It’s a head scratcher.
The Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV stick are two of the most popular streaming devices on the market with hundreds of thousands sold since they came out in 2014. But there aren’t many options if you want to run a VPN on your Amazon Fire TV.
That’s why I was pretty excited to hear about the official IPVanish Fire TV app.
If you’re already sold on getting IPVanish for your Fire TV, they’re offering a no risk, 7-day money-back guarantee by using this link.
Sideloading: The good old days weren’t always good…
Even though the official, native IPVanish Fire TV app is new, people have been using a version of it for a while now.
How?
By sideloading the APK file (Android PacKage), end users were able to bypass Amazon’s restrictions.
But if you ask anyone who’s ever done it, they’ll say one thing:
Sideloading apps can be a pain in the…
Sometimes there isn’t another option to get the app you want if it’s not available in the app store. But if you’ve gone through the roundabout process of sideloading Fire TV apps, you’ll be longing for an easier way.
Well, here’s the easier way to get the IPVanish Fire TV app installed on your system.
VPN’s can be tricky to get right, but the IPVanish Fire TV app has taken a lot of the guesswork out of it.[/tweet_box]
How to download IPVanish Fire TV app
The first thing you’ll want to do is go to the Apps section of your Fire TV or Fire TV stick.
As you can see, IPVanish is listed under the “Hot New Releases” section, but that won’t always be the case. Depending on when you’re reading this, you may have to search for it.
You can either use the voice search remote, or just start typing in “IPVanish” to start the search. I only had to type in three letters before the right app was returned.
If using the web is more your thing, you can go to either the Amazon App Store or Aptoide App Store right from your PC or smartphone and deliver the app to your Fire TV or FireStick the next time it goes online.
No matter how you searched for the app, once you find it, you’ll be taken to the app installation screen. If you’ve installed any apps at all on your Fire TV, this should look pretty familiar.
As with any app, you’ll be able to get a look at some screenshots and read customer reviews to help make up your mind.
After you click on the big yellow button to download the IPVanish Fire TV app, it will take a few seconds (or minutes) to download, based on your Internet connection speed.
If you haven’t already set up your IPVanish account, you should probably pause here and go do that first.
Once the installation is complete, you can return to the Apps tab of your Fire TV or Fire Stick and IPVanish will be there with all of your other apps. You can see my app in the last row on the bottom-right.
Using the app
The best thing about native apps designed for a streaming device – in this case the Fire TV and Firestick, is that the app isn’t using a smartphone’s aspect ratio.
It actually looks like it was designed for the TV screen.
Because it was.
You get that sense right from the initial login screen. It’s got the familiar, modern interface that puts a focus on readability and ease of use.
You don’t have to guess what to do. The app makes it obvious.
Once you log in to your account (you did set up your account, right?), it will show you what your current IP address is and where you’re located. In my case, I’m connecting to an Internet server in Winter Garden, Florida near where I live.
If you’re not familiar with what a VPN is and why you should use one whenever you stream online, check out my article on why to use a VPN for an Android TV box. The general concept will apply to any streaming device, not just Android TV boxes.
From here, you can choose to connect to an available IPVanish server in a particular country or city, or select the “best available.” Choosing Best Available will find the server with the least amount of load on it (users) so that you can get the fastest connections possible.
For me, I went with the best available, which routed me through a server in Washington.
The image above is the real-time status monitor that shows what your upload and download speeds are over the last few minutes. That way you can keep track of your connection speed and switch servers if yours suddenly gets more users logging on and taking all your bandwidth.
My thoughts
The app has gotten great feedback so far. It’s widely considered to be extremely easy to use while still providing protection and anonymity.
And from what I’ve seen so far, I tend to agree with them.
VPN’s can be tricky to get right, but the IPVanish Fire TV app has taken a lot of the guesswork out of it. It’s easy to choose a server, whether you’re looking for a specific country or you just want the fastest one at that particular moment.
If you’ve got an Amazon Fire TV box or Firestick, I recommend you look into the IPVanish Fire TV app.
Click here to TRY IPVANISH TODAY WITH A 7-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE
I am trying my first VPN. Thanks again for all you do!!
Thank you for the info! I am using Encrypt.me app on my Amazon Fire TV. It was included with my eero Plus subscription. Are you familiar with this VPN service? Any idea how it compare to Nord or ipvanish?