Kodi is a free media player, which you can download and install on your Amazon Fire TV Stick. It’s an excellent way to stream content to your TV or computer for free! You can also get Kodi on other devices like the iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Raspberry Pi 3 B+, etc. Follow this step by step guide to find out how you could get started with Kodi today!
1. Install Kodi on your Firestick
To install Kodi on your Amazon TV, you’ll need a computer. I recommend using a Windows PC or laptop because it’s the easiest method of installation. A Mac is also possible with a couple more steps, and I explain them at the end of this article.
- First open up your web browser and go to: https://kodi.tv/download . Scroll down until you find one of these 2 options:
- For Android: “ARMV7A (32BIT)”
- For Windows: select your 32-bit or 64-bit operating system depending on which version of windows you have installed on your device!
- Download either of these files to your computer and save them somewhere easy to find like your desktop. Alternatively, if there is a large green button that says “START” then click that to get started with Kodi installation on your Firestick.
2. Unlock your Firestick
This step is only required if you haven’t done this before! This part will teach you how to unlock your Amazon device so we can sideload apps and install Kodi from another source than the official app store. To do this:
- On your Firestick home screen go to SETTINGS > SYSTEM > DEVELOPER OPTIONS . Make sure “ADB DEBUGGING” is enabled. If it isn’t, you’ll need to click the toggle at the top of this page to activate Developer Options (green).
- Next go ahead and make sure “Apps from Unknown Sources” is also enabled (blue) – otherwise Kodi won’t be able to run on your device! This setting allows Firestick users to install Kodi directly onto their TV devices without downloading it through the Amazon App Store.
3. Download Kodi on your computer
- To download Kodi, head back over to https://kodi.tv/download where you should see an orange button that says “INSTALL”. Click this now!
- Make sure you select the right download option for your computer depending on whether it’s 32-bit or 64-bit (if you don’t know which one, click this link and follow the instructions to find out:) http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/find-out-32-or-64-bit)
- When the Kodi download has finished, open up the file that was downloaded onto your desktop or wherever you saved it and run through any installation wizard steps until it is installed.
4. Connect to Firestick via ADB and sideload Kodi
1 . First we’ll need to connect your Firestick device to a computer so we can install Kodi through ADB. Make sure NOT to plug in your Firestick yet!
2 . Next download the fastboot file to your computer from here: https://kodi.tv/download (where it says “Place in Android directory”) and save this somewhere simple like your desktop where you can access it easily in the next step. Note that if you have a Windows 8 or 10 PC, then go ahead and skip this step because fastboot isn’t required with these later Operating Systems.
3 . Plug in your Firestick device with the USB cable provided, but leave the power cable disconnected. Next open up a command window by holding down SHIFT on your keyboard along with right clicking anywhere on your screen and selecting “open command window here” from the menu that appears.
4 . In the command window, type:
cd Desktop (or whatever folder your fastboot file is stored in)
adb devices
5 . Now check to see if your Firestick is being detected by your computer. Your Firestick should appear on this list. If it doesn’t then you need to go back into Settings > System > Developer Options and try step 5 again, making sure that you have allowed Kodi/ADB debugging when it asks! Note that when using Windows 8 or 10, you don’t need to enable anything. Your device will show up properly in the next step automatically if it’s plugged in correctly – so just skip this step if you are using one of these modern Operating Systems.
6 . Finally to install Kodi, enter this command:
adb install -r kodi.apk
7 . Kodi should now start installing on your device! In a few minutes you’ll see the notification that it’s been installed, and then just exit out of adb by typing “exit” into the command prompt window.
8 . Now, from the Firestick home screen navigate to SETTINGS > APPLICATIONS > MANAGE APPLICATIONS to make sure Kodi has been properly installed and can run on your Firestick (don’t worry if you see an error pop-up here as long as Kodi is listed). You should also make sure it looks like there aren’t any additional updates available for Kodi either (there shouldn’t be), otherwise ignore this and skip to step 9.
9 . Next you will need to make sure that the App will be allowed to launch at boot (this is what we set up in Developer Options earlier and it ensures Kodi starts up with your Firestick, also known as “Kodi Autostart”). To do this, open your Firestick home screen again and go into SETTINGS > DEVICE > ADVANCED SYSTEM settings. In here you should see a menu item for OTHER APPS . Click on that now!
10 . Here you can either use the search function next to INSTALLED APPS to find Kodi if its already installed, or else click UPDATE ALL ON START if it hasn’t been installed yet so all apps are updated. Once Kodi is listed here, make sure the toggle next to it is set to ON.
11 . Lastly go back to your Firestick home screen again by pressing the BACK button on your remote until you are at the top of the list. Now hold down the SELECT BUTTON on your remote for 5 seconds until the Firestick restarts itself, then let go once you see it reboot in about 10 seconds time!
12 . Congratulations! You have now installed Kodi onto your Amazon Firestick / Fire TV in a way that ensures it will start with your device every time its powered up which means Kodi will always be there when you turn on or restart your device. We also ensured that there weren’t any additional updates available for Kodi, and that Kodi would always be allowed to launch at boot which ensures a trouble-free Kodi experience. If you notice any issues with installing this version of Kodi, then please make sure your device is running on the latest official Amazon Fire OS 5 release before reporting it in the comments section below!
If you have any questions or problems with this installation guide, please feel free to leave a comment below and I will try my best to answer it!
