To gain free access to unlimited TV shows, movies, live TV, sports, and much more, we will teach how to jailbreak your FireStick in this write-up. Here, the tips we will discuss apply to FireStick 2nd Generation, FireStick 4K as well as Fire TV Cube.
Nowadays, the most popularly used and most affordable streaming device is Amazon FireStick. It’s quite incredibly simple to use that all you need do is to plug the streaming tool into your television set via the HDMI port, do the set up for the first run, and begin streaming immediately after that.
Services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu ensure you don’t have paucity of media sources. But you have to pay the subscription fee to each service to enjoy watching your favourite content.
Jailbreaking can help you out here. When you jailbreak your FireStick, you will have free access to unlimited content without the need to pay a subscription fee. Let’s examine how to jailbreak your FireStick.
What Does Jailbreaking FireStick Mean?
Jailbreaking is a straightforward procedure that involves installing a couple of 3rd-party apps onto FireStick. By jailbreaking a smartphone, you introduce changes in the core files of the OS.
But when it comes to FireStick, it is a different ball game entirely as you needn’t touch any system or core files. All you are doing is installing a handful of apps.
This isn’t jailbreaking, strictly speaking. Certain Firestick resellers started calling the term, “jailbreak”, purely as a selling strategy. And now, new FireStick users are increasingly looking for information on jailbreaking their FireStick. This is why we chose to call it that term in this write-up as well to help them find the right content.
Why Do You Need to Jailbreak your FireStick?
There is every reason for you to jailbreak your FireStick. For starters, it will provide you with unlimited access to loads of content, and you will be able to watch just about anything you want.
Also, jailbreaking doesn’t modify your FireStick irreversibly, so it‘s 100% safe.
The process is a simple one, which requires no technical knowledge. As a matter of fact, it’s not even jailbreaking since it doesn’t involve changing the original Amazon operating system or installing manipulated firmware.
Jailbreaking FireStick is a straightforward procedure, which is just as simple as installing apps on your mobile device. All you will do is to install 3rd-party apps. Not only is it completely safe, but also completely legal and risk-free.
Is Jailbreaking FireStick Legal?
As stated above, it is 100% legal and safe to jailbreak your FireStick. All you’re doing is installing some 3rd-party apps on the device, and since you are the sole owner of your FireStick, it is up to you to do anything you like with it.
In this guide, we have made use of Kodi, a jailbreak app. It is a completely legal mobile app, which is available for download on the Play Store. And only legal apps can be found on the store.
But streaming copyrighted content is illegal. Hence, you need to ensure you don’t indulge in unauthorized streaming and adhere to the content, available in the public domain.
Steps to Jailbreak Your FireStick
In this section, we will show you the steps to jailbreak your Amazon FireStick and start streaming your favourite content, such as TV shows, movies, TV series, Live TV, and sports.
The process is a straightforward one that you can even carry out if you are not a tech-savvy individual. Here are the steps to follow:
Step 1: Start by Setting up FireStick for Jailbreaking
Jailbreaking FireStick entails the installation of 3rd-party apps, but the security system of the device is made to prevent the default installation of this sort of mobile apps. Fortunately, you can always modify this security setting, allowing your FireStick to install any 3rd-party apps you want.
We will only be working with the trustworthy, tested & safe apps in this post. Here are the steps to follow to modify the security setting before jailbreaking the device:
- On the home-screen of your mobile device, go to Settings from the menu bar on the top
- Press My Fire TV (or Device if you are still using an older version of FireStick OS)
- Tap Developer Options
- Ensure that Apps from Unknown Sources is set to ON. If it is not, click on it to put it ON
- Continue by pressing Turn On. You needn’t worry about the warning message as the jailbreaking process is completely safe
Now, we can proceed with the jailbreaking procedure.
Step 2: Install Downloader Application on Your Amazon FireStick
You have to first download the APK of any third-party app from the source to install it. Because of security reasons, FireStick does not provide support for direct file download via browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, Silk Browser, and the likes. You would need an additional app to allow the download.
We have a number of such apps for FireStick; however, none of them is quite like Downloader. The app can be installed and used effortlessly. Further, you can get it on the Amazon App Store.
First download and install the Downloader app on the FireStick:
- From the home screen of the mobile device, hit the lens icon in the far top-left to use the Search option
- Search for the Downloader application with your onscreen keypad and tap on it in the search results
- Hit its icon and press Download in the following screen
- Wait for some time for the app to be downloaded & installed
- Now tap Open and launch the app. To use the app later, open it in the Your Apps & Channels section
Step 3: Install Kodi for Jailbreaking Your FireStick
In this last part of the procedure, you will install Kodi to jailbreak the Amazon FireStick device. Here, we are using the Downloader app installed in step 2 above to get Kodi.
