How-To

Use Alexa on Your Echo Device to Control Fire TV Hands-Free

By Brian Burgess

Last Updated on February 6, 2018

Who needs a remote? You can link your Echo with Alexa to Fire TV and watch what you want completely hands-free.

The Fire TV comes with an Alexa-enabled remote that allows you to press the mic button and use voice commands to find and watch content. But you can use your Echo and Alexa to watch what you want completely hands-free. Here’s a look at how to link the two devices and some of the voices commands you can use with Alexa.

Control Fire TV Hands-Free Through Alexa

To get started, the first thing you need to do is link your Echo and Fire TV. If you have multiple devices, you can set everything up with the Alexa app on your phone or tablet or from the Alexa website. Then from the menu select Music, Video & Books and choose Fire TV under the Video section.

Next, tap on “Link Alexa Device” and you can choose the Fire TV you want to control and the Echo you want to control it from and then tap the Link Devices button.

A couple of things to note here. If you only have one Fire TV and one Echo, you should be able to just say: “Alexa, watch Fire TV” and the two will pair automatically. If you have multiple devices, though, you need to use the Alexa app. Also, you can only link devices that are registered to the same account.

Once you have everything set up you can use different voice commands to find what you want to watch and control playback. For instance, to start it up, say “Alexa, watch Fire TV” or “Alexa, watch Man in the High Castle.” It supports the ability to search content or start other apps, too. For example, “Alexa, launch Netflix” or “Alexa, find “the title of movie or show.” You can control playback and go directly to channels on supported apps like PlayStation Vue. For a long list of voice commands check out this Amazon page.

This hands-free ability is convenient when I’m busy doing something with my hands and just want to throw something on like Star Trek from CBS All Acces for some background noise. And it’s nice when I lose the remote. Still, the overall experience of using only voice commands isn’t yet a perfect science — as is the case with all of these smart speakers.

While you can find and play content from other services like Hulu or PlayStation Vue, I’ve found it works best with Amazon Originals, which is to be expected. Overall, voice control comes in handy, but the problem with all of these devices is you need to remember the voice commands, and usually, it’s just easier to do it the old-fashioned way — with the remote.

Do you use your Echo to control your Fire TV or do you prefer the remote? What do you think of the experience of voice control? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.