The Amazon Firestick hit the entertainment industry with an all new buzz that shook the TV Casting market with its affordable rates and vast range of streaming choices. Recently, Amazon has been taking a keen interest in smart home appliances, often integrating them with its voice assistant.
The Amazon Firestick with Alexa is a similar introduction into the sparsely populated casting market. Another reason for its massive popularity is the customization Firestick offers over regular cable channels. Even then, many users can’t help but wonder if these options can be increased by “jailbreaking” the device. Others wonder whether it’s illegal to do so. These are just some doubts that are addressed below.
What is a Jailbroken Amazon Firestick?
It’d be important to mention here that ‘Jailbroken’ isn’t the exact term that should be used when addressing Firestick. Jailbreaking is often used to describe a situation where users are granted restricted rights to install apps or utilize functionality.
iOS devices are usually jailbroken to get around their iTunes Digital Rights and get access to Music and TV. On the other hand, in the context of the Firestick, it just means that some media server software is installed on the device, often allowing it access content online which might’ve otherwise not been available. No extra ‘hacks’ are required to make this happen and neither are any extra functionality or rights given to the user.
Jailbreaking the Amazon Firestick:
1. Select Settings on the Home Screen
2. Allow ADB Debugging and Apps from unknown sources
3. Go to Device > About > Network, note the IP address
4. Install ES Explorer through the Amazon App Store
5. In the ES Explorer, go to Tools > Download Manager
6. Press the ‘right’ button on your remote and click on ‘New’
7. Type in the download link to the KODI file (A Media server software) for Android in the Download dialogue box. Click ‘Download Now’. A link can easily be found online
8. Install the file after the download is completed
9. After the installation, KODI can now be used to access external content
Is it illegal?
Lastly, while the installation of the media server software isn’t illegal by itself, using it to access content that you’d otherwise need to pay for lands you in the gray zone. So do remain cautious in your ventures through the “Jailbroken” Amazon FireStick.