How to Get Google Play on Your Fire Tablet

Amazon's Fire tablets are pretty great. They’re inexpensive, they have parental controls, and the newest ones even have expandable storage. But what they don’t have is Google Play. Fire tablets only let you download apps from the Amazon App Store, which means no Chrome, no YouTube app, no Lego Boost and no Photoshop Express.

And while a lot of apps make it over to the Amazon App Store eventually, there’s really no need to wait. I’m not a computer geek, and I managed to get Google Play on a Kindle Fire Tablet following instructions from the XDA Developers Forum, a discussion board for mobile developers. I’ve expanded on the instructions on how to get Google Play on your Fire Tablet and added screenshots to make it super easy!

How to Get Google Play on Your Fire Tablet

1. Swipe down from the top of the screen.

2. Press Settings.

3. Under Personal, tap Security.

4. Under Advanced, turn on Apps from Unknown Sources.

5. You’ll see a warning about being responsible for all damage to your Fire that unknown source apps can do. This would be a good time to mention that while this is an easy process, I’m also not responsible for damage to your Fire, and neither is Laptop Magazine! Press OK.

6. Hold down the Power button and click OK.

7. Now we’re going to install some APK files (that’s an Android file format) using the Fire’s Silk browser.

8. Open this article (the one you're reading) in the Silk browser on your fire tablet. If you don't want to, copy and paste these instructions into an email, send the email to yourself, and open it on the Fire.

9. Open the below links one at a time, and make sure you're using the correct set of links.

Links for 4th, 5th, and 6th Generation Fires, not the 2017 7th Gen Fire HD 8. Don’t know which version of Fire you have? Go to Settings, press Device Options, and scroll down to Device Model.

Links for the 2017 (7th Generation) Fire HD 8. Make sure you follow the instructions above about installing them in order and which “Download” to click!

Links for the 2018 (8th Generation) Fire HD 8.

10. First, click Download APK, ignoring the notice of a newer version below. (Do NOT click any other Downloads on the page, they’re probably ads.) If you click on a link in the email, the Silk browser will open automatically. The files need to be installed in order, so to avoid confusion, open, download and install them one at a time.