Database Users

Kindle Fire in the UK. What you need to know.

So I received my Kindle Fire for Christmas, and I'm in the UK. My uncle from the US brought it over for me, and I hope this post will clear up any speculation about what will and will not work on your Kindle Fire in the UK.
1. Apps: Apps need a US credit card, or you cannot download from the Kindle Store. This was not really an issue for me, as I rooted my Fire, installed the Market, and can download from there, not to mention sideloading APK file apps, which I was able to do without rooting
2. Silk: Works fine, uses EC2 cloud like it should
3, Book Store: Haven't tried it, but I was able to download books I had purchased previously for my old Kindle
4: Prime: You get a month's free of Amazon Prime, I wasn't able to stream videos from it, and I don't really care, I don't want to pay 70 dollars + a year for it.
Everything else works fine, and I really love it. The only other issue, was during the set up, there is no option to select the UK time zone, so you have to change it manually from the settings later. Oh, and all the temperatures in the weather app are in Fahrenheit. But it works like a charm. Got lots of working apps, Minecraft, Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds, and I'm using Calibre library to convert my PDFs into .MOBI format for reading on the Fire.
So all in all, it works pretty well in the UK actually! Hope this clears everything up for people in the UK thinking of getting it somehow. If I've missed anything please tell me!

Would also like to use the Kindle Fire in the UK but without rooting.
You mentioned being able to sideload apps ... but in order to do so, don't you need to download a file manager from the Amazon store (which a UK person cannot do)? and / or use an Android phone to backup an app?
I tried to download free apps from Amazon but even that is not possible and I don't have an Android phone .... is there any other way to sideload??
regards ....

hightime707 said:
Would also like to use the Kindle Fire in the UK but without rooting.
You mentioned being able to sideload apps ... but in order to do so, don't you need to download a file manager from the Amazon store (which a UK person cannot do)? and / or use an Android phone to backup an app?
I tried to download free apps from Amazon but even that is not possible and I don't have an Android phone .... is there any other way to sideload??
regards ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before rooting I was able to sideload by downloading directly using the Fire, then using the browser, going into the menu, and seeing my downloaded, from that file list you can launch APKs.

I'm using it in the Czech Republic and I can confirm that all the things mentioned by "georgeos" are valid.
If anyone is interested, here are some of my own findings:
- Books - you can purchase books from Amazon as long as you have a valid card number. You're eligible to borrow some of the books in the store with Prime subscription (limited to one book a month).
- Newsstand - same as above - you can check most of the magazines with a 14 day free trial subscription.
As far as the sideloading goes, it's pretty simple even without access to the App Store.
First you need to turn on installation of applications from unknown sources. Then use the browser to look for an .apk file of your preffered file manager (I used ES File Explorer since it was free and came highly recommended). Once the download is completed tap the status bar to show the recent notifications, then tap the downloaded .apk file to start the installation.

Shtroodle said:
As far as the sideloading goes, it's pretty simple even without access to the App Store.
First you need to turn on installation of applications from unknown sources. Then use the browser to look for an .apk file of your preffered file manager (I used ES File Explorer since it was free and came highly recommended). Once the download is completed tap the status bar to show the recent notifications, then tap the downloaded .apk file to start the installation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yeah, sorry, forgot to mention that. But it is best to root the device, and install the Android Market, makes getting apps easier if you don't want to pirate the APKs, or if you're looking for the latest version of a free one, and it's always difficult to find a latest version APK. Also the Market shows ONLY the apps compatible with the device, so you don't have to go through the pain of downloading the APK and then it not working and having to uninstall it and delete it.

Hi - I've been searching around for about half an hour or so but can't find an "idiot's guide" (for that is what I need) on how to make my US Kindle Fire compatible with the UK app store.
I've asked Amazon directly a number of times but they refuse to help. I'm close to selling up and buying a UK one, so would really appreciate if anyone knew if there was a way to do this.
Many thanks in advance.

Purchase kindle fire games with gift card from Asia
please some one help me. yesterday i have purchased a amazon gift card of 10$ and added to my amazon account but when i try to purchase any kindle fire game it says that its only valid for US residents. what should i do any proxy server, vpn connection or could anyone purchase for me if i give you my login id.
Any HELP Please.

