Did you buy a Amazon Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, and now you want to install Kodi on it? Are you thinking you may need to jailbreak the Fire Stick?
Well, I’m here to share with you that installing Kodi on a Fire Stick is very easy, and you don’t have to do any “jailbreak” at all. It only takes about 5 minutes.
In this step-by-step tutorial, I’ll show you how to install Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV Stick.
Jailbroken or Loaded Fire Sticks
Before we get into the tutorial, I want to clear up on misunderstandings.
Many people think that you have to “jailbreak” a Fire Stick in order to install custom software like Kodi onto it. Not true.
Fire Sticks run a fork of Android that they call Fire OS, but at the core, it’s just Android. On Android, you can install an app via an APK file as long as you enable “Apps from Unknown Sources” in the settings. The process of manually installing an app from an APK file is called “side-loading” because you’re manually installing an app without using the app store (whether it’s the Amazon app store or Google Play Store for non-Amazon Android devices).
Also, a lot of people think it’s a good idea to buy loaded Fire Sticks. It’s not.
Loaded Fire Sticks are being sold all over the place. People buy Fire Sticks in bulk, load them up with Kodi setup with a build and a bunch of other apps, and then they sell them to people as an easy way to get all the free TV and movie streaming without any setup. The problems with that are…
- Loaded Fire Sticks probably come installed with way too much software that it will slow down your Fire Stick.
- These apps and add-ons get old and need updating regularly. It’s only a matter of time until it stops working, and when that happens, you’ll have no idea how to fix it.
- It’s better to know exactly what you’re installing and know how to maintain it. It’s not that hard. You can do it.
With all that said, let’s get into the tutorial on how to install Kodi on a Fire Stick.
Download the Kodi APK File
- First, download the latest stable Kodi APK for Android.
Prepare Your Fire TV Stick Before Installing Kodi
- On your Fire TV Stick, navigate to Settings > System > Developer Options and turn ON both options (Apps from Unknown Sources and ADB Debugging). Don’t forget to turn ADB Debugging OFF when you’re done, or you might get hacked.
- Find and take note of your Fire Stick’s IP address by going to Settings > System > About > Network.
2 Ways to Install Kodi on a Fire Stick
There are 2 main ways to install the Kodi app on your Fire TV Stick. I prefer method #1 because you can easily update Kodi when new version come out because you do it all from your desktop or laptop computer. Method #2 is more simple for first-time users, but you’ll need to go through the process using your Fire Stick remote each time you want to update Kodi.
Method #1: Using adbLink to Install Kodi on Fire TV Stick
- Download and install adbLink on your computer.
- Open adbLink on your computer (which you downloaded and installed earlier)
- Click the New button
- In Description, give your Fire TV Stick a name.
- In Address, type the IP address of your Fire TV Stick that you took note of earlier.
- Click the Save button.
- Click the Connect button, and you should see your Fire TV Stick’s IP show in the Connected Devices box.
- Then click the Install APK button, navigate to the Kodi APK file you downloaded earlier and select it.
- You will see a popup asking if you really want to install the APK. Click Yes.
- You should see a small progress bar in the bottom right corner of the screen letting you know it’s working. It should take a minute or two, so be patient.
- When it’s done, you’ll see a popup that says Installed.
- All done! You should now see Kodi in the Apps section of the Fire TV home screen.
Screenshots of Installing Kodi on a Fire TV Stick
The above instructions should be pretty easy, but in case you need some visuals to make sure you’re in the right place, here are some screenshots.
Method #2: Using ES File Explorer to Download Kodi to Fire TV Stick
- Be sure you did the initial step to Prepare Your Fire TV Stick Before Installing Kodi
- Go back to home screen, select Search, and type ES Explorer. Select ES File Explorer and install it by selecting ‘Get‘ or ‘Download‘
- Launch the ES File Explorer app and add the following address into Download Manager (this can be found on the left hand side of the screen under TOOLS) https://bit.ly/2ZMvFuF and name it Kodi 18.8
- Select Download and the Kodi installer file will download to your Fire TV Stick
- Select the newly downloaded apk file, and you will see the Kodi installation screen. Click Install
- Kodi is now installed on your Fire TV Stick and can be accessed via Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications > Kodi > Launch Application
I Recommend a VPN for Streaming Kodi on a Fire Stick
If you’re going to be using Kodi unofficial add-ons for streaming or downloading on your Fire TV Stick, I recommend using a VPN. With the Fire Stick, you can install the IPVanish Android app onto your Fire TV Stick using the same method as shown above. Here’s a tutorial on how to do that.
