yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] taku24722:
I don't think Amazon wants people to install google play store on their devices. That being said, I would be surprised if the Amazon support assists you in anyway regarding this. I hope you find a solution though!

As I am also waiting keenly for a working method to remove amazon system apps and block OTA updates.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] ruderthanyou:
I'm not even going to try and call Amazon for support. That would be a interesting conversation with them if I did. But I really like the new version of Fire OS since it's based on Android 7. Less mucking around to run things like Google Assistant. Just download from the play store, and run through its config wizard. And I've had problems with my Rachio app running on Fire OS 5 machines, which now load just fine on Fire OS 6. Speed is kinda an issue, but for my home automation use, it's OK. The deal breaker is this broken notification thing.

Anyway, good luck on finding a method to de-amazonify this thing. That should surely improve the speed issue.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] tawcat:
For some reason, I still can't get the Google Play to function. Ugh!

---------- Post added at 06:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:26 PM ----------

So are you saying I need to install the apk files to the micro sd and install from there? I've tried so many times to get Google working and I always end up in a loop and back to the home screen. Thanks.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] lickwid:
No. You can install the APK from the tablet storage, but you must have microsd card set as external storage initially.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] belletto77:
what do you think about using an MDM platform to remove or block stock Amazon apps and services ? ;)

i'm trying to do something using Sophos Mobile Control
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] tawcat:
I'm about at the point of giving this endeavor up. No matter what I try or how I install the files, I'm still in a loop and returned to the home screen. I must be missing something as many of you confirm that it works.

I've installed the files from the apk site, from my documents file, from the d/l menu on Silk. I've restated the tablet immediately after installing the files as well after I've attempted the sign in etc. Always the same result, infinite loop back to the home screen. I'm frustrated to say the least.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] bryfly:
:rolleyes:

Not sure if you have seen this vid, but may help, I followed it and it went ok.

https://askmikediy.blogspot.com/2018/10/amazon-fire-hd-8-android-tablet.html
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] tawcat:
Thanks, I tried this as well. The guy in the video was hard to understand and I couldn't see his screen well. After he enabled the accept from unknown sources, he said before I forget you need to........ then he tapped several times on a screen and continued. I have no idea what he tapped.

The frustration continues, nothing should be this difficult. I'm sure its user error.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] taku24722:
Have you tried the method in here?

https://xdaforums.com/amazon-fire/help/fire-os-6-3-x-play-store-fire-hd-8-t3850363/page4

I followed this as soon as I got my tablet and I inserted my sd card after I confirmed they worked.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] tawcat:
Yup, I think I'm done. Removed the SD card in hopes that was the issue, nope lost in a loop and returned to home screen. Its just crazy.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] JWolf1384:
Fire HD 8 8th gen Play Store

I had the same issues described above by numerous people where after installing the APK's and logging into the play store, it would continually ask me to sign in again. I tried this with and without a SD card inserted and had the same result.

However, I did find a solution. It was the same solution that I used on a previous generation. Essentially, it's the step two method described in the following link:

https://www.howtogeek.com/232726/how-to-install-the-google-play-store-on-your-amazon-fire-tablet/

First, download this zip file from the Root Junky website and unzip it.

http://rootjunkysdl.com/files/Amazon Fire 5th gen/Amazon-Fire-5th-Gen-Install-Play-Store.zip

Update the ADB executables and DLL's and the fastboot executable with a newer version. I have a HTC U12+, and I just used the versions that I use with that phone.

Enable developer options and allow USB debugging on the tablet. I looked for an option to enable ADB, but the process worked. So, I'm assuming enabling USB debugging enabled ADB as well.

Connect the tablet to your PC, and run the batch file. Select the option to remove the play store. Let the batch file finish, and reboot the tablet. Then, you should be good to go.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] rbronco21:
I didn't think to mention that I did all my installs through ADB and mine worked the first time. It looks like that is all the script is doing, so hopefully this works for everyone else.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] JWolf1384:
Ah, that must be the solution. I think everyone else is just downloading the APK's on the tablet and doing it that way.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] BSAT.KG:
BTW

The last LauncherHijackV402 works ok with autostart of another launcher !)
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] e.lynch303:
it dose work you can install the play store
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] Grauchi:
I logged in just to say this.

I have removed ads (let's see if it sticks), installed last LauncherHijack and Nova smoothly.

Everything working nice.

Thanks, guys.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] ucallmebobby:
The rootjunkie install is just to sideload the APKs, but no root yet, right?

For those of you installing Google Play and other launchers, does any of this disable/ delete Alexa? I don't really want Alexa anyway.

