Panasonic just announced its first line of Fire TV Smart TVs this week. While the Panasonic TVs seem to be relatively average, compared to existing Fire TVs, the included proprietary Panasonic remote is anything but average. It may be the best packed-in Fire TV Smart TV remote released to date. Read more ›
Amazon has just put the Alexa Voice Remote Pro on sale for $29.99. This is only the second time the new remote has ever been on sale. While $5 off its regular price of $34.99 isn’t much of a discount, it matches the previous sale and is the lowest it has ever been. The sale is also available in Canada where the price is down from $44.99 to $39.99. This Pro remote is easily the best remote for any Fire TV device thanks to its two customizable buttons, backlight, and remote finder that beeps the remote. You can read about all of its capabilities in my detailed review.
Amazon has pushed out a software update to select Fire TV devices that prevents customers from remapping the app shortcut buttons at the bottom of Fire TV remotes. Two years ago I released my Remapper app which allows Fire TV owners to use the app buttons on their remote to launch any app they wanted. When releasing the utility, I noted that I expected Amazon to block its use at some point and now that day has come. Read more ›
Amazon has just put the new Alexa Voice Remote Pro for Fire TV devices on sale for the first time. While it’s just a $5 discount, which drops the price from $34.99 to $29.99, it’s still very much worth jumping on this deal if you’ve been contemplating the new flagship remote but haven’t wanted to pay full price. That’s because Fire TV remotes hardly ever go on sale so it’s surprising that this remote has been discounted at all. The last time a Fire TV remote went on sale was at the start of 2019, and that was only because people felt gypped that a new remote was released right after millions of devices were sold with the old remote during the holidays. This Pro Remote sale isn’t meant to make up for anything, but it might prove to be just as rare. Read more ›
The app buttons at the bottom of the newest Fire TV Remotes and Fire TV Smart TV remotes can either be fantastic or useless. They’re great if it’s an app that you use often, but they’re a complete waste if you don’t even have the app that they’re for installed. This guide will show you how to reassign the app buttons to open any app you want. This method uses my Remapper app and works for Netflix, HBO, Hulu, PS Vue, Disney+, CTV, Crave, DAZN, TVNOW, and other buttons. It works on the new remote paired to a Fire TV, Fire TV Cube, and Firestick, as well as Fire TV Edition devices from Element, Toshiba, Insignia, Onida, Grundig, JVC, and more.
4/16/2021: Support for Disney+ buttons has been added
2/25/2022: Amazon has made changes to prevent my original remapping method from working. I have updated this guide with a workaround that should circumvent Amazon’s changes. If you previously installed any Remapper, it is best to uninstall it and carefully follow this guide from the very beginning. Enjoy this workaround while it lasts, but you should expect that Amazon will likely block it as well eventually.
3/3/2022: The original workaround did not work on Fire OS 7 devices. The guide has been updated again to now work on all Fire OS versions.
1/26/2023: Support for ABEMA, DirecTV, and Peacock TV buttons has been added.
2/15/2023: Amazon has blocked the use of this remapping method on select Fire TV models. See the section below for more details.
The FCC has just approved a new unreleased Fire TV remote in the US. All indication points to this new remote being a direct replacement for the Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote that currently ships with the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube and all Fire TV Smart TVs from Amazon’s own Omni and 4-Series TVs to 3rd-party TVs from Hisense, Xiaomi, Toshiba, Insignia, and others. While the remote will likely look and function identically to the existing remote, the FCC submission seems to indicate that Amazon is now taking the lead and pulling this remote in-house for the first time, instead of relying on a 3rd-party. Read more ›
Over the years, the number of buttons on Fire TV remotes has slowly increased. Among the most recent button additions are channel up and down buttons, which first appeared a few years ago when Amazon updated the remote that ships with Fire TV Smart TVs. Stand-alone Fire TV streaming media players typically haven’t included remotes with channel buttons, that is, until the release of the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube last year which is the first stand-alone model that includes a remote with channel buttons. Amazon has now made a change that elevates channel buttons on Fire TV remotes to default status. Read more ›
Among the never-ending stream of new gadgets coming out of the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES), I spotted what is clearly an unbranded Fire TV Voice Remote with a built-in solar panel. The prototype remote comes from Ambient Photonics, a relatively young company with ambitions to “bring low light energy harvesting technology to mass scale.” In place of standard AA batteries, the Fire TV remote being demonstrated features a small high-density photovoltaic cell that harvests ambient room light to power the device without the need for replacement batteries or manual charging. Read more ›
When Amazon first added Fire TV capabilities to the Echo Show 15, you could control the experience using the touchscreen when using a touch-enabled app and either a physical or virtual on-screen remote when an app didn’t support touch interaction. Not available at the time was the ability to use the Fire TV Remote app on a mobile device with the Echo Show 15. Amazon has now added support for the remote app with a few limitations. Read more ›
The new Fire TV interface on the Echo Show 15 is best used with a physical Fire TV remote. It may not be entirely clear how to pair a Fire TV remote to the Echo Show 15, especially since the usual Fire TV settings menu where you connect remotes is missing on the Echo Show 15. Here are detailed step-by-step instructions for how to pair Fire TV remotes to an Echo Show 15. Read more ›
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