Any Way to Stop BBC Iplayer from Disabling Itself (I'm outside UK)

I have the 2017 Shield.
I have used BBCIplayer in the US on many Android devices over the years. I usually install from apk or a British Google Play account, and then use a smart DNS service (smart DNS sends the proper signals through a VPN so the BBC server sees me as being in the UK, but the actual video is not sent through the VPN. Except for the limited purpose, the device has a US ip address.)
For every device except the Shield, once the Iplayer app is installed, it stays installed and visible.
The Shield has its own Nvidia made version of Iplayer (the regular version does not work with Google TV.) I installed this once from the Google Play store with a UK Google Play account. It worked fine, then disappeared after a while. I can now get it to work by using a copy of the Nvidia Iplayer apk that I downloaded from the internet - I click on the apk in file manager and then click on the "market" option rather than the "install" option. I am then given a screen where I can "enable" the Iplayer, and it then appears again as a usable app.
If I go into settings when the app is enabled it shows as a system app, rather than a downloaded app (as does the proprietary version of the Amazon video player.)
One of the reasons that I like Android is that it has less of the "big brothery" stuff than IOS (or a Roku, for that matter.) So it pisses me off that the device I paid for is actively frustrating my watching what I want to watch with an app which is on the machine. I'm not saying that Nvidia should be providing me with a VPN connection, but on the other hand it shouldn't be actively blocking me from what I want to do.
Short of hooking up to a VPN 24/7,any ideas as to how to stop this disabling of the app?

I want to try this.. Brit now in Germany. I installed express vpn on my shield but didn't look for iplayer yet.
I assumed I would need vpn set to UK all the time I wish to use BBC then disconnect vpn for normal use.
Sent from my Hauwai P9 EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

From Nvidia :
The BBC iPlayer app is only available inside the UK. If you are not located in that location or have recently moved out of the UK then the app will no longer be available from the main menu of SHIELD Android TV.
If you are located in the UK, please ensure that Location Services is enabled. To do so, navigate to the Settings menu and then into the Personal->Location menu and ensure it is enabled.
If you prefer not to use Location Services, please ensure that the device language selection is set to "English (United Kingdom) (GB)". To do so, navigate to the Settings menu and then into the Preferences->Language menu and select the language from the list.
----
so:
Disabled Location
Set English UK Language
Reboot
Enjoy
Tested

install kodi then install the iplayer plugin

afgok said:
install kodi then install the iplayer plugin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are outside the UK it still won't work without VPN - at least not from Germany

shaunydub said:
if you are outside the UK it still won't work without VPN - at least not from Germany
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
read the OP its pretty obvious he is using vpn hes in the USA what he wants is a work around for the app being disabled because its not licesensed for use outside the UK hence my post:good:

Hi, after battling with the same issue for some time on the 2015 shield, I've been able to work out a solution;
I've posted the solution up here;
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1011733/shield-tv/how-to-fix-the-disappearing-bbc-iplayer-app-for-out-of-region-/
In-case it gets taken down for any reason, the solution is to extract out the APK of the iplayer system app (using ES file explorer on the shield TV), then pull the resulting APK into "APK Editor Pro" and then modify the app name and package name to create a new APK (making sure the package name doesn't have iplayer in it) and then sideload it onto the shield TV.
This way when the shield is booted, only the inbuilt iplayer app is disabled, but not the modified cloned app.
I expect this same process to work with many other inbuilt apps on the shield TV that might be disabling out of region.
Hope this helps someone!

Hi Watsonash, I scanned the apk you've kindly shared for the disappearing iplayer & it's infected with malware; I checked it with both VirusTotal and NVISO APKScan...

chainfire3356 said:
Hi Watsonash, I scanned the apk you've kindly shared for the disappearing iplayer & it's infected with malware; I checked it with both VirusTotal and NVISO APKScan...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi, those products must be reporting false positives. As said I simply used "APK Editor Pro" to change the information, so unless this in injecting malware (which I'd say is most definitely not the case). I described the process so there is nothing stopping you from taking the exact same approach yourself and generating the modified apk yourself. I just installed Virustotal and it said the apk simply wasn't in its database (which is correct as APK Editor Pro has to resign the app as part of the packaging process).

