Sideload Apps to the Amazon Fire TV with a Mac

This tutorial will show you how to sideload Android apps to your Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick using a Mac. Amazon has allowed users the ability to install .APK files to their device which means users can install Google Play apps to their Fire TV. However, since the Fire TV does not use a touchscreen, only select apps will work well for the Fire TV (read here for a list of recommended apps to sideload). A Windows tutorial is also available here.

How-to Sideload Apps to the Amazon Fire TV with Mac OSX

ENABLE ADB DEBUGGING

1. Go to Settings

Amazon Fire TV Settings

2. System

Amazon Fire TV System

3. Developer Options

Amazon Fire TV Developers Option

4. Enable ‘ADB Debugging’

Amazon Fire TV  ADB Debugging

OBTAIN FIRE TV IP ADDRESS

1. Go to Settings

Amazon Fire TV Settings

2. System

Amazon Fire TV System

3. About

Amazon Fire TV About

4. Under ‘Network’ – Write down the IP Address

Amazon Fire TV Network

SET UP ADB ON THE MAC

1. On your Mac, download the platform-tools here. Unzip the file to your desktop.

2. Open Terminal. Under Launchpad > Other > Terminal

Mac OSX Terminal

3. In Terminal, type in,

cd /Users/YourUserName/Desktop/platform-tools

and hit Enter.

CD Platform-tools

You will see a similar message if successful:

cd-success

4. Now type in,

./adb connect IPADDRESS

and hit Enter. Make sure you type in the Fire TV’s IP address (from earlier) instead of IPADDRESS.

Example:

ADB Connect

You will see a similar message if successful:

ADB Success

SIDELOAD APP TO FIRE TV

1. Download the app’s .APK file to your desktop and in Terminal type in,

./adb install /Users/YourUserName/Desktop/filename.apk

and hit Enter.

In this example, Snes9x EX+ is installed (available here)

Install APK

You will see a similar message if successful:

Install Success

2. The game is now sideloaded to your Amazon Fire TV. To access the app, go to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications

Sideload Google Play Apps to the Amazon Fire TV

11 Comments

  1. hey ii installed multiple emulators including n64oid and your snes one, how do i install the games from there? ive been trying to figure it out for hours and im stuck, thanks for your help!

  2. I have side loaded an app called GLWIZ and this was made for the phones i believe is there a way to remove the touchscreen feature of the app to navigate with AFTV remote? I know there is app for smartphones that can control it, but this is for my older relative and they dont have smart phones.

  3. hey i have been trying to put the previous XBMC (Gotham) on to my fire TV may u please give my the APK. for that ……THANK YOU!!!

    • In terminal, run these two commands:
      ./adb kill-server
      ./adb start-server
      Then try again. If that doesn’t work, restart your computer. Make sure there are no phones/tablets/virtual emulators connected.

  4. * daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
    * daemon started successfully *
    error: device not found
    – waiting for device –

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