Setting up a VPN on the Fire TV Stick: Step-by-step instructions – how it works


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A VPN on the Fire TV stick is almost indispensable for series and film fans. The combo offers you many advantages. We’ll help you set it up.

For many, it has become indispensable in their home entertainment center: the inexpensive Amazon Fire TV Stick is a popular extension for the television. No wonder, after all, you can use it to access Amazon’s video streaming platform and use a wide variety of apps.

You can then watch streaming services like Netflix, Sky, AppleTV+ or Disney+ on your smart TV with the little gadget. Our insider tip: Set up a VPN on the TV stick. You ask why?

VPN on Fire TV Stick – A Perfect Combination?

The US versions of streaming services often have a much larger selection than the German versions.

The US versions of streaming services often have a much larger selection than the German versions.

Amazon’s HDMI stick only unfolds its full potential when you operate it together with a VPN service. With a VPN you can bypass the geo-blocking of streaming services. The services usually recognize where you are based on your IP address and, for licensing reasons, only provide content that is permitted in the respective country. With a VPN, on the other hand, you can access the respective local content via IP addresses from other countries. This is interesting in two cases:

  • You are abroad and use the Fire TV Stick there, but want to stream German content.
  • You would like to watch the latest series episodes and films in the original, although they are not yet officially available in Germany.

The second scenario in particular is important for film and series fans: Although the situation with the streaming services is slowly improving, it still happens again and again that you have to wait weeks for a broadcast in Germany, even though viewers in the USA are the same been able to watch the series for weeks. In addition, the American and British versions of Amazon Video, Netflix and Co. contain completely different content than the German version.

Without a doubt, streaming is one of the main reasons why you should delve deeper into the topic of Fire TV and VPN. In line with this, we also tell you in another article how to use Netflix with a VPN.

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VPN on Fire TV Stick: Setup through the Fire TV Store

Unfortunately, the Amazon Fire TV Stick initially does not support VPN connections. First you need to get one of the compatible VPN services. For example, we recommend CyberGhost and NordVPN for the Fire TV Stick. Download the appropriate service app of your choice from the Fire TV App Store.

The most important VPN providers and some lesser-known services are directly compatible with Fire TV and can be installed on your Fire TV Stick in just a few steps via Amazon’s App Store or directly via the Stick App Store. This is where the Fire TV Stick benefits from being compatible with regular Amazon devices.

Pros and cons of VPN apps on Fire TV Stick

Being able to use VPN apps directly on the Fire TV Stick has a few advantages. So you can not only watch some streaming services in the respective country version, but you can also receive TV streams from abroad via the apps of the TV stations. Many of these media library apps cannot be used without a VPN.

Unfortunately, there is a problem: Amazon is pretty good at detecting an active VPN and blocking it: their own streaming service then ignores the VPN on your stick: you still get to see the German content. However, there is an effective trick here too:

Namely, you can “Americanize” your Amazon account and suggest to Amazon that you’ve moved to the United States. After that, accessing American content via VPN is no longer a problem.

On the next page we will inform you about alternatives to this procedure and show you how you can set up a VPN for using your Fire TV Stick in a much less complicated way.

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