Hi Watsonash, I aplogize, I should have clarified in my original comment that I didn't think you were purposely putting that apk out there with malware; I was just trying to be brief in my comment, which isn't something that comes naturally, as you'll see... My reasons for posting were to let you know that a scan dectected malware so you could look into why that was & fix it - that being said, every day is a new school day for me, because I wasn't aware of the false positive thing until you mentioned it. Now I understand that it's not something that you can"fix"and it isn't likely infected. I don't know how to modify anything - the only knowledge I have is knowing where to look to find clever people like you who do the work to fix annoying issues like the iplayer disappearing. I am eternally grateful for people like you who figure these things out for people like me & to have learned something new about the false positive issue; I was stupidly thinking that since two different websites showed positives that something was there, but now that I've read into a bit, I've clued in that the majority of the actual antivirus programs on both sites marked it clear. I see now that there are many variables taken into account when these programs come up with a result that doesn't look good.
Again, I apologize; this is why I usually just read & then research & never post comments - I should stick to doing that! Thank you for figuring out this fix; it's very much appreciated!

ronwi2 said:
I have the 2017 Shield.
I have used BBC Iplayer in the US on many Android devices over the years. I usually install from apk or a British Google Play account, and then use a smart DNS service (smart DNS sends the proper signals through a VPN so the BBC server sees me as being in the UK, but the actual video is not sent through the VPN. Except for the limited purpose, the device has a US ip address.)
For every device except the Shield, once the Iplayer app is installed, it stays installed and visible.
The Shield has its own Nvidia made version of Iplayer (the regular version does not work with Google TV.) I installed this once from the Google Play store with a UK Google Play account. It worked fine, then disappeared after a while. I can now get it to work by using a copy of the Nvidia Iplayer apk that I downloaded from the internet - I click on the apk in file manager and then click on the "market" option rather than the "install" option. I am then given a screen where I can "enable" the Iplayer, and it then appears again as a usable app.
If I go into settings when the app is enabled it shows as a system app, rather than a downloaded app (as does the proprietary version of the Amazon video player.)
One of the reasons that I like Android is that it has less of the "big brothery" stuff than IOS (or a Roku, for that matter.) So it pisses me off that the device I paid for is actively frustrating my watching what I want to watch with an app which is on the machine. I'm not saying that Nvidia should be providing me with a VPN connection, but on the other hand it shouldn't be actively blocking me from what I want to do.
Short of hooking up to a VPN 24/7,any ideas as to how to stop this disabling of the app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for bringing up an old topic. Anyone use smart dns for BBC iPlayer on smart TV?
I want to stream it to my TV without VPN. Also how to install BBC iPlayer application to smart TV if iam outside UK now?

Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN on Fire TV Stick

My Fire Stick arrived today (3/27/2018), and after getting Kodi installed, the next thing on my To Do list was getting PIA working. First I tried getting it setup through my router, but the speed was incredibly slow through the OpenVPN configuration on my router.
After reading on a rather old thread that someone got PIA working, I decided to give it a shot, and with a little tweaking, I got it working.
1. You need to have Downloader installed for the first step. I've uploaded the PIA apk to my private server. Here's the link:
Code:
http://bit.ly/2Gd1DIB
2. After Downloader does its thing, install the apk. Just a note, the first time I tried to install, it failed. After the second time, it successfully installed.
3. PIA won't show up on your list of installed applications, but it's there, and there's a way to open it. You'll need to download ES File Explorer, which will let you open 3rd party apps that have been installed, but don't appear in the Fire TV GUI.
4. For configuring PIA properly, at the very least you'll need a mouse connected to your Fire Stick. For the record, USB will work, provided you have a USB OTG adapter like this one. I'm sure bluetooth works too. Based on my personal testing with the various PIA servers, the Midwest and Western servers seemed to be the quickest.
5. Using the mouse to navigate the PIA app, you'll need to enter your login information. After that, select your preferred region, and in the settings, enable the "connect on boot" option.
That's it!

