Amazon Fire TV

About Amazon Fire TV

So here’s the thing. I bought a Fire TV Stick last week because my old Roku finally gave up the ghost. My daughter helped me set it up but then she went back home to Ohio. Two days later, I couldn’t find the little remote anywhere. I looked under the couch cushions, in the kitchen drawer, even the fridge. Nothing. My neighbor Frank told me there’s an app that turns your phone into a remote. I was skeptical because I’m not great with phones. I’m 68 and I still call my iPhone a “phone” not a “device.” But I was desperate. Thursday night I wanted to watch my recorded shows and I was stuck. So I downloaded this Amazon Fire TV app. It basically lets your phone talk to your Fire TV Stick through Wi-Fi. You can do all the remote stuff like pause, play, and change volume. You can also search for shows and type things in using your phone keyboard instead of hunting and pecking on the TV screen with the remote arrows. That part is actually pretty nice for an old guy like me who can’t see tiny letters.

Features & Highlights

The main thing is it works as a remote control. When you open the app it shows you a little touchpad area where you can swipe your finger to move the cursor on your TV. You can tap to select things. There are buttons for back, home, menu, and the usual playback controls. There’s also a button that brings up a keyboard on your phone. This is huge for me because typing with a TV remote is one of the most frustrating things in the world. I have big thumbs and I always hit the wrong letter. With the phone keyboard I can type in “Yellowstone” or “Wheel of Fortune” in about five seconds. There’s also voice search. You press a microphone button and speak into your phone. I tried it Saturday morning. I said “Show me action movies” and it worked. It surprised me honestly. The app also shows you what’s popular on Prime Video and gives recommendations. I don’t really use that part because I mostly watch what I already know. But my grandkids like scrolling through it when they visit.

User Experience

Using this app was a mixed bag for me. The first time I opened it, it made me sign into my Amazon account. That was annoying because I don’t remember my password. I had to reset it. My daughter helped me over the phone. That took about 20 minutes. After that, it found my Fire TV Stick automatically. That part was smooth. The remote control screen is simple enough. Big buttons, clear labels. No clutter. I like that. But here’s my frustration. Sometimes the app lags. I’ll swipe my finger on the touchpad and the cursor on the TV won’t move for a second or two. Then it jumps. That makes navigating Netflix annoying because you overshoot what you’re trying to click on. It happened to me three times last night while I was trying to find a movie. Also, the app drained my phone battery fast. I was using it for about an hour and my battery went from 80% to 45%. I don’t know if that’s normal but it seems like a lot. Another thing is the app needs your phone and your Fire TV to be on the same Wi-Fi. If your Wi-Fi is acting up, the app becomes useless. My internet went out Friday evening and I was stuck again.

Pricing

The app is free. You don’t pay a dime to download it or use the remote control features. That’s good because I would not pay for something like this. You do need an Amazon account but most people already have one if they buy stuff from Amazon. My daughter bought me a Prime membership last Christmas so I have that too. But you don’t need Prime to use the app. You just need the account. So the price is right for what it is. Zero dollars. I can’t complain about that.

Updates & Support

Here’s where I got annoyed. On my second day using the app, the remote stopped working. I opened the app, it said “Looking for devices” and just spun. Wouldn’t find my Fire TV Stick. I waited five minutes. Nothing. So I tried to contact Amazon support through the app. I clicked Help and it opened a webpage. I typed my problem into a box. An automated reply came back saying “Try restarting your router.” That didn’t help. I replied and waited. Nobody answered for two hours. Finally a person named “Ravi” responded and said to uninstall and reinstall the app. I did that. It worked again. But the whole process took me most of my afternoon. I told my neighbor Frank about it and he said that’s typical. Support is slow and they give you generic answers before they actually help. I’m not impressed. If you’re not tech-savvy like me, you might feel lost.

Security & Privacy

I don’t know much about this stuff. The app asked for permission to use my microphone for voice search and my Wi-Fi connection. I said yes. I figure Amazon already knows everything about me anyway from my shopping. The app says it collects data like what you watch and how you use the app. That’s probably for recommendations. I don’t love companies knowing my business but what can you do. Everything wants your data these days. I just make sure I don’t say anything private near the microphone. My daughter told me to check the privacy settings in the app. There’s a section where you can turn off personalized ads. I did that. So at least there’s some control if you know where to look.