Amazon Further Restricts Fire TV Streaming: What it Means for You
Fire TVs Will No Longer Support Deep Linking
A recent Fire TV update has caused some outrage among Fire TV owners after Amazon removed deep linking from 3rd party apps. Making the Fire TV a little harder to use to find and access TV content.
What is Deep Linking?
Deep linking as it's used in media streaming makes it easy to jump directly to content from inside one app to the content linked on another app. This lets you quickly find and access movies or shows playing on multiple apps.
It's also a money-saving feature and here's how it works. Let's say you use a tracking app like Reelgood, or Just Watch to find and stream content, the results would give you several sources to find the content. Some of which you may already subscribe to that would cost you nothing, and some on Amazon Prime that you may need to pay to watch on demand.
These apps used to let you click a link directly from within the app, which then took you directly to the movie or show from whichever app you decide to use.
But since Amazon made the decision to block deep linking on the Fire TV, now you will need to go back to the home screen, manually select the app that Reelgood or Just Watch finds and open it yourself.
This just made the Fire TV harder to find and use the content on. This was done to get you to spend more time on Amazon's Home Screen where they can show you more ads.
Deep Linking is Not The First Time Amazon Blocked Content
They also blocked users from installing custom launchers. A launcher is the home screen, on a Fire TV and Android device. It's what contains and allows you to browse for and launch apps.
Users were installing custom launchers, to get rid of ads shown on the home screen. But this ability was soon blocked on Fire TVs so a new launcher could no longer be installed.
This latest move shows a troubling pattern by Amazon which shows they care more about their profits, versus the convenience of certain features which make Fire TVs easier to use.
What Does This Latest Change Mean For You?
If you never used the deep linking feature or a custom launcher, then these latest restrictions won't affect you all that much. So you can continue using your Fire TV without issue.
Currently, both Roku and Apple TV offer deep linking on their media streamers. But unlike Apple TV and Roku, you can still sideload apps on a Fire TV, but this may not last forever. Should Amazon one day decide to further clamp down on the Fire TV you may no longer be able to sideload apps in the future if they block this feature as well.
If you miss using deep linking or custom launchers and want an unrestricted media player, now may be a great time to invest in an inexpensive Android media streamer, Chromecast with Android TV, or an Nvidia SHIELD.
Do This One Thing Now to Prevent Even More Restrictions on Your Fire TV
One thing you can do right now to prevent further restrictions on a Fire TV is to block automatic updates on Fire TV. This will keep your software from updating automatically, which won't let Amazon restrict your Fire TV even further.
This video will show you an easy way to turn off Automatic Updates and Block Updates on a Fire TV:
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Use of third-party trademarks on this site is not intended to imply endorsement nor affiliation with respective trademark owners.
We are Not Affiliated with or Endorsed by Roku®, Apple, Google or Other Companies we may write about.
