[Fire TV General] vi6s:
Hello,

There have been a log of helpful posts on the forum about what you can do with the Amazon Fire TV, but they are all in separate threads. I create this thread to put all of those guides together, along with whatever tips/tricks you can do on the Fire TV. I will try to credit where I found all the information. If the mods can make this a sticky thread, it will be awesome. I will try to update it when I find new information.

1/ BASIC

First step is to allow ADB over internet. Go to Setting ---> System ---> Developter Options ---> ADB Debugging ON

Here are 2 commands that you will need for sideload all apps in FireTV

adb connect xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

(xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is your IP address. Go to Setting ---> System ---> About ---> Network to find it.

adb install name_of_your_apk

Remember when you use adb, try to be in the same folder where the apk is located, so you don't have to type in it path. Also, make sure there is no space in the name of the apk or the install command won't work. Please note that you can also sideload apps into Fire TV if you have an Android device (tablet, phone, whatever..) Install Terminal Emulator, type cd sdcard/Download to go the Download folder where all your downloads usually located.

Also, in this guide, there is a few part that I mention reboot the device. Either follow the reboot step, or manually press both the select and the play/pause button and your Fire TV will reboot.

2/ ROOT

taken from this thread (http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2783805)

Go to: http://towelroot.com/ and click the red button to download the APK:

Download the Chainfire SU APK from the Playstore: http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/?id=eu.chainfire.supersu

Sideload both APKs.

Run Towelroot, hit "Make it Rain" and then your FTV will reboot.

After reboot, open SuperSU, install SU. Go to Setting and set default access to "Grant" if you don't want the prompt to appear asking for superuser for each app.

Download Busybox APK: http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/?id=stericson.busybox

Launch it and install busybox.

3/ DISABLE FIRE TV UPDATER

Type adb shell in your terminal

Type su to ask for root (a pop up will appear on your Fire TV asking for superuser if you did not set "Grant" as default)

Type pm disable com.amazon.dcp

4/ CONTROL AMAZON FIRE TV WITHOUT USING MOUSE/KEYBOARD

For certain apps to work in Fire TV, you might need a mouse/keyboard since the app is design for touch base environment. To work around this, what you can do is install a VNC server and control the Fire TV using VNC Viewer.

The VNC Server app that I used is called VMLite VNC Server. Here is its link in the Playstore:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vmlite.vncserver&hl=en

I will not post the apk to this link since it is a paid app and the developer has specifically asked me not to. So to get the apk, there are 2 ways.

A) Go to the developer website and buy the apk: http://www.vmlite.com/purchase.html

B) Install the apk on your Android device from the Play store. Here is how you can download the apk from the Play Store using Chrome extension (this will only work if you have bought the apk from the Play store)

Go to http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/ in Chrome and scroll down.

Install the APK Downloader v2.1.3 extension.

Once install, go to the extension setting, fill out all that information ( username, password, and Google ID)

Go to this link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vmlite.vncserver&hl=en

Click Install, choose your Android device, and a symbol will appear in the URL bar allowing you to download the apk

Once you have the apk, sideload it. Open the app, press the Menu button on your remote, a bottom bar will appear.

Select Setting ---> VNC password to set your VNC Server password

Select Setting ---> VNC port to set your VNC Server port

Select Setting ---> Autostart Server at boot

Then press the big Green Start Server button

EDIT: there are several VNC server available for Android. Some are paid, some are free. As long as it is working with a password, you should use it. You don't have to use VMLite VNC Server. I use it because I have it for a long time and it works great on all my Neuxs 7, 10, and 5.

Once done, you can use a VNC viewer to control your Fire TV.

For Android device, use this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.realvnc.viewer.android&hl=en

For iOS device use this app https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vnc-viewer/id352019548?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=4

For Desktop, go to this link and download the one for your OS https://www.realvnc.com/download/vnc/latest/

5/ INSTALL PLAY STORE

taken from this thread http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2787813

Download and install the "Xposed Framework" http://dl-count.xposed.info/modules/de.robv.android.xposed.installer_v32_de4f0d.apk

Download and install the "HDXPosed.apk" file. http://xdaforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2538185&d=1390657381

Launch the "Xposed" application. Go to Framework and click Install. Don't reboot yet.

Go to modules and enable HDXPosed ( you need a mouse for this part or VNC server)

Go back to Framwork and click Reboot

Go download these apks

https://mega.co.nz/#F!8Q10yAiZ!4GVoGr7FJtXauVI3kvPSMQ

Mirror

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?res...4&authkey=!AIVXLFXAOWDeM0Q&ithint=folder,.apk

Sideload/Install all those apps (the apks for some of the apps contain space. Change the name or put the name in quotation mark to make it work)

Reboot. Play Store will appear in your application list.

WARNING: there is a bug in this step. For some people, first installation and reboot won't work. Don't panic. Sideload/Reinstall the app a second time will make it work, but use this command below

adb install -r name_of_your_apk

Remember to reboot your device.

6/ ENABLE INSTALLATION OF UNKNOWN SOURCES

taken from this thread http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2784173

Install SQLite Editor https://code.google.com/p/xdroidx/downloads/detail?name=SQLite Editor-9.apk

Launch SQLite Editor, granting it SU access

Select "Settings Storage"

Select "settings.db"

Select the "global" table

Highlight the record "install_non_market_apps"

Hit the Menu button and select "Edit Record"

Change the Value to "1" and save the record (you will need a mouse/keyboard for this step)

Reboot

This is the only part in the guide that I have not tried yet. Some people say that by changing the internal database, you might mess up your Android device. I don't know this is true or not, but since I have not done it on any Android devices ever yet. I am still waiting for people result on this. The advantage of allowing installation of unknown sources is you can use ES File Explorer to install apps that are not in the Google Play store. No need to use adb to sideload apps and you don't have to open adb all the time, less vulnerability on your Fire TV.

