Amazon
If you have a Fire TV video streamer, you already know how great it is to have access to all the major streaming platforms and thousands of shows and movies in one central hub. Watching all your favorites on a big screen TV is much better than watching them on a small laptop or smartphone screen.
But what do you do if you want to watch a show or movie but find it’s not available in your country? Or you want to watch an award-winning BBC documentary but it’s only available on BBC iPlayer? What if you can’t watch it and you don’t happen to live in the UK?
That’s where VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) come into play. A VPN allows you to unlock and stream geo-blocked content even when you’re outside a certain area. And here’s the best part. Unlike rival Roku, Amazon’s Fire TV system offers VPN apps directly through its built-in app store. Let me explain the details and explain how it works.
Choose the right VPN for Fire TV
First, let’s assume you have a Fire TV device. If you don’t have it yet, we have good news for you. If your TV doesn’t have Fire TV streaming built-in, Amazon often sells add-on devices for less than $25. If you want a good balance between price and performance, buy the Fire Stick 4K Max. Make sure it’s on sale for less than $40. (Check out our list of the best streaming devices to see how the Fire TV streamer compares to rivals like Roku, Google, and Apple.)
Once you’ve set up your Fire TV hardware, choose your VPN. This is where the Fire TV operating system shines. A long list of VPNs is available on the platform, including all of our top picks for today’s best VPNs, and it’s as easy to download and install as any other video app.
Engadget-approved VPNs currently available for Fire TV include:
We’ll leave it up to you to research which VPN offers the best combination of features and value, but be warned: We don’t recommend using free VPNs, except for the first two above. is notorious for collecting and selling data to advertising networks in order to fund poorly protected servers. If you want to feel free to cross-test, note that you can install as many VPNs as you like on your Fire TV.
Installing a VPN
Once you know which Fire TV VPN to use, installation is easy. Go to the main menu (Search >) and search for the name of your preferred VPN. If you want to scroll through all available options, just type “VPN”. There you can find the service you need (or have already subscribed to) and start installing it. This process does not take much time. Once completed, it will be ready for use.
Using Fire TV VPN
Once you’ve downloaded the app, go to it on your Fire TV dashboard. You will need to enter a username and password or sign up to create an account. Some VPNs may require you to create an account on your smartphone or computer beforehand.
Once logged in, you can either click the VPN’s (Connect) button or browse the server list to select the country you want to tunnel to. Once connected, return to the Fire TV home screen and reload your chosen streaming platform to see if the content is different. If so, your VPN is working and you’re ready to stream.
