For years, the Amazon Fire TV Stick has been almost singularly defined by how well it streams video. Whether you’re catching up on the latest Netflix original, binge-watching Amazon Prime Video, or tuning into live sports, Amazon sells many sticks just to let you stream content.
This narrow focus completely overlooks the fact that Fire TV runs on a customized version of Android, meaning it’s far more than just a media player. You can use its processing power and stability to move past simple streaming. It can act as a utility hub, a fitness coach, and an internet toolbox.
Downloader
It downloads what you need
This is probably the most essential non-streaming app you can get for your Fire TV. It works as a web browser and file manager, made just for your TV screen. This lets you download and install files (APKs) from the internet. By doing this, you can sideload tools that just aren’t available in the official store.
Your Fire TV operating system is built on Android, so your streaming stick can run standard Android application packages, or APKs. However, getting those files onto your device can be incredibly tedious without the right software. To solve this, you can just download this free, lightweight app directly from the official Amazon Appstore.
Once you enable the developer option to install apps from unknown sources, Downloader becomes your main way to get third-party software, like custom launchers, alternative media players, and system utility apps. Keep in mind that Amazon is getting harder on sideloaded apps, so you’ll need to be careful.
Downloader has a browser interface that’s perfectly optimized for your standard Fire TV remote. Inside this integrated browser, you can quickly go full-screen, zoom in and out of web pages, resize text, and even turn JavaScript on or off to make sure pages load correctly. While it doesn’t have a built-in search engine, you can easily get to one by typing its URL.
Peloton
A great fitness app
While Peloton is certainly most famous for its premium stationary bikes and treadmills, the Fire TV app is a standalone fitness hub that doesn’t require any expensive hardware. If you’ve been looking for a reason to get moving without leaving your house or making a huge financial investment in workout equipment, downloading this app to your Fire TV is the perfect way to start.
Once you log in, you get immediate access to a huge library, offering thousands of really well-produced classes for yoga, strength training, HIIT, and meditation. Even if you never intend to pedal a single mile or run on a treadmill, the app provides a vast, diverse catalog of guided workouts led by excellent instructors.
You can complete most of these routines with nothing more than your own body weight, a standard set of dumbbells, or a simple yoga mat, making the barrier to entry incredibly low for anyone wanting to get in shape.
With your Fire TV showing the routine directly in front of you in high definition, you can focus entirely on your form, breathing, and performance.
Silk Browser
The internet browser for FireTV
You might often overlook it because it’s pre-installed, but the Silk Browser is actually one of the most capable desktop-style browsers for your television. It’s great for things you might forget you can do on the big screen, like checking your emails, reading the news, or even using web-based tools like Trello or a calendar.
It has a cursor mode controlled by your remote, which makes it feel more like a computer than just an app. Amazon Silk gives your streaming stick full web-browsing capabilities. Beyond basic surfing, the Silk browser comes with a wide range of settings and customization tools that compare to traditional desktop applications.
For example, you can switch between mobile and desktop versions of websites, and you can create and manage personal bookmarks right on the main screen for quick access to your most visited places. While Bing is set as the default search engine, the settings menu lets you switch to Google, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, or Ask Jeeves to fit your browsing preferences.
AirScreen
Sometimes, you want to mirror without being tied to an app
Your Fire TV has a mirroring feature built right in, but it can be a little picky with non-Android devices. AirScreen is a good receiver for screen mirroring, and it supports AirPlay, Cast, Miracast, and DLNA. You can cast your MacBook display for a presentation, share photos from an iPhone during a family gathering, or mirror a mobile game onto the big screen with way less delay than what your native options offer.
When you install this app, you won’t need to buy an expensive Apple TV just to get AirPlay features in your living room. Instead, AirScreen acts as a universal hub for screencasting across multiple devices, bringing together totally different technology systems and allowing smooth communication between your Amazon streaming stick and your Apple, Android, or Windows hardware.
Beyond simply mirroring a smartphone or tablet screen, this app can stream 4K video feeds because it uses built-in hardware acceleration. By offloading this heavy lifting directly to the processor, the app makes sure you won’t have to deal with annoying frame drops or stuttering during your family movie nights or presentations.
Analiti Wi-Fi Analyzer
Optimize your Wi-Fi network
If you’ve ever dealt with a buffering video, Analiti is your best friend. Most people view their devices as simple streamers, but the underlying Android-based operating system for Amazon Fire TV lets it act as a surprisingly powerful utility hub for your entire home network. Analiti gives you a professional-grade suite of network tools that map your Wi-Fi signal strength throughout your home.
Instead of guessing why your connection keeps dropping or relying on a smartphone app that might not reflect the exact network conditions behind your television, this application gives you accurate, device-specific data right on the screen. It shows you precisely where your dead zones are, finds channel interference from neighbors, and runs detailed speed tests to make sure your hardware is performing at its peak.
You can basically map out the invisible network landscape of your residence, letting you strategically reposition your router or manually adjust your network channels to avoid the crowded frequencies used by the other apartments or houses nearby.
Fire TV is more than just a streaming device
All the apps you can use on a Fire TV show how you shouldn’t measure its real value by how many shows are available on Netflix. Instead, it’s about how it can be useful as a media center or a way to enjoy your time outside binging. As the hardware keeps getting better, the system will just get stronger, which means the Fire TV Stick will get even more adaptable, even if it is often overlooked outside of streaming.
- Operating System
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FireOS
- Resolution
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4K
- RAM/storage
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8GB
- Connectivity
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Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
