The Amazon Fire TV Stick is a great little device that’s capable of many features. Most people invest in one for entertainment purposes, and it’s true that watching movies and TV shows is probably the best thing you can do with it. But did you know that you can install many other apps on it? Although it might be small, the Amazon Fire TV Stick is based on pretty impressive hardware, and, as you’ll see below, you can really expand its functionality by installing applications on it.
Many of the apps on our list are related to media and entertainment, but you can also install apps that boost your security online and double the Fire TV Stick’s utility as a TV or tablet. Let’s get started:
Security apps
Using the Amazon Fire TV Stick sure is a great way to keep up with your favorite movies and TV shows, but did you know that your privacy might be at risk? Many people forget that, like any device that’s connected to the Internet, the Fire TV stick needs extra protection if you want to prevent cybercriminals from tracking your online activity. This is why a VPN app is the first thing you should install, even before your favorite movie and music apps. By installing a VPN for Fire TV, you’re basically encrypting your online traffic so that no one can track you – not even your Internet Service Provider.
Plus, a VPN also unlocks geo-restricted content. For example, if you live in Europe and you want to watch a news channel or TV show that’s restricted to the US, the VPN will make it look as if you’re connecting from the US. Several VPNs are compatible with Fire TV, but ExpressVPN is one of the best because it has a built-in optimizer that increases your network speed. If you’ve used a VPN on another device before, you probably know that it can considerably slow down your Internet speed, which is crucial for streaming, but with ExpressVPN, you won’t have this problem.
Tip: If you already purchased a VPN app, you don’t necessarily have to repurchase it for Amazon Fire TV. Most VPNs allow for simultaneous connections on different devices (ExpressVPN allows five connections), so if your existing VPN is compatible with Amazon Fire TV, all you have to do is install it and log in with your user details.
Movies, music, and TV apps
Let’s get down to why most people buy a Fire TV stick: to enjoy their favorite content. Here, you have plenty of options to choose from. Whether you want to want to watch movies, TV shows, sports events, or the news, here are just some of the many apps you install:
- For movies, Kodi is a great app, not only because it’s free but also because you have a wide range of movies to choose from. The user interface is also smooth and elegant, and anyone can learn how to use it.
- For sports and live TV, you have both free and paid options. For example, ESPN for Fire TV is a paid app that covers everything from college football to basketball games, and it’s extremely popular in the US. As for the free apps, a great option is SPB TV World, which basically turns your Amazon Fire TV Stick into satellite television, and you can access sports content from over 200 channels! Keep in mind that many of these sports apps are geo-blocked, so again, a VPN is a must-have investment.
- For news, we should point out that the best options are paid. Both Sky News and BBC News, which you may already have installed on your other devices, have versions compatible with Amazon Fire. If you love staying up to date with quality news, then these are great investments.
- For music, you’ll be pleased to find out that all major music streaming services are compatible with Amazon Fire TV. You can install YouTube or Spotify on your Amazon Fire TV and access your favorite playlist with just a few clicks.
- For video games, you can install Twitch for free. This way, you can keep up with your favorite video game streamers on all devices.
Utilities
Although the primary purpose of the Amazon Fire TV Stick is to watch movies (and entertainment in general), that doesn’t mean you can’t use it for something else. For example, you can install utility apps, as you do on your desktop computer. You probably already have apps that let you edit, split, and merge PDF, such as the one from this site, and there’s no denying that these utilities make your life easier. If you want to edit and manage documents on your Fire TV Stick, there are apps for that. This way, you can expand the features, and make the most out of your Fire TV Stick, adapting it to the requirements of the entire family.
Mouse Toggle is another helpful app. With it, you can make just about any Android app on your phone also work on your FireStick. Normally, you can’t do that because your phone has a touch interface, while FireStick has a remote interface, but with Mouse Toggle, you can control Android apps from the Fire TV screen.
For users who want to share files on the Amazon Fire TV stick, FileLinked is one of the most popular file-sharing apps out there. Whether you want to share documents, videos, music, APK files, or anything else, FileLinked will help you sideload it to your Amazon Fire TV Stick. In the past, if you wanted to share files this way, you had to insert long URLs that made the process really tedious, but now you only need a shortcode.