Is there a way to get rid of FireOS to run only Android?
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] tawcat:
Thanks for posting this, obviously I must not be literate enough, I got totally lost in the Step Two Method. I've decided Google is no longer worth my time and effort!!!
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] gdroid666:
NM i got play services woking or so it seems

i just installed the 4 apk and rebooted the other poster had me very nervous i have had problem with play services before
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] JWolf1384:
No root yet that I know of, yes, it only sideloads the APK's. It does not disable Alexa but you can turn it off or make it less annoying. I don't know of a way to run just Android. I'm guessing that's impossible without root or unlocking the bootloader.

---------- Post added at 03:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:31 AM ----------

When I say that I updated the ADB executables and DLL's, I just downloaded newer versions and just replaced the files.

https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-windows.zip

The root junky link does actually work. It says 5th gen, but it still worked for me after updating the ADB files. Go to the link, then Fire 5th gen, and then download the zip to get the files to install the play store.

This method is for starting from scratch. If you already installed the APK's manually, just uninstall the apps, and use this method.

There is a consensus using ADB to push or sideload the APK's seems to work, which is exactly what the script does.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] rbronco21:
I ues this bat file to do all my sideloading for me. Just drag and drop the apk onto the bat and it does the rest. I assume the script probably has some error handling and extras, but it probably runs this 4 times for the 4 apks needed. I have the following 3 files in the same folder as the bat file. I set up adb many years ago and have never updated or reinstalled it, so I can't tell you how that is done or if it is needed.

adb.exe

AdbWinApi.dll

AdbWinUsbApi.dll

If you don't want the download and can make a bat, this is all it contains:

[MENTION=8011874]Echo off[/MENTION]

cls

cd %~dp1

adb kill-server

adb install -r %1

pause
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] gdroid666:
i just plugged the tablet to my windows PC and transferred the 4 apk files to the download folder and installed them through es file explorer and then rebooted before opening anything and it seems to work

but i can not log into contacts or duo , contacts asks for my account , i enter my account then it says account already exists on this device but i can not go any further and it does not sync my contacts

duo shows my account , but then asks for a phone number , i enter my number ( no clue why it needs this when it is already displaying my account it should know the number associated with the account) and it says "unable to send the request, please check the connection and try again"

and i got a notification that said duo is having trouble with play services ,and then another notification or the same eone asked to go to settings give permissions for sms but all permissions are already enabled , i can not get contacts to sync my contacts or to log in and i can not get past duo log in screen

google log ins are a **** mess

but maybe i need to manually update play services? how would i even do that? i have turned off auto update apps in the play store so it does not update and break alexa as other have reported that letting the play store update the alexa app will break it
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] DragonFire1024:
Please see this post https://xdaforums.com/hd8-hd10/general/add-google-contacts-contacts-sync-neat-t3651767/page1

Duo not likely to work if it hasn't yet. It's like Gmail. On some tablets it works, on others it doesn't. Though I'm one of the fortunate ones who haven't had that issue.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] JWolf1384:
Did you log into the play store first and then let it update play services before trying to log into the other apps?
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] gdroid666:
i did log in but i don't think i let it update play services , i saw a notification that said alexa update is available from the play store so i went to play store settings and switched off auto update apps because i did not want it to update alexa through the play store and break it ,
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] JWolf1384:
Try updating play services and everything else through the play store. I wouldn't worry about Alexa breaking.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] djdoubt03:
LauncherHijack works for me and Nova Launcher, except widgets don't work as stated in the LauncherHijack help
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] gdroid666:
i tried to add a clock widget on my fire HD 8 8th gen with the launcher hijack and nova launcher premium ,and it went **** house the second i tried to add the clock to the home screen

it kept on looping and going back and forth from nova to fire launcher in a loop and i couldn't stop it,i had to reboot , i rebooted the tablet and figured the best case scenario would be that the looping would be gone but that the widget would not be there

but to my surprise the clock widget was there and working fine after the reboot ,everything is working fine now after the reboot i can move edit and resize the clock widget without any issues too
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] drizzt09:
It does now with v4
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] gdroid666:
ok looks like play services was up to date

i keep getting a notification that says something about play services is having a problem go to settings and enable SMS permissions , all permissions are enabled though

I also just noticed that apps that use re captcha are not working the catcha does not work

i have not tried in the browser yet though

i wonder if the captcha fail ws what triggered the notification lase time i am pretty sure it was either contacts or duo but i have not opened either since , i woke up today after using an app that uses re captcha last night and i got the notification again
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] ShayBox:
Seems amazon may have disabled the ability to toggle accessibility options, clicking on either nova or launcherhijack shows a blank screen which would usually allow you to toggle it on/off
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] JWolf1384:
Do you happen to have a sd card inserted?
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] gdroid666:
i do not but i didn't at the time , i just put one in and formatted as internal storage

but this was after i got these notifications
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] amberaudio:
This seems to be ok again with the very latest update. Also Widgets now seem fine, at least with Apex.

