
If we’ve previously sideloaded HBOMax, what should we do?
Maybe start by reading the paragraph in the article that begins with “If you’ve sideloaded HBO Max…”
Uninstalled my sideloaded HBO Max then installed it again through FireTV direct. To my disappointment. Nothing has changed. Same vanilla HBO Logo and same version as the Nov 12th release (v50.7.0.186). Don’t get me started with lack of 4k or Atmos. Nothing Max about this.
Yeah, it’s HBO, not Netflix it Disney+.
Update:
Amazon must have updated their assets and banners for HBO MAX. I now see the correct HBO Max Application Icon and banners on my Cube Gen2. No change in version.
I reviewed the instructions for uninstalling the side loaded app. They were overwhelming. Can I keep the side loaded app and add the official Amazon HBOMAX app? Can they coexist??
You found it harder to uninstall it than the trouble you went through to sideload it? Settings-applications-Manage installed applications- select HBO Max-uninstall. How could it be any easier.
Ricky: I believe those are the instructions to uninstall an “official” app— NOT a sideloaded app. Your instructions are certainly not the same as those provided by aftvnews relative to uninstalling a sideloaded app. I’m confused.
That’s how I uninstalled my sideloaded app HBO Max app and every app I’ve ever sideloaded.
Did you not see the app in that section when you looked?
Thanks. I did as you suggested and it appears to have worked. I have no idea why the aftvnews directions were so much more complicated.
The instructions you mention are not for all side loaded apps, only for those that happen to not appear in the applications settings submenu. For those that do appear in that menu, like the HBO MAX (and Peacock) sideload apps offered on this site, use the normal method of app removal.
Got it. Thanks!