7/ ACCESS YOUR AMAZON FIRE TV INTERNAL FILE STRUCTURE REMOTELY

If you choose to enable installation of unknown sources (the step above this), then you can use this step to install all apk from now on, without using adb ever again. There are two ways of doing this:

A) Install ES File Explorer from the Play Store or sideload it http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/?id=com.estrongs.android.pop

Launch it. On the left side bar, select Remote Manager, select Turn On. Input the address on your PC and you can transfer any files from your PC to your Fire TV using WIFI. If you enable root in ES File Explorer, you can also copy/paste files from root but be careful about that.

B) Set up a SSH server.

Sideload SSH Daemon http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/?id=web.oss.sshsftpDaemon

Configure password, and enable autostart on boot (this is the most frustrated part of the guide since the screen will be sideway. It might help if you have VNC server install since you can control it using VNC viewer)

SSH with username root and password abc123 (configurable in SSH Daemon)

You can also access the SSH server using ES File Explorer on your Android device. Select Network ---> FTP ---> New ----> choose SFTP ---> Username/Password

8/ ALTERNATIVE LAUNCHER FOR FIRE TV

Here is the link: https://github.com/Redth/FiredTVLauncher

Once install, when your press Home button, this launcher will launch instead of the default one.

Pros: since Amazon Fire TV won't show any apps that is not install from Amazon store. Using this launcher will display all your apps in normal Android device style. You can also rearrange them or show/hide certain apps.

Cons: lose the Amazon Fire TV default launcher. However, you can still access the default launcher, there is an icon to go back to the default launcher.

9/ INSTALL XBMC AND COPY OVER YOUR USERDATA FOLDER

Pretty self-explanatory, with XBMC, Amazon Fire TV turns into a "media box" beast that we all want.

Install from here (select ARM download link please) http://xbmc.org/download/

Launch XBMC. Exit. Then copy over all your userdata/addons folder.

If you have XBMC install on any other platforms and want to copy all of your settings/addons over to Fire TV, please remember that the best skin for Fire TV is Confluence. If you are using a touch-based skin, please switch it to Confluence or similar non-touch based skin.

This link tells where the default userdata folder is located:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Userdata

This is where you will place your userdata folder on your Fire TV

/sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/

Please remember that this method works for all platform, if you are using XBMC on Windows, iOS, etc... you can just copy everything over and it will work.

Example:

I can copy over my userdata and addons folder from my Nexus 10. It is located at

/sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/addons/

/sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/userdata/

Then I paste them to Fire TV here and replace the original folder

/sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/

Please remember to never copy over the temp folder. It might mess up your XBMC on Fire TV. If you do that, just delete it and launch XBMC.

10/ PLAY ANY VIDEO ON THE INTERNET USING CLOUDCAST ON ANOTHER ANDROID DEVICE

Install Cloudcast (it won't appear in Google Play store due to device restriction)

Download apkhere

http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/?id=com.appestry.cloudcast

Once install, you need to buy the in-app purchase (price is only $1.60, support the developer) to watch video longer than 10 minutes. The in-app purchase is authenticated through Google Play Store so only need to buy it once.

Once you have buy the in app purchase. Go to your other Android device, go to Play store and install the Cloudcast app in your other Android device

With both Fire TV and your Android device has Cloudcast, go to Devices --> Pair a new devices to link them up. From now on, any video you watch on your Android devices can be cast to the Fire TV. This app is based on Chromecast and it works great for me.

Here is a video of the developer explaining how his app work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ftqC1NvTPw

11/ OTHER LINKS AND THREADS

Spark : Desktop mirroring and web casting apps

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2766019

The Spark app is a hit/miss for me. It has a Chrome extension that will cast your Chrome tab to the Fire TV screen. Also, it has a Window/Mac program that supposedly mirror your entire desktop screen to the Fire TV. From my experience, the Chrome extension works for me in some way. The Chrome tab will appear in the Fire TV but it is not true mirroring. Certain videos won't load and the lag timing is around 3-5 seconds. The Window desktop program did not work for me. It will give me a black screen. If I play a video, sound will come out of the TV but no picture/image showing up. You can try it and let me know.

Airplay fully working and Mirroring too.. AndroidApple Tv allinOne

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2764848

Airplay to Fire TV. Did not try it since I don't have an iOS devices.

Working Sideloaded APK List - Updated Daily

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2756608

Self explanatory. Very good list of what app works on Fire TV and what not.

Links for Viki, Cruncyroll and Drama Fever for Google TV

http://www.4shared.com/zip/RlFwc6Ixce/gtv_apks.html

Dropbox Mirror:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/acilpqm3qbtub8v/gtv_apks.zip

The Google TV version of Viki, Crunchyroll and Drama Fever. Only Viki and Drama Fever works for me. Crunchyroll gives you a sideway screen. Please install the Google Play version below:

http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/?id=com.crunchyroll.crunchyroid

Links for Dolphin Browser and Flash

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2267390

The thread above contains link to Dolphin browser which support Flash. You can also install Dolphin Jetpack (link below, which supposedly makes your Dolphin browser experience even faster. Warning: need mouse to navigate browser, remote control alone is not enough.

http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/?id=com.dolphin.browser.engine