I did also check Kingroot and Kingoroot just in case, but no joy there unfortunately.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] tawcat:
I've pretty much resigned myself to giving up trying to install Google Play on my 8th gen HD8. No matter what I've tried or how I installed the apk files, I end up in an infinite loop and then returned to the home screen. Obviously there is a way as so many have been successful, I guess I am just not tech savvy enough to make it work.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] bluechip64:
Duo and Hangouts installed from Google Play Store?

Fire HD 8 (8th Generation), Fire OS 6.3.0.1

Duo App installed from Google Play Store does not work.

"Set up Duo with your phone number"

I enter a valid phone number.

"Unable to send the request. Please check the connection and try again."

Wi-Fi connection is OK.

Hangouts works from browsers, Chrome and Silk.

I can make outgoing calls.

But the Hangouts and Hangouts Dialer Apps do not work.

Any ideas or fix? Thanks. :(
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] DragonFire1024:
They probably block the service in the framework like they removed com.google.android.gms as part of location services. Not much to be done without root.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] interessant:
Duo will work with older versions ( in the mid .30s ) -- and then allow playstore to upgrade once registered.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] Nightmare-Rex420:
ive had this happen with meany tablets it makes me curius if got something bad or they just do it. happend on gigaset, fire hd 7 and once on 5th gen fire.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] xxREP:
Update Fire OS 6.3.0.1 , on Fire OS 6.3.0.0 accessibility is not selectable
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] DragonFire1024:
It's a bug. You can always download settings database editor from the play store and enable it through there. Just read instructions on the play store.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] gdroid666:
ok i tried it and i got it to install and log in , but when i try and update it from the play store i get "can not install app error 963" or "can not install app error 907"

also the app is useless because contacts does not work either so there is no way to initiate any outgoing calls (not tried if incoming works yet)

when i go to contacts none of my contacts are there , when i hit user/account and try and log in it says "this account already exists on this device" and it won't let me go any further

is there a way around this? maybe an older version of contacts?

EDIT: ok just tried incoming and that does not work either

i get incoming call on my phone but the tablet does nothing , not really surprised tho

EDIT: ok i tried manually adding a contact to the contacts app on the fire and then going to he duo app

that does not work either , no contact show up in the duo app , none of my contacts from the account from the cloud are synced and even if i manually enter a contact on the contacts app on the tablet it still will not show up in duo , duo settings says my google account so it is logged in but it does not see any of my contacts

from the cloud or from the contracts app on the tablet

is there any fix for this?
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] DragonFire1024:
This is just a hunch. Try doing this: https://xdaforums.com/hd8-hd10/general/add-google-contacts-contacts-sync-neat-t3651767 If you have contacts already installed then uninstall it, reboot to recovery, wipe cache, reboot and install the apks in the link. Update contacts through play store when done if you like, but not required.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] gdroid666:
This is a fire HD 8 8th gen

I thought there is no root or twrp
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] joeldf:
There isn't.

But this thread has nothing to do with either. Everything talked about here is done on a stock HD8.

For example, after getting my 8th gen HD8, I immediately loaded up the 4 Google apps to get Play Services and the Play Store on it.

Then, I added in a 128Gb sd card and left it as external storage.

Then, I loaded up Cobalt's BlackBerry Manager and loaded up the BlackBerry Hub+ suite of apps (well, just the Hub, Calendar, Contacts, and Notes).

Set up my outlook account in the Hub - I don't have or use Gmail. I have a Google account, but not a Gmail account.

Then, just this past weekend, I loaded up Launcherhijack and installed the Nova Launcher and then TeslaUnread apps and now have an almost Amazon-free looking tablet.

I don't mind some aspects of the Amazon services on the thing, but I just didn't like the launcher UI.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] gdroid666:
i was referring to this

" reboot to recovery, wipe cache, reboot and install the apks in the link. Update contacts through play store when done if you like, but not required."

i assumed he was speaking about twrp , but i guess there is the amazon recovery which i have almost never used i didn't know there was a wipe cache option

i will try it once i figure out how to get into recovery

---------- Post added at 10:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:47 PM ----------

ok i have done all of this but when i try and open the old contacts now it just pops up for split second and then force closes

i followed the other thread ,i removed the contacts app , i booted into recovery and i wiped the cache partition and then rebooted from the recovery screen , theni installed the activity launcher app

then the old contacts app from the apk mirror link , then i went to my google drive and selected open my contacts backup.vcf file with contacts app,only once , then i installed the contact sync app from the apk mirror link in the other thread and then i tried to open contacts and it force closes

i got a notification from contacts app saying finished importing contacts.vcf

but the app wont open it just pops up then force closes, what should i try now?

