How to Sideload apps on Firestick
1. Ask Alexa
The easiest way to install apps on your Fire Stick is to ask Alexa, nicely. Sure, you can manually install apps with the help of on-screen keyboard as well, by selecting the magnifying glass (at the far left end of the menu) and typing in an app’s name you want to install.
Using Alexa is fine but if you want more control and options, you can visit the App Store on your Fire Stick. Go to the home screen of your Fire TV device and press right on your remote until you reach the Apps section. You will see a grid of all the apps available on your Firestick and Fire TV. Scroll down and use the left and right arrow key on the remote to navigate between the app. Select the Apps you want to install by pressing the center button on the remote and click on Get selected, press the button in the center of the directional pad. Read: How to Mirror Mac Screen on Fire TV Stick
Another way to install apps on your Firestick is from a computer.
4. Easy Fire Tools
Although, do keep in mind, since most Android apps are not optimized for the bigger screen, not every app will scale well from the portrait orientation of your phone to the landscape orientation of your TV. Here’s how it works. To get started, go to Developer Options in Fire TV Stick settings, and enable ADB Debugging and Apps from Unknown Sources. Next, Install Easy Fire Tools app on your Android and open it. It will show you a list of all the apps install on your phone. Next tap the discover button on the top as shown in the image below. It will automatically detect all the Fire Stick devices on the network, tap to select the Fire Stick of your choice.
Establish the connection by tapping the ‘Plug’ button on the top right. You would get an ‘ADB Debugging‘ prompt on the TV. Accept it to turn it on and your Fire Stick will be ready to receive apps from the smartphone.
Once connected you can either transfer apps which are already installed on your phone or the ones that you have downloaded as APK files. Tap on the file name or APK name and tap ‘yes‘ to the prompt and you will see that the app is transferred as well as installed on your Fire Stick.
5. Cetus Play
Easy Fire Tools works fine but setting it up is a bit of task and if you are looking for something that’s plug and play then I recommend CetusPlay. It not only lets you sideload apps to your Fire TV Stick like Easy Fire Tools, but it also gives you tons of extra features like broadcast images, videos, movies, etc with almost no lag. You can also transfer long URLs to the Fire Stick using the app. To get this working, simply install CetusPlay on your Android phone from the Play Store. And just like easy Firetools, you need to enable ‘ADB Debugging’ and ‘Apps from Unknown Sources’ by going to Developer Options in Fire TV Stick settings. Now head back to your phone and open the CetusPlay app you just installed. It will automatically pick up all the Firestick (or even Android tv or smart TV) on your network. Tap on your Firestick name and you’ll get a pop-up on your Firestick to confirm the connection, click Allow and enter the code you see on your TV, and you are all set. Now, you will be able to control your firestick with your remote built in the CetusPlay app. Swiping right on the app will bring extra options to sent files, photos, URLs and of course Apps from your phone to Firestick, directly. Also Read: How to mirror the iPhone screen on Fire Stick
6. Aptoide TV
To do so, go to the Aptoide TV website and download the APK file on your smartphone. After that use Easy Fire Tools to install the app on Fire Stick. Now, you can use the Aptoide TV app to install any other app. Read: Lost your Fire Stick remote? Here are your options
7. USB drive
Plug the USB drive to the USB host cable and browse the drive using a file Explorer. Tap the APK to install it on your Fire Stick. Simple, enough?
8. Using Google Drive
The previous method was bit inconvenient as it requires both USB OTG adapter as well as a flash drive. In case you don’t have access to those, you can also use cloud-based services like Google Drive to transfer APKs from your Phone or PC to your Fire Stick or Fire TV. Start by downloading the APK from APKmirror on your phone or PC. The reason we recommend APKmirror is because it’s from the reputable Android police and free of any malware. Though, finding the right download is still a bit confusing.
Once you download the APK on your Android, for instance, I want the Instagram app on my Fire Stick. Once you have downloaded the APK, upload it to your google drive account and head to your streaming device. Open File Commander or any other file explorer with cloud support. Now, log in with the same Google account which has the APKs. You should see the APK file and then download it. Once the download finish, install them.
And there you have it, a stretch out version of Instagram on Andriod TV. Although this may sound easy, in my opinion, it’s just too much work, especially when you have easier methods as shown above.
Install Google Drive
