So you just bought the Amazon Firestick with Alexa voice remote and probably wondering how to break it out of “jail” and unleash its true potentials? Rejoice! For in this article, we’ll teach you how to jailbreak a firestick.
Before now, we used to watch TV using our cable, but the tides has changed since the inception of movie streaming services such as Netflix, empowering us to cut the cord and stream contents online. At first, users could only utilize this services on mobile, PC and game consoles but a range of options surfaced sooner than expected with Amazon leading the chart with its Fire TV Stick. The Amazon firestick is a small device (the size of a flash drive) that once plugged into a TV HDMI port enables the TV to stream contents over WiFi from various streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, and more.
Also Read: 16 Best Kodi Forks of All Time.
While it typically puts our cables to shame and acts as a smart TV offering search results across top apps and games, you can still unleash its true potentials by jailbreaking it, to enable you apply few hacks, tweaks and even sideload third-party apps without going through the AppStore.
Firestick Jailbreak – Is that Even a Thing? And is it illegal?
The term “Jailbreak” can mean an escape from jail, but on a computing level, it simply means to modify the firmware of a device in order to remove restrictions imposed by the manufacturer so that the device can install and run unofficial software. When you fire up a query on something like “How do you jailbreak a firestick?”, Such thing doesn’t actually exist, and you’d need to be wary of scammers asking you to crack open your firestick and solder the points. Things such as this can be messy and you may end up damaging your device.
A jailbroken firestick is often referred to as installing Kodi on firestick. Coming to the legality aspect, it’s ​definitely not illegal to jailbreak a firestick. The only difference between a jailbroken firestick and a regular one is the installation of Kodi. Other factors depends entirely on how you use it. So from here, we will be walking you through the steps to install Kodi on firestick.
Install Kodi On Firestick
It is safe to mention that you can sideload any third-party apps on your firestick the moment it’s out of the box. So below, we will highlight 3 different ways to install Kodi on firestick. But before we dive into the how-to guide, let’s prepare your Fire TV Stick to install Kodi. Assuming you have connected your firestick to your television, the next process will be to toggle one of the default options within the Settings menu to allow installation of apps from Unknown Sources. So here’s how to get this one going.
- To begin with, click on “Settings” on the top of your firestick home menu, then scroll right and select “Device“.
- From here, select “Developer Options” and click “Apps from Unknown Sources”. A warning message will appear, go through it and click “Turn On”.
That’s it. Your firestick is now ready to install apps from external sources. So lets quickly jump into the steps to install Kodi on firestick.
Using Downloader
One of the easiest or perhaps the simplest way to install Kodi on firestick is by using the Downloader app. It’s free and doesn’t require any computer software or command line. The only manual stuff you’ll need to do is to type in the desired URLs into the appropriate box using your Alexa voice remote. So lets kick off.
- Click on the “Search” icon on your firestick home screen and enter “Downloader“. From here, click “Get” to install the app and open it.
- Now, type in http://kodi.tv/download and hit go. Select Android and choose the “ARM 32-Bit” build under the “Release” version and Kodi will start to download.
- Once the download process is complete, click “Install” from the pop-up to get Kodi installed. You can head over to the home screen to find Kodi under “Your Apps & Games”.
That’s it, you can now install any of your favourite Kodi add-ons , Builds and/or Wizards to unleash the true potential of your firestick. But before that, ensure you connect to a VPN service to go anoymous and stream contents privately.
Using adbLink
You’d know you can install Kodi on firestick using adbLink. If you find the “Downloader” method cumbersome, then we will teach you how to use adbLink to install Kodi on firestick. AdbLink is a third-party program that let’s you manage Kodi installation. So here’s how to download Kodi on firestick using adbLink.
- To begin with, you’ll need to find the IP address of your firestick. So go to Settings -> Device -> About -> Network and note down the IP address since it’ll come in handy later.
- Now head back to the home screen and jump into Settings -> Device -> Developer Options and turn on “ADB Debugging”.
- From here, switch on your laptop and download the adblink software for your operating system, then Install and run it. Now click on “New” within adbLink and give your firestick a name. Enter the IP address you wrote down earlier, click Save and ensure it’s connected.
- Now download the Android version of Kodi on your PC, then on adbLink, click “Install APK”, locate and select Kodi, then click “Yes” if you get a prompt, and wait till the installation process completes. Kodi will now be available on your firestick.
Using Apps2Fire
Looking for a good adbLink alternative? Then apps2fire should be your best choice. Apps2Fire is an app that wirelessly uploads every Android applications on your phone to your firestick. It’s free and easy-to-use, all that is required to get it running is to enable developer options on your firestick, then enter the IP address and you are ready to sideload Kodi. So lets kick off.
- Head over to the Google Play Store and install Apps2Fire on your Android phone. Then plug in your firestick to your TV and go to Settings -> Device -> Developer Options and switch on ADB Debugging.
- Now ensure you have your firestick IP address ready, then download and Install Kodi on your Android phone. From here, open Apps2Fire and go to the “Setup” tab. Enter the IP address of your firestick and tap Save to connect.
- Now swipe across to the “Local Apps” tab, select Kodi and wait till it uploads and automatically install on your firestick.
Wrapping Up
We do know that there are a lot of methods to install Kodi on firestick. One can opt-in to use es file explorer, FireDL or even AppStarter to download Kodi on firestick. But the three methods we listed above are the easiest, less cumbersome and can be carried out in under 3 minutes.
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Thank You for this post. Installed kodi after successfully jailbreak firestick.