Setting up on Amazon Fire TV Stick
The device we answer most questions about. The install itself is straightforward once the unknown-sources setting is out of the way, which is the part that catches people.
- A Fire Stick already connected to your network
- Your server address, username and password from the account page
- The Downloader code shown on the Downloads page
The steps
Reveal Developer Options#1
Open Settings, then My Fire TV, then About. Highlight the line naming your device and press the select button seven times. A small message counts down and then confirms that developer options are available. Go back one screen and Developer Options is now in the My Fire TV list.
Allow installs from other apps#2
In Developer Options, open Install Unknown Apps and switch it on for Downloader. Older Fire OS builds show a single switch called Apps from Unknown Sources instead. Either way, this permission only covers the app you grant it to and can be switched back off once you are finished.
Install Downloader#3
Return to the home screen, use the search icon, type Downloader, and install the orange icon published by AFTVnews. Open it once and accept the storage permission it asks for, otherwise the download in the next step will fail silently.
Fetch the player#4
In Downloader, clear the URL box, type the numeric code from our Downloads page, and press Go. Wait for the file to finish, choose Install, then Done, then Delete when it offers to remove the installer. Deleting the file is worth doing because a Fire Stick has very little free space.
Enter your details#5
Open the player, choose the Xtream Codes login rather than the playlist option, and fill in three fields. The name field is a label for you and can say anything. The server address, username and password must match your account page exactly, including capital letters. Turn the remote keyboard suggestions off if it keeps capitalising the first character for you.
Let the first load finish#6
The initial launch downloads the channel list and the programme guide, which takes one to three minutes on a Fire Stick. The screen may look frozen while it works. Leave it alone until the channel groups appear, because closing the app halfway through leaves a partial list that behaves oddly afterwards.
- Unplug the Fire Stick at the wall for ten seconds before you start. A stick that has been powered for weeks is short on memory, and a genuine share of the faults reported to us clear up on a cold boot alone.
- If the install finishes but the app will not open, check free storage under My Fire TV, About, Storage. Below roughly 500 MB, players start failing at launch with no error message.
- The Fire Stick 4K Max supports Ethernet through an official adapter. If your router is within reach of a cable, that one change removes more buffering complaints than any setting inside the app.
- Hide the channel groups you never watch from inside the player settings. A shorter list makes the whole interface noticeably quicker to move around on modest hardware.
Open the same login on a phone using mobile data. Playback there means the subscription is healthy and the problem is this device or your network, which is exactly the sentence to put in a message to support along with your order number.
Reading this before you have a subscription?
That is the sensible order. The steps above are the whole of what setup involves on this device, so you can judge in advance whether the hardware you own will cope. Activation itself is automatic and takes about two minutes.