Whether you have a smart Fire TV with the features built into the TV, aFire Stick, or aFire Cube, Amazon’s Fire TV devices offer a wide range of features and functionality to enhance your viewing experience. As a Fire TV user myself, these are thefeaturesthat make watching my favorite content even easier – and can hopefully enhance your TV viewing, too.
You might be familiar with some of the tricks, but if you don’t have all these tools in your arsenal, break out the pen and paper – it’s time to take notes.
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1Use Alexa for voice search
Make your viewing experience hands-free
Use your remote to search for content rather than type. It’s time-consuming (not to mention annoying) to hit the search button and type in the name of a movie or show you want to watch. With a Fire TV, you can just press and hold the blue ‘Alexa’button at the top of the remote and ask it to open your favorite show. It will populate on the screen immediately. You can even customize the voice commands deeper by saying something like, “play season three, episode one of How I Met Your Mother.”
If you’re using aFire TV Cube, it acts as a Fire TV and an Alexa Smart speaker in one. you may ask your Fire Cube anything you can ask an Alexa device, like “What’s the weather?” and it will populate on your TV screen.
2Mirror content from another device
Transfer a show from your phone to the TV
Let’s say you’re watching a YouTube video on your Android phone, and you want to transfer it to your Fire TV so everyone in the room can enjoy it. Or perhaps you want to show the whole family the video of Travis Kelce coming on stage during theEras tour– regardless of why you may want to share, you can follow these steps:
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3Get rid of autoplay
You decide when you’re ready to watch content
The standard setting for featured content on your home screen is set to automatically start playing a video preview of the featured content as soon as you land on the home screen. Needless to say, autoplay can be both annoying and distracting, but fortunately, it’s easy to change. Follow the steps below:
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4Connect Your Bluetooth devices
Take your TV’s sound to the next level
You don’t need a sophisticated sound system with a barrage of wires that’s difficult to set up to create an amazing sound experience anymore. You can connect your Fire TV to anyBluetooth-enabled speakerto enrich the sound quality in a few simple steps. Follow the steps below:
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5Use your phone as a Fire TV remote
Never replace another Fire TV remote again
We’ve all been there. You’re ready to watch the next episode of your new favorite series, and you can’t find your Fire TV remote. Or it’s out of batteries, and you don’t have any extras on hand. Don’t worry about ordering a new one or running to the store. Just download the Fire TV remote app foriOSorAndroid, and you’re good to go.
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Don’t forget to ensure your phone and Fire TV are on the same Wi-Fi network.
6Enable parental controls
Keep mature content protected from young eyes
While the sheer amount of content you can get from your Fire TV is great, that doesn’t mean you want your kids to be able to view mature content. Fortunately, Fire TV devices allow you to set up parental controls with a few clicks to restrict access for young viewers. Follow the steps below:
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Q: What can an Amazon Fire TV do?
A Fire TV gives users access to voice control to stream content, screen mirroring, easy access to privacy settings and parental controls, and more. Plus, Fire TV users can connect Bluetooth-enabled speakers to enhance their listening experience.
Q: What is the difference between a Smart TV and a Fire TV?
There are many brands of Smart TVs, such as Roku TVs. However, a Fire TV includes Amazon’s Fire operating system to give users access to Amazon content and apps, as well as Alexa for voice commands.
Q: What free channels are included with Fire TV?
While you may download apps that require a subscription, like Netflix and Hulu, there are many free apps you can download on a Fire TV to stream content at no cost. Some of the top apps include Peacock, Freevee, Plex, Tubi TV, and Pluto TV.