Curious why you would need a VPN? Check out my post on 4 Reasons Why Kodi Streamers Need a VPN.
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After Installing Kodi, Can’t Find the App on Fire Stick
I periodically get this comment from people that they can’t find the Kodi app once they followed the instructions to install it.
If you’re looking in the Apps section along the top (right next to Settings), then that will only show you apps that you can download.
If you’re looking in your “Your Apps and Channels” bar under the “Home” section, it won’t show up there until you open it for the first time.
To open Kodi for the first time on your Fire Stick,
- Go to the “Home” section
- Scroll down to the “Your Apps and Channels” bar
- Hit the left arrow to reveal the “See All” button and select that
- That will take you to the screen where you can see all of your installed apps. If you installed Kodi correctly, it should be in there.
Don’t Forget to Turn Off ADB Debugging and Get Hacked! (maybe)
On your Fire TV device, just go to Settings > Device > Developer Options > ADB debugging and switch it OFF.
Update: I don’t think this is that big of an issue anymore. Back when I wrote that article, ADB connections could be open without your consent. Since then, Amazon has updated the OS so any new ADB connections cause a big popup in the middle of the screen where you can to allow the connection. So, leaving ADB debugging on isn’t that big of a deal anymore as long as you don’t blindly click Allow on the popup if someone’s trying to hack your Fire Stick.
What to Install on Kodi
So, congratulations, now you have Kodi on your Fire Stick. Now what? What should you install on your Kodi?
I’ve got lots of tutorials to help you out. Here are some great places to start.
The Kodi Streaming Add-ons Tracker! (Voting / Online Status / Last Updated)
Any Questions or Issues with Kodi on Fire Stick?
Please let me know if you get stuck somewhere or run across issues. I’m happy to help.
Or, maybe you’re just excited about having Kodi on your Fire TV Stick and want to say thanks… that’s cool too!
Leave your comments below.
Hi Nathan, i’m planning to buy amazon fire tv stick but don’t know anything about kodi. Your tutorial is informational but is it really that easy to install kodi on amazon fire stick? because someone is selling their amazon fire tv stick with kodi for $70 saying it is jailbroken w/ the new kodi version. i dont know if i’ll just buy that to save the hastle in installing kodi or should just buy the amazon fire stick that is $39.99 and just install the kodi by myself using your tutorial on how to install it and save some few bucks.
Hope you can help me w/ this thanks.
The one that’s jailbroken might be an older version so check which version it is. The latest version of the Fire TV Stick “with Alexa Voice Remote” is what I used and is “that easy” to install Kodi AND IPVanish. IPVanish doesn’t work with older Fire Sticks.
Decided to purchase the Fire TV Stick “w/ Alexa Voice Remote” and try to install the Kodi myself but having trouble in downloading it on my laptop, didn’t have a trouble downloading and installing the adblink. Should I have a WinRAR enabled to be able to download it? Hope you can help me. Thanks.
No, you shouldn’t need to extract the file. You would upload it to the Fire Stick as is using adblink. So, where did you run into a problem?
It is that easy however Kodi has NO CONTENT, you need to customize your own skins, download and install working apps into kodi. What you’re paying for is the saving of time. Knowledge is worth something, and it takes a while to learn the ins and outs and how to test and customize and to get this and that.
Most people buy a firetv stick pre-loaded and have difficulty figuring out how to just open and run kodi if they didn’t get an explaination.
PS. the term jailbreak is only used for apple products. We sideload things on firetv or straight up hack it.
The step after you press install APK, a folder keeps opening up asking me to enter a file name, what’s that about?
Navigate to the Kodi APK file you downloaded earlier and select it.
