Can I put apps on an Amazon Fire 7 tablet / E reader ?

sparkiemalarkie

Hi, I have been given an Amazon Fire 7 with adverts - I really wanted an android tablet. I'm wondering if it's possible to download apps onto the Fire 7.
I wanted whatsapp, a news feed of some sort and an app to get the lottery results on.

Is this possible?

tia
sx

facade

You have to install the google play store to get access to google only apps.

They can be a bit flaky though.

https://www.androidpolice.com/install-play-store-amazon-fire-tablet/#downloading-the-necessary-apps-for-the-google-play-store

Specifically for Whatsapp, you can get the apk and install it (everybody else calls it "sideloading" for some reason)

https://hackernoon.com/guide-how-to-install-whatsapp-on-amazon-fire-tablet

Better is to simply access the national lottery websites and the web version of whatsapp through the silk browser.

I have a fire tablet and haven't bothered with getting the play store on it, the only app I want to run that isn't in the amazon store (tachiyomi) I just installed the apk.

Mine came with the BBC news app already installed, there are several newsfeeds and news apps in the amazon store.

PHK

There is an app store built in to the tablet. It has many apps but I don't think it has WhatsApp.  

cerebus

You can sideload Google play store it involves downloading 3 apks  , and they have to be installed in a certain order for it to work 

As fire os is based on android this is possible and I have yet to find an app which isn't compatible with my fire tablet and the play store is very stable 

TELLIT01

Excuse my ignorance, but what is 'sideloading'?

bob_a_builder

Sideloading = Bypassing  the Google Play store

You download an .APK file ( which contains the app),  then click on the downloaded file to run that file which which cause the app to be installed on your tablet  

There are a number of APK libraries  such as https://apkpure.com/

That process will probably be fine for getting the odd app or two
For a more flexible fix look at doing the workaround to install the Google Play Store 
https://www.wikihow.com/Install-the-Google-Play-Store-on-an-Amazon-Fire

cerebus

bob_a_builder said:

Sideloading = Bypassing  the Google Play store

You download an .APK file ( which contains the app),  then click on the downloaded file to run that file which which cause the app to be installed on your tablet  

There are a number of APK libraries  such as https://apkpure.com/

That process will probably be fine for getting the odd app or two
For a more flexible fix look at doing the workaround to install the Google Play Store 
https://www.wikihow.com/Install-the-Google-Play-Store-on-an-Amazon-Fire

Not quite

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideloading#:~:text=Sideloading describes the process of,media player or e-reader.

facade

cerebus said:

bob_a_builder said:

Sideloading = Bypassing  the Google Play store

You download an .APK file ( which contains the app),  then click on the downloaded file to run that file which which cause the app to be installed on your tablet  

There are a number of APK libraries  such as https://apkpure.com/

That process will probably be fine for getting the odd app or two
For a more flexible fix look at doing the workaround to install the Google Play Store 
https://www.wikihow.com/Install-the-Google-Play-Store-on-an-Amazon-Fire

Not quite

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideloading#:~:text=Sideloading describes the process of,media player or e-reader.

Rather like Humpty Dumpty “When I use a word… it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”

Why they can't just say "install the .apk" or "transfer the videos/photos" is beyond me. (But I'm really old, and logical)

bob_a_builder

Umm... I don't know, the 3rd para in that Wiki article is pretty much what I said ....

PHK

One thing to be aware of is the fire tablets do not have Google services, so if you sideload an app that uses Google services then it won't work properly

TimeLord1

You used to be able to get PlayStore app on the Amazon tablets but unsure if it is still a thing but worked on my old 5th Generation fire but a lot of stuff will no longer be compatible with old tech. Really depends on the apps you want it to have.