Kodi is a popular media player, which is used for playing music and videos from your local storage as well as online sources. But its true potential is in its use for free online streaming. What has mainly made the media player trendy is that it offers access to unlimited free entertainment via different Addons and Builds.
As Kodi is a 3rd-party app, not offered on the Amazon App Store, we‘ll be sideloading it using the Downloader app. Kodi is a safe and trusted app itself. As a matter of fact, it’s available via different official channels on a number of platforms, including Google Play Store for Android OS and Microsoft Store for Windows 10 10.
These are the things to do to install the latest stable version of Kodi on your FireStick:
- Launch your Downloader app and press the URL field that is by the right of the window (containing ‘http://’ by default)
- Downloader will display an on-screen keyboard, which you are to use for entering this URL: https://www.firestickhow.com/kodi. Tap GO to start your Kodi 18 Leia APK download
- The Downloader app will now connect with the server containing the APK, and within a couple of seconds, it will start downloading the Kodi APK file. Wait a while for the download to finish
- Now, the window containing the Next button will pop up on the bottom right. Navigate down a little, and you’ll get the Install button in its place. Hit the Install button
- Kodi’s installation will last around 1 minute
- You will now receive the App installed message, which means you’ve successfully installed Kodi on your FireStick. You could launch Kodi or pick Done to open the app later from the Your Apps & Channels segment
That is all about this section on how to jailbreak on your FireStick device.
Steps to Use a Jailbroken FireStick
Having jailbroken your Amazon Firestick, you can now do much more with your device. Let’s discuss how you can unravel the boundless world of entertainment via your device.
Kodi, as earlier stated, is a media player for playing both local and online content. However, the actual fun is in the online streaming of your best TV shows, movies, live TV, sports, and several others.
But before you start to use the jailbroken FireStick to stream content online, you need to note this essential information. Every online activity you engage in is subject to surveillance & monitoring by your Internet service provider, in addition to your government. And streaming copyrighted or licensed videos for free may bring legal trouble to your doorstep.
Fortunately, you can hide every one of your online & streaming activities from anyone that could be keeping tabs on them, including your ISP, the government or other 3rd-party entities. All you need do is to get a reliable VPN for the FireStick.
A VPN will allow you to stream online content with your mind at peace since the tool will encrypt your internet connection and also ensure it stays hidden from the unwanted prying eyes.
This does not mean we are encouraging illegal streaming of content online as we do not condone such activities. But your privacy is important and must be maintained. You may not even intend streaming copyrighted content and still end up doing so. You would not like to face a penalty for a mistake that was never intended.
ExpressVPN is a good piece of software, which you can use, offering one of the best, fastest and safest VPNs for the Amazon FireStick device. It is a streaming-friendly VPN tool, which works 100% smoothly with the Kodi media player.
Having talked about how to use a VPN with Kodi as well as FireStick, let’s look at how to get ExpressVPN.
- Subscribe to the ExpressVPN service: Start by subscribing to ExpressVPN. If you opt for the annual plan, you will be able to save up to 49 per cent. ExpressVPN also provides you with a thirty-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with the service. But if you really intend using a VPN, there is no reason to opt-out of it
- Search for ExpressVPN on FireStick: You can also download ExpressVPN from the Amazon App Store. Press the Search function (top-left) in the home-screen of your FireStick and search for ExpressVPN
- Download ExpressVPN on FireStick and Install It: Hit the ExpressVPN icon you will see on the next screen and press the Download button. Wait a while for the ExpressVPN app to be downloaded & installed on your device
- Log into the ExpressVPN App on Your FireStick: Open the ExpressVPN app on the FireStick and press log in on the bottom section of the first screen. Supply your login credentials on the next window and press Sign-in one more time
- Connect ExpressVPN on Your Amazon FireStick: Hit the connection option to connect to VPN. You can establish this connection to the default server, which ExpressVPN has picked for you already based on your location or you may pick any other region/server you prefer.
Having secured your FireStick using ExpressVPN, you can now start to stream on the jailbroken device. Here is how to do so:
The Kodi app that you installed recently on the FireStick is only a media player, and it can’t stream any content on its own until you’ve sourced some media to play. Kodi will help you play the media on your local storage.
But that is something any media player will be able to do. The real purpose Kodi serves is in streaming media online. To do this, Kodi Video Addons are the most important thing you need.
You can learn more about how to install Kodi Addon. On that note, we draw the curtain on this post on how to jailbreak your FireStick.
