Netflix has started offering a small selection of content for free. The good news is that you don’t need to create an account or log in to start watching. The bad news is that they’re not making it easy to watch the free content on your TV. If you install and launch the Netflix app on a Fire TV, you’re just greeted with the usual login/sign up screen and no way to get to the free content. Here is how to watch the free Netflix content on an Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick. Read more ›
There appears to be a bug on select Amazon Fire TV devices that prevents the icon of some sideloaded apps to display correctly on the Home screen and Apps screen. Instead of the app icon appearing, a gray icon with a slash through it appears. The bug seems to only affect apps that store their APK icon in a specific way, which is why some sideloaded apps are not affected. Until Amazon fixes the bug, there is a way to make broken icons appear and it involves modifying the APK itself. Here’s how to get around the issue and make icons appear. Read more ›
Plex now offers dozens of free Live TV channels in their app. There’s a large selection of different channel genres on the list, with something to appeal to everyone. That means there are probably channels that you or your family will likely never watch. Luckily, it’s easy to clean up the list by disabling specific channels so that they don’t appear in the channel guide and it’s just as easy to reorder the channel list so that your most-watched channels are on top. Here is how to do it. Read more ›
Plex just launched free Live TV channels in their app. By default, the top of the program guide for these channels is a list of the 3 most recently viewed channels. If you prefer to hide the recent channels and always just see a static list of all channels, here’s how to do it. Read more ›
An odd omission on Amazon Fire TV devices is an easy way to check for app updates for aps that you’ve installed from the Amazon Appstore. Fire TVs do a decent job of automatically updating apps on their own, if you have Automatic Updates enabled, but there is actually a slightly hidden way of checking for app updates yourself and manually forcing them to install. Here is how to check for and install app updates on Amazon Fire TVs, Firesticks, Fire TV Cubes, Fire TV Edition televisions, and soundbars. Read more ›
Peacock, the new streaming service from NBC, is not yet available in the official Amazon Appstore. That’s a shame because, while the service has a paid premium subscription, there is actually quite a bit of free content available. Thankfully, sideloading the official app works fine on Fire TVs, so here is a quick guide on how to install Peacock on any Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Cube, or Fire TV Edition television. Read more ›
Amazon has added the ability for the Fire TV Cube to switch your TV to its antenna tuner and to change channels. This comes as an addition to the already present ability to control cable and satellite set-top boxes. Simply configuring the Fire TV Cube to control your TV, as is done during the initial equipment setup process, isn’t enough to control OTA channels, since the Fire TV needs to know where you live and what channel lineup you receive. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to add antenna channel switching capabilities to your Fire TV Cube. Read more ›
HBO Max is not currently available in the Amazon Appstore for Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, or Fire TV Edition devices. Fortunately, it’s easy to sideload the app and use it as long as you first take a few precautions to avoid common issues with the app. If you simply sideload the app like you would any other APK, you could end up with the wrong icon appearing, the icon not appearing at all, or the app refusing to install altogether. Here’s a step-by-step guide for everything you need to do to have a good HBO Max experience on Fire TV devices. Read more ›
Amazon has recently made a Smart Home Dashboard available on select Fire TV devices, as spotted by some Reddit users. It seems as though the dashboard is only available to some devices and/or some users, so you may not be able to access it. Here is an overview of how to use it and some of the things it can do. Read more ›
It might seem like a trivial thing for experienced Amazon Fire TV users, but simply uninstalling an app on the Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Cube, or Fire TV Edition television/soundbar isn’t entirely obvious for some people. Here’s a step-by-step guide for how to remove regular Fire TV apps, as well as instructions for removing hidden apps that don’t appear in the default list of apps. Read more ›
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