Yes I did that & nothing pops up.
Did you unzip the zip file? Did you browse to the .apk file that you got from unzipping? Does your screen look like my screenshots?
Did you extract the APK file out of the ZIP file first? The interface of FireOS was redesigned since I wrote this tutorial, so it may look a little different, but the steps should be the same.
Hello, so I recently bought a fire stick, and according to Amazon it is the 2016 model, and I have been trying to jailbreak it using Kodi but everytime I get to the add-ons portion of the process it doesn’t work. I put in the source for the add-ons and then go to the next step by clicking on the add-ons tab and then the source but after I go to pull it from the zip file where it says begin here there is no video hub or link for the configuration wizard. Nathan I need help because I can’t seem to get anyone else to help me and none of the videos on YouTube are helpful anymore. Please help me!!!!!!
A lot of your comment is confusing to me. I wonder if that’s why you can’t seem to find the help; because maybe you’re wording things differently. I can see what I can do to help.
What do you mean by “trying to jailbreak it using Kodi”? Did you install or sideload Kodi? Using what method? Did you do some kind of “jailbreak” that you didn’t need to do?
It sounds like you have Kodi installed since you’re talking about add-ons. It also sounds like you’re using the source from http://fusion.tvaddons.ag, right?
I don’t recommend you go into the “begin-here” folder. That has their configuration wizard that I think is overkill. If you want to install a plugin like Exodus, then simply go into the kodi-repos folder and install the Exodus repo, and then go back and select “Install from repository” > Exodus > Video Add-ons > Exodus.x.x.x.zip (or something like that).
If you want live TV, take a look at this tutorial. https://kinkeadtech.com/tutorial-kodi-live-tv-epg-tv-guide/
Hi, I’ve just bought the new fire stick and installed KODI 17.1 Krypton using the “apps2fire” app on my phone. KODI loads up fine and I have downloaded the usual add ons (SALTS, Exodus, Specto etc.) but when trying to get movies and TV shows on exodus and specto, nothing comes up and on SALTS it always says “No sources found.”
Have I done something wrong, or has Amazon blocked the sources?
I have also downloaded the Mobdro app separately and that works fine.
Andy, I don’t think Amazon is blocking any sources at the device level. I use Kodi on my FireStick every day and it works great. Start off by going through this list of troubleshooting tips. https://kinkeadtech.com/troubleshooting-kodi-genesis-streaming-issues/
Amazon blocks nothing. No sources found means the resolvers are old or simply that no sources have the movie yet that you are looking for. Think about how this works, someone is hosting these movies on a server somewhere and these apps have links to places that are feeding you the movies but if the server is currently down or off or just doesn’t have what you are looking for or the movie is mis-labeled it won’t be able to find a source with what you want. Thus the error…
Hi Nathan, Your link to download the latest Kodi APK is not working, I tried it in IE and Chrome. Any suggestions? Thank you.
Cyndy, thanks for letting me know. I updated the link to the latest 17.1 APK.
Tiffany
Thanks for asking. I created a new bitly link using the latest Kodi 17.3 and updated the post.
I downloaded the Kodi app but it has no add-ons. What am I supposed to do to fix this?
Install the Smash repo. Follow the instructions here… https://kinkeadtech.com/fusion-alternative-repos/
I loaded kodi on my Amazon Fire stick thru Es file explorer streaming through Spector fork is their any other streaming I can use slso
Are you asking for recommendations for other add-ons besides Spectro? I suggest Exodus or SALTS. You can get either from the Smash repo. https://kinkeadtech.com/fusion-alternative-repos/
I added kodi via the explorer. It worked fine for a few days. I’ve since added ipvanish. Now many shows and all movies won’t load. There are links, but they do nothing.
Is it still not working? I know there have been server issue lately.
The Kodi app was working fine until recently. First the streaming would freeze and now once I select a movie and wait for it to download, the blue spinning wheel vanishes but the movie does not begin playing. I have the firestick plugged into my television.
Linda, please go through my list of troubleshooting steps here… https://kinkeadtech.com/kodi-streaming-issues/ Let me know if something in there solves it or not. Thanks.
