We live in the age of peak TV, and that means there's almost endless amounts of options for what show you're going to watch after a hard day of work. From classic comedies to prestige dramas, television now offers viewers a full buffet of options to choose from, and that can make some customers feel overwhelmed. To make a stressful situation worse, watching television doesn't just call for an antenna or a cable subscription anymore, but dozens of apps installed on a streaming box attached to your television. From legