Are you using (or interested in) a Logitech Harmony Smart Control Remote, but wonder if you can use it to control apps on an Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick like Kodi, Netflix, etc?
In this post, I’ll show you how to use this awesome Harmony remote to control everything including your Fire TV device.
I love Logitech Harmony remotes, especially the new hub-based remote called Harmony Smart Control. I’ve used one for my main living room entertainment center for a long time. With all of my electronic hidden in a closet behind the TV, my Harmony remote can control everything without any issues. I even have my Google Home integrated with Harmony so I can tell Google to turn activities on and off.
Recently, I saw a great limited time deal at Walmart.com where I could get another Harmony Smart Control (hub and remote) for only $35! I couldn’t pass that up, and I was pretty sure, it could work with the Fire Stick on my other TV.
Well, I was right… it did work, but it wasn’t completely obvious how to set it up. I hope to help clear up some of the confusion here.
Only the Hub-based Harmony Remotes can Control Fire TV
If you’re using an older IR (infrared) Harmony remote, this tutorial won’t work for you. You would need to upgrade.
Add Fire TV Device to your Harmony Setup
This part is pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll cover it anyway. I took this section from the Harmony support page.
- Launch the Harmony mobile app and connect to your Harmony hub.
- Select MENU, then Harmony Setup > Add/Edit Devices & Activities > DEVICES.
- Select the ADD DEVICE button at the bottom of the screen, followed by ENTERTAINMENT DEVICE.
- Enter the manufacturer and model number for your device, then tap ADD.
- If you have multiple devices, select the Fire TV device that you like Harmony to control.
- Once added, Harmony will prompt you to create an Activity. Select Yes.
- Continue through the series of questions to finish creating your Activity.
Create an Amazon Fire TV Activity
- Select the Activities tab on the left side of the screen.
- Select the Add Activity button.
- Select the Fire TV Activity type and select Next.
- Continue through the series of questions to build your Activity.
- Once done, remember to sync your remote.
Launching your Amazon Fire TV Activity
- Using the Harmony mobile app, connect to your Harmony hub.
- Launch your Watch Fire TV Activity. Harmony should prompt you to initiate Bluetooth pairing.
- 1st Generation Fire TV
- Use your Amazon Fire TV controller to navigate to the Fire TV home screen.
- Select Settings > Controllers > Fire TV Remotes > Add New Remote.
- Harmony and Fire TV should pair after several seconds.
- If you experience issues, restart Amazon Fire TV and try these steps again.
- 2nd Generation Fire TV
- Use your Amazon Fire TV controller to navigate to the Fire TV home screen.
- Select Settings > Controllers and Bluetooth Devices > Other Bluetooth Devices from the Fire TV menu.
- Select Add Bluetooth Devices.
- Harmony and Fire TV should pair after several seconds, your Harmony hub will appear as Harmony Keyboard.
- 1st Generation Fire TV
Troubleshooting Getting Harmony Remote to Control Fire TV
- Make sure you’ve Bluetooth paired your Fire TV device to your Harmony Hub using the original Fire TV remote.
- If the Harmony device won’t appear or won’t pair, you might have paired your phone to the hub which is not necessary. Forget that Bluetooth connection on your phone and then it will be free to pair from your Fire TV.
- Make sure you’ve successfully saved your settings and synced your remote.
- Try turning your activities off and launching the Watch Fire TV activity again.
- Check the buttons configuration. When I did it, I had to manually set all the buttons I wanted to use.
- Go to Harmony Setup > Activities > Watch Fire TV > Customize Remote.
- Tap on each button to edit the action that it will perform on which device.
Comments?
Having any issues with the setup? Anything needs corrected? Let me know in the comments. Thanks!
Where did you place your IR blaster with all components in the closet so that your remote worked with everything hidden? Seems like the ir blaster would be an eyesore
The IR blaster is on the lower of the 2 shelves that are in the closet behind the TV. The Logitech Harmony blaster is very nice looking and does a great job a bouncing the signal off of the walls and such. I never have any issues with devices not getting the IR signal from the blaster. Also, how can it be an eye sore when it’s in a closet?
I cannot get my harmony remote to sync with my fire tv. I have a 4k fire tv and harmony ultimate home. I have tried literally everything from wired internet connection, delete and readd device/activity….at a loss help me please.
I’m sorry. I’ve put everything I know about connecting harmony to Fire TV in this tutorial post. Where are you getting stuck? Have you been able to add the “Harmony keyboard” Bluetooth device like I covered in the tutorial?
I have never even gotten the “Harmony keyboard” to show up
Sorry, I’m not sure how to help. I would try going through the steps again to see if you missed anything. Also, there are some troubleshooting tips included. Not sure if you tried those.
I was stuck on this as well but just figured out that you need to add the Fire Stick as a Device. Not just Activity.
At first I only added the Activity and it works fine, but you need to use the Fire Stick remote. I could not get the remote to pair.
Once I followed the directions in this post and added it as a Device, it will ask you to add the bluetooth keyboard and it will pair without issue.
Nice! I’m glad I could help!