pastorbennett said:
My Fire Stick arrived today (3/27/2018), and after getting Kodi installed, the next thing on my To Do list was getting PIA working. First I tried getting it setup through my router, but the speed was incredibly slow through the OpenVPN configuration on my router.
After reading on a rather old thread that someone got PIA working, I decided to give it a shot, and with a little tweaking, I got it working.
1. You need to have Downloader installed for the first step. I've uploaded the PIA apk to my private server. Here's the link:
Code:
http://bit.ly/2Gd1DIB
2. After Downloader does its thing, install the apk. Just a note, the first time I tried to install, it failed. After the second time, it successfully installed.
3. PIA won't show up on your list of installed applications, but it's there, and there's a way to open it. You'll need to download ES File Explorer, which will let you open 3rd party apps that have been installed, but don't appear in the Fire TV GUI.
4. For configuring PIA properly, at the very least you'll need a mouse connected to your Fire Stick. For the record, USB will work, provided you have a USB OTG adapter like this one. I'm sure bluetooth works too. Based on my personal testing with the various PIA servers, the Midwest and Western servers seemed to be the quickest.
5. Using the mouse to navigate the PIA app, you'll need to enter your login information. After that, select your preferred region, and in the settings, enable the "connect on boot" option.
That's it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking of getting PIA VPN. have you noticed any slowdown in internet speed or bandwith when streaming?
thanks for the info

dk1keith said:
My Fire Stick arrived today (3/27/2018), and after getting Kodi installed, the next thing on my To Do list was getting PIA working. First I tried getting it setup through my router, but the speed was incredibly slow through the OpenVPN configuration on my router.
After reading on a rather old thread that someone got PIA working, I decided to give it a shot, and with a little tweaking, I got it working.
1. You need to have Downloader installed for the first step. I've uploaded the PIA apk to my private server. Here's the link:
I was thinking of getting PIA VPN. have you noticed any slowdown in internet speed or bandwith when streaming?
thanks for the info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been running pia vpn since I got my Firestick a couple years ago and have not noticed any streaming issues. I dump out on a Swiss server because streaming and downloading of copyrighted material is fine as long as it is personal use for now but the Netherlands was good but they are cracking down. Gave up on Kodi and run Terriaum tv as the addons are useless. Working on setting up a Nuc i3 with Debian os and doing a split tunnel vpn and reverse proxy for a Usenet/Torrent downloader as they are really cracking down on these streaming APKs. So far it has been a pain due to learning Linux, setting up a headless server, screwing with iptables, router and revere proxy bs.

dk1keith said:
I was thinking of getting PIA VPN. have you noticed any slowdown in internet speed or bandwith when streaming?
thanks for the info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will be slightly slower than your ISP's normal bandwidth speed, but that's true of every VPN. Using the PIA app on my MacBook, I've had speeds up to 40 Mbps, which is more than adequate for streaming.
Having used PIA now for going on a third year, it's been very reliable, and the cost is very reasonable.

Hey yall!..im very new to this whole vpn thing and really kind of computer stupid..lol...but i read all the time about getting a vpn to protect your privacy and all..so i purchasd PIA for my firestick..my question is how do i know if its working?.any help at at all would bd greatly appreciated..ty in advance!

Easy PIA fire stick installation.
I read the instructions for the previous installation of PIA on the fire stick and feel those are a bit cumbersome. The process from my perspective also adds unnecessary
applications to the fire stick.
What I've done as an alternative is install apps2fire on my phone and then any application I want installed on the fire stick can be installed.
1) Application gets installed on my phone. (TEA tv, PIA...)
2) Open up Apps2fire and put in the IP of the fire stick.
3) In Apps2Fire select the application you want installed on the fire stick.
4) Select install and give it a few minutes
5) Go to applications in the Fire Stick menu and open up the app and configure.
Have fun

PIA for fire.
Much easier way to install PIA on a fire device. Use the Downloader App, and use bit.ly/Piafire, and your done. It doesn’t work on fire sticks.