i also tried rebooting and that didn't work

and i tried to update the contacts app from the play store and that doesn't work either

i get the same thing as when i try and update the older duo app

it says downloading then installing and then it goes back to saygin update again and the icon is still the old icon

none of this works

EDIT: ok i went into the dup app which i still can not update and now i can see my contacts in there but i can not call any of them because they all say invite and if i use gmail to invite the link doesn't work

and it says i am signed in i see my phone number and sign out but if i duo call myself it rings on my phone but i get nothing on the tablet so still 100% useless no incoming or outgoing is possible at all still , and i still can not get contacts app to open or to update
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] beanaman:
It seems both of my Amazon fire HD 8 pallets have been disconnected from the Wi-Fi and won't connect now seems like quite a coincidence that they both started doing this think Amazon had anything to do with this?
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] DragonFire1024:
Not unless you received a system update to a yet unknown version.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] joeldf:
Yeah. No such issues for either of our two 7th gens or the 8th gen. Wi-fi still works for all.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] DB126:
Unlikely; far more probable is an 'event' occured on your home/local access point that is inhibiting access. Try rebooting that pup.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] Alecp96:
Has anyone managed to free up RAM? This lag is pretty bad.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] xyz`:
Root achieved: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dwwn5XcUcAAeldv.jpg:large
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] Tailborn:
Wow!!

Could you please elaborate a bit on how you managed this amazing feat!! :D

---------- Post added at 11:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 AM ----------

If you don't use Amazon services on my Kindle you could deregister your Amazon account this way I have noticed the device lags a lot less but every 30 or so days the orange screen with register your device will pop up and you cannot skip it so you will have to register and deregister your device in order to get another 30 days of regular use :p
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] DragonFire1024:
Share indeed. Only known root method for anything not the HD 10 is a hardware root.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] HampTheToker:
My son has lost another HD8 to fall damage because of my nephew, and I was just thinking the only way this kid could keep one is if I left it in the box and hidden after I replace it.

Now, I just don't know. This might be a tough choice...
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] Tailborn:
You could try the kid's edition fire tablet for your son if he is prone to dropping the tablet a lot since the Fire becomes a tank with that crazy kid-proof case but it is a bit on the heavier side :)

P.S: Fire Tablets are among the most durable tablets, I'd be surprised if he broke it with the kid-proof case if he managed to do it somehow then you might need to find a better gift for him :fingers-crossed:
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] xyz`:
Still working on it, give me a few weeks.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] Tailborn:
Sure take your time & fantastic work mate !! :D

P.S hope it's a software root :p
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] DB126:
It is not the lack of RAM but the way it is managed. A sizeable chunk of addressable memory is set aside for ZRAM with swappiness set to 100. That causes the relatively anemic processor spend far too much time compressing/decompressing pages that could likely be reloaded from permanent storage relatively quickly. A much lower swappiness setting or dropping ZRAM all together would probably benefit a large percentage of work loads. Unfortunately, consumer grade gizmos are often configured to satisfy the least common denominator. So ZRAM is there to accommodate the occational huge dataset, poorly coded game or social app that has 28 things going on in the background.

ZRAM, swappiness and all other virtual memory settings are untouchable on a locked, unrooted device. Kinda sucks as this device could be half decent with a handful of kernel tweaks.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] diplomatic:
Wow.... Really curious how you did it. And that looks like it's systemless root because of Magisk(?).
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] DragonFire1024:
Impossible to use magisk on a device with a locked bootloader.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] diplomatic:
[MENTION=8165603]DragonFire1024[/MENTION], yes and it's similarly 'impossible' to have any type of root with dm-verity. Have you seen that screenshot? It says 'u:r:magisk:s0' as the selinux context.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] xyz`:
Yeah it's systemless. Essentially I'm getting code execution within lk and patching it to always return true in the function which determines unlock status, so we can load a custom boot image / recovery / etc. I'll post a full writeup later.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] diplomatic:
Oh, is that the thing where you overwrite the LK image in memory with a special boot partition that has a 32-bit "kernel" loaded into a custom address? That's impressive, whatever your method is. It can't be overstated how much of a breakthrough this is. Hope you crack all these Mediatek Fire tablets, [MENTION=9667509]xyz`[/MENTION]. And get much recognition. ;)
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] DragonFire1024:
Special boot partition? You mean like what I said already exists?
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] xyz`:
It's kinda scary how accurate this is but yeah that's the gist of the vuln.
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] gugesha:
Can you write a post on how to root fire HD 8 (8th gen) today? I can't wait to see it :)
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] xyz`:
I've posted it now at https://xdaforums.com/hd8-hd10/orig-development/fire-hd-8-2018-downgrade-unlock-root-t3894256
[Fire HD 8 and HD 10 General] AmznUser444 Dev:
Can you see the root directory on non-rooted. Use Total Commander or MiXplorer

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ghisler.android.TotalCommander