Just loaded Jodi used es explorer then went to launch screen went dark can barely see a wheel I’m guess that’s what Isis to right of screen In middle
The Android home screen went dark or the Kodi home screen?
Yes
I am very much a novice at this have tried several different way today and can not get kodi to install
When it says preparing for first run it looks like it’s loading then goes to dark screen all I can barely see is something blue and white on edge of screen far right middle don’t know what it is how long should it take too load? Thank you
I see. So, there is a fix for that. You need to find your userdata folder ( https://kinkeadtech.com/location-of-kodi-xbmc-userdata-folder/ ) and then go into the “Database” folder under that. Then delete the Addons.db file that you should find in there. Then restart Kodi. Let me know if that works for you.
Did that still nothing this is brand new stick I did put mobdro on it and it works I have tried several times today to install kodi it will say that it’s installed but when I try to open it says first run please wait loading bar at bottom goes all the way then instead of showing me kodi it goes black. I give up but thank you so much
I assume you tried uninstalling and reinstalling, right? I’m sorry haven’t haven’t been able to help you fix the problem so far.
yes i tried that. maybe its blocked out where im at lol
If it was blocking, I would say you should get a VPN for that. But the problem you’re having has nothing to do with getting blocked. I’m sorry I haven’t been of more help. I thought that last tip would do the trick. Another thing you could try is to completely delete everything from your userdata folder.
No need to be sorry I appreciate your help I am currently running Mondeo and terrarium with no issues. I’m not sure I explained the Jodi issue correctly after it says first run starts loading then right before it should go to kodi home screen is when it goes black. A few days ago I tried it again still went black then I tried something else but I don’t remember now what it was and it also went blank. But I do thank you
I was most familiar with Zem as the add-on for Indian TV, but that one is hard to find now because it was included in a lawsuit. However, in the new tvaddons.co repo, there is an add-on called Bollywood Movies. It looks like it’s just full-length movies and not live TV. Anyway, you can try that or see if you can find Zem anywhere.
i have been using Kodi for 6 months and yesterday it loads to a new screen not the main screen it used to. It has a small Kodi and on the left movies, tv shows, music so on and the right side enter files section and remove this main menu item. Why or how did this happen. I uninstalled and reloaded 17.6 and its the same thing. Im lost
It sounds to me like the Skin you were using before got marked as broken so it reverted to the default skin, Estuary. Go to the settings icon > Interface > Skin and see if you can change your skin back to what you had before. Otherwise, you can get used to Estuary. I kind of like it.
Yes, the more I researched I think you are right and Ill try it thanks
it did and thanks
Have you looked at the tips here? https://kinkeadtech.com/failed-to-install-dependency/
I’ve had firestick on my tv for a while, but lately Incursion can’t load half the shows I used to watch. So I wanted to update and came here.
I can’t get this to work on my MacBook. The “install APK” gives error messages of “Can’t create log file!” The APK file won’t work. An Apple forum said that the APK file is only for android phones. So your very first step “download the APK for Android” I clicked and went up two levels to the /releases/ area and chose an OSX file instead.
AdbLink I was able to download the OS version and that all worked fine.But when it I get to the step “install APK” there is no option for my OS version.
I’m trying it on my phone right now since it’s an Android (Samsung) and have downloaded apps2Fire, but I can’t get Kodi because it’s incompatible with my old Galaxy4 phone.
If you’re using AdbLink on your MacBook to push Kodi to your Fire Stick, then you will need the APK (the one I linked to). Fire OS is a fork of Android and runs Android apps (from APK files) just fine. You don’t need the OSX version unless you’re not installing it on your MacBook, and in that case, you wouldn’t be using AdbLink.
Thanks!
Does it make a difference if you link your new Firestick to your Amazon account before downloading Kodi?
The ES File explorer wants me to buy the Premium version before downloading Kodi.
Having your Firestick linked to your Amazon account is fine, and I don’t think there’s any way around it because they ship it linked.
Anyway, if ES File Manager is trying to get your to pay for it, then you can use a different file manager or just use the adbLink method which I think is easier.