PIA
dk1keith said:
I was thinking of getting PIA VPN. have you noticed any slowdown in internet speed or bandwith when streaming?
thanks for the info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using PIA on my home PC for a while and it works great, but on the FireTV, I have major issues with streaming for some reason. Apps like popcorn time and such will pull a fast streaming speed the first min or two but then it will literally drop to 0kb/sec and continue to yoyo up and down, making any streaming unwatchable. I have no such issues using it on my PC.
This is on a 2nd gen fire stick and 2nd gen FireTV (Gaming edition)
And there's a much easier way to install it on your fire TV. Just download the Apps2Fire app to you phone or tablet and it will push any app installed on that device to your fire TV. I've installed a ton of apps this way to my FireTV's and it takes like 2 mins without wasting time with that crappy downloader app.
han

Spoofing/Modding - Device/apps Help

I am trying to get all4 on my shield, I've tried many things but failing to do it lol.
OK so I've tried installing the apk I got from someone who backed it up for me from a fire tv but it seems like the apk was just a wrapper so it didnt work.
I have the amazon appstore installed but it recognises my device is not a fire TV device and won't let me install.
Is there a way we could spoof the amazon appstore to see the device as a fire tv or maybe spoof the device so apps think its a fire TV (if that makes sense).
So spoofing the amazon appstore I have an idea -
Using "app cloner" it has a build prop option to where you can modify the apk to see the device as what you wish by filling in the right build prop details for the device you want to spoof to.
Only thing is - I don't have a fire TV device to get the details so I can't try this yet. (If anyone had the details please let me know so I can try - just need to install app cloner and it will show you the info)
Can anyone help with this?
I also have a second problem I've been trying to deal with for years now lol.
There is an app called "notifications for android TV", what it does, is it send notifications from apps on your phone and displays them on the TV in a way where when you install the app on android TV the app auto installs as a server, when you install the same app on phone it asks you if you want to set up this phone as a server or client.
I used to run full android custom ROM on my shield TV, when I did I used app cloner to install 2 versions of this app and installed one as server and one as client so all the notifications were handled by my shield TV and I did not need a phone connected to send notifications - this is ideal. I'm love look ing to try do the same thing on stock nvidia firmware but every time it detects the app as android TV and doesn't you the option to install as a client.
I just need a way to spoof/mod the app to think its installing on a phone instead of android TV.
Can anyone help with this stuff, been bugging me for soo long now lol.

I just side loaded the mobile all4 application from apkpure.
Sure, you need to use a mouse to navigate it, but it works fine for me.

I should have mentioned I am looking for the fire TV version specifically as it is remote friendly. I have the version you are using already.

Isolating HD 8 2018 2020 from everything Amazon - especially updates.

Hello everyone.
I have both a Kindle Fire 8 HD 2018 and a new 2020 available for this specific use.
I want to dedicate one tablet for one use only which needs to be kept secure. The only internet connection would be to banks etc - no other web use at all.
The question is how do I set this up. I am not looking to use any of the Amazon installed apps but I am happy just to put the icons in a folder & then ignore them.
I am looking at installing Libre Office, Firefox, a file manager, password encryption and document encryption both for security on the tablet and to enable back up.
My concern is about things going on of which I am not aware - in particular related to all the unwanted Amazon installed bits including the operating system.
I am not going to use an Amazon nor Google account nor will I ever open an Amazon web page but I suspect that this will not stop updates unless it also stops the tablet ringing home (???)
How do I isolate my tablet from everything Amazon whilst it is connected to the internet for other things?
If you see any other problems I would be pleased to know about them before I commit.
I am aware of the Fire Toolbox but I am not sure if it meets my needs.

xz6 said:
Hello everyone.
I have both a Kindle Fire 8 HD 2018 and a new 2020 available for this specific use.
I want to dedicate one tablet for one use only which needs to be kept secure. The only internet connection would be to banks etc - no other web use at all.
The question is how do I set this up. I am not looking to use any of the Amazon installed apps but I am happy just to put the icons in a folder & then ignore them.
I am looking at installing Libre Office, Firefox, a file manager, password encryption and document encryption both for security on the tablet and to enable back up.
My concern is about things going on of which I am not aware - in particular related to all the unwanted Amazon installed bits including the operating system.
I am not going to use an Amazon nor Google account nor will I ever open an Amazon web page but I suspect that this will not stop updates unless it also stops the tablet ringing home (???)
How do I isolate my tablet from everything Amazon whilst it is connected to the internet for other things?
If you see any other problems I would be pleased to know about them before I commit.
I am aware of the Fire Toolbox but I am not sure if it meets my needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to use a VPN firewall app such as NoRoot Firewall to block Amazon updates.