So with HDMI CEC turned on, you can use the TV’s native IR signals to control the device. This feature ennoblement was released in the FireTV update in Dec 2018. No need for the harmony HUB anymore. https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/understanding-hdmi-and-cec
Very cool. Thanks for sharing that info. That only works for the latest version of the Fire TV devices, right? The one with the power button on the remote? I have the 2nd gen which doesn’t have a power button.
This may be a dumb question but I am at my wit’s end. Once I build the Fire TV activity in the Harmony mobile app and it gives me the instructions to pair the Harmony Hub with the Fire Stick, do I need to hit the pair button on the Harmony hub to get the Fire Stick 4k bluetooth setup to work. I have tried that and everything else and I cannot get the Fire Stick to see the Harmony hub regardless of which bluetooth option I try. My PC sees it and so does my phone (neither of which are paired to the Hub). Help!
The hub doesn’t even show up in the list of available bluetooth devices in the Fire Stick settings?
Do you have anything else bluetooth-paired to your Fire Stick?
I’m not sure whey that would happen. Sorry. Did you try rebooting things?
After a few different tries at this, I feel like I’m close. The only issue right now is quick-starting the Firestick with just the remote. With only three quick-start icon buttons available (the music note, the tv and the movie icon) how do make, or assign, one of those (preferably the movie icon since I don’t watch a ton of DVDs anymore) the quick start for the Amazon Fire.
Menu > Harmony Setup > Add/Edit Devices & Activities > Remote & Hub > Button Customization > Activity Launch Buttons
Hi,
I have a Harmony Companion hub and remote and have successfully set it up to control my Firestick. If I use the Harmony remote to control the Firestick and watch a few shows then run a speedtest on my connection it shows i have a download speed of about 2.5Mbps. It doesn’t matter which speedtest I use the results are the same. If I do the above but use the remote that came with the Firestick my download speed is in excess of 30Mbps. Anyone else see this and know how to get the same download speeds when using the Harmony remote?
My theory of why this is happening is that the Firestick is using much of its limited CPU cycles searching for the Firestick remote when it is not used. Thoughts?
Thanks, Elliot
That doesn’t sounds possible. There is no way the remote you use has any effect on the speed test of your Fire Stick. There is probably some fluctuation in your network. Maybe you need to restart your router. Or maybe more people in your neighborhood working from home because of coronavirus is slowing down your internet.
Hi Nathan,
Thanks for the reply.
I have restarted my router, reset my firestick several times and this problem has been going on for several months – well before the coronavirus. In fact I have exchanged my firestick for a different one and have exact same results with both copies of the firestick. Also my service provider is DSL based which doesn’t speed degrade much, if at all, with increased neighborhood use.
The reason that I concluded that getting higher speeds is dependent on using the firestick remote and not the harmony remote is because of the following steps:
1) Start TV and Firestick using Harmony Remote
2) Do speedtest – results 2.5Mbps
3) Use Firestick remote to rerun the speedtest – results in excess of 30Mbps
This is 100% repeatable!
Someone else testing this and posting their results would be very helpful.
Thanks, Elliot
That’s just crazy. I don’t understand how it would be possible. Even if you “use” the Firestick remote, the Harmony remote is still connected, and like you say maybe eating some CPU. So you’re saying literally just the remote you use to click the speedtest button determines the speedtest result? That’s impossible… but maybe I’ll try it.
I have a Harmony one and I went through the instructions just fine until I realized that there is no (arrow) to hold down for the two
units to pair! I assume the (arrow) is the blue tooth button which
Harmony one does not have. Therefore, I guess no way to pair??
Gene
Gene, Harmony One is the older generation of Harmony remotes so this post does not apply to that. If you want to control a Fire Stick with a Harmony remote, you would need to get one of the new ones with the hub. This is what I got… http://amzn.to/2p4FVeB
Nathan, Is there a way to change channels on live tv other then going to the guide. Thanks Ray
Not sure exactly how to answer this question because I don’t know your setup, but have you tried the channel up and down buttons or the numbers?
I have a harmony elite, Alexa and a Firestick
Is there a way to have Fire stick Voice search running through the Alexa since the elite does not have a microphone?
Sure, like this? https://www.cnet.com/how-to/control-your-fire-tv-with-amazon-echo-heres-how/
Quick question, I have this linked to my firetv but cant figure out how to map the home button on this remote. I need to exit the app to go back to the home screen. Is there a way to map the home button to this remote so I do not need to press exit like 5 times to get the home screen?
Just got myself a Harmony Hub. Got the Firestick 4K device added fine in the app, and the testing of the Activity I setup for it worked when tried in the app. However, the Firestick will not find the Harmony Hub (Harmony Keyboard) at all. I have tried all 3 items under Controllers & Bluetooth (Amazon Fire TV Remote, Game Controller, and Other Bluetooth Devices) but it never shows. I’ve tried pairing via the app and via the Harmony remote. I’ve tried hitting the pair button on the Hub. Nothing.
I do have a receiver paired with the firestick under Other Bluetooth Devices, for audio. Is this the issue? I’d really rather not unpair it, as that’s how I get firestick audio to my sound system. Any help would be greatly appreciated!