How to Connect Echo Devices to Fire Stick
In the recent prime sale, I bought an Echo Dot and a Firestick. And after a bit of tinkering, I discovered that you can connect your Echo devices with Fire TV devices. Here's how you can do it.
Link Echo Dot to Fire Stick
Step 1: Open the Amazon Alexa app on your phone and go to the menu by tapping on the hamburger icon at the top-left corner.
Step 2: From the sliding menu, tap on Settings. In the settings menu, navigate to the “TV & Video” option under Alexa Preferences.
Step 3: In the TV & Video section, you have the option to connect Fire TV & Xbox. Since we need to connect Fire TV Stick, tap on the add button beside Fire TV. On the next page, tap on “Link Your Alexa Device”.
Step 4: After you tap on “Link Your Alexa Device”, the app redirects you to the next page. Your Fire TV Stick will automatically appear on the search page. Tap on it to select it and then tap on the continue button.
Step 5: Once you have selected the Fire TV, you will be asked about the other Alexa device which you want to connect. In our case, this is the Echo speaker. So, tap on the Echo Dot and tap on Link Devices. Next up, you will see a confirmation page displaying the connected Fire TV Stick name. You can view your device name and then move on to the home page of the app.
Now that you have successfully connected the Fire TV Stick, you can issue commands from the Echo speaker. There are several simple and powerful commands like opening movies, finding movies of a specific actor, or controlling video playback that you can do via the Echo Speaker. Following is a list of must-know Alexa commands to control your Fire TV Stick.
Alexa Commands
1. Hey Alexa, Play “The Office”
As of now, this command only works for Prime Video. Alexa cannot search on other apps like Netflix or YouTube. If you have an Echo Show with a display, you need to specifically mention “Hey Alexa play the office on Fire TV”.
2. Hey Alexa, Find Dark Knight Rises
There are times when you don't know the exact title of the movie but you are aware of the lead name or protagonist. Well, Alexa comes to the rescue and can list down the titles of the particular actor/actress for you. The search results are sourced from Prime.
3. Hey Alexa, Play/Pause/Skip Video
While you are having a good time watching the movie and someone's at the doorbell. Well, usually you have to reach for the remote to pause the video or just let it play while you attend the person at the door. But, with Echo connected to it, you just have to say: “Hey Alexa, pause”. While “Hey Alexa, play” will resume the playback.
Alexa also lets you rewind or fast-forward by a specific time. For example, you can skip the unnecessary portion of a clip by just saying “Hey Alexa, fast-forward 10 mins” or you can even ask Alexa to play the next episode by saying “Hey Alexa, next episode”.
4. Hey Alexa, Go Home
Anytime you are stuck within an app or deep down in the menus, you can ask Alexa to take you back to the home screen.
5. Alexa Help
If you cannot figure out a specific step, you can readily ask Alexa for help. This command works well for simple generic questions.
6. Open an App
The problem with sideloaded apps or handheld apps on the FireStick is that it's hard to navigate to them from the home menu. Alexa comes into play here, and you just have to ask echo. Suppose you want to open Sky News, you just have to say: “Hey Alexa, open Sky News.”
The search and play functionality of the Echo and Alexa is currently limited to Prime TV. It would have been better if Alexa was capable of searching third-party apps like Netflix or YouTube. And, considering the proprietary nature of companies, expecting such functionality is highly far-fetched.
For any issues or queries, let me know in the comments below.
Jim's passion for Apple products ignited in 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone. This was a canon event in his life. Noticing a lack of iPad-focused content that is easy to understand even for “tech-noob”, he decided to create Tabletmonkeys in 2011.
Jim continues to share his expertise and passion for tablets, helping his audience as much as he can with his motto “One Swipe at a Time!”