All Amazon Fire TV devices will now support YouTube
The Alexa Announcements feature is also being rolled out
YouTube is coming to Amazon’s Fire TV devices in the UK, it has been announced today. The video-sharing platform’s official app had previously been withdrawn from the Fire TV franchise, thanks to an enduring standoff between Amazon and Google after the former refused to sell the latter’s products on its site.
However, Amazon recently announced in a press release that the official YouTube app is now available on all Fire TV devices in the UK, saving users the faff of having to access YouTube via browsers. All remaining Fire TV devices – the Fire TV Stick (1st Gen), Fire TV (1st Gen), Fire TV (2rd Gen), Fire TV (3rd Gen) – will be made compatible with YouTube’s app.
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If you’re the lucky owner of a Fire TV device, the fun doesn’t stop there. Amazon has also announced that it will simultaneously be rolling out Alexa Announcements, whereby users ask Alexa to make announcements on Alexa-enabled devices, “like a one-way intercom,” the company explains.
The feature will be automatically enabled (in supported countries), and users can modify it via their smartphones. All you have to do is open the Alexa App, tap Devices, select the Fire TV device you’re trying to manage, and you’ll be presented with the choice to enable or disable the feature.
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Once enabled, users can use the intercom system for one-way communication: “Alexa, announce that Big Little Lies is starting.” Or whatever: Chernobyl, Westworld, The Handmaid’s Tale – pick your poison.
Heck, you could even combine the two new features: a brief bark of “Alexa, open YouTube,” would be enough to summon the official app on your Fire TV device, displaying all your YouTube recommendations, subscriptions and playlists. What a time to be alive.
If the feature(s) haven’t yet come to your device, don’t despair. They’ve only just started to roll out, with Amazon assuring customers that YouTube and Alexa Announcements will continue to populate devices over the next few days. In the meantime, you’ll just have to resort to conjuring YouTube on a browser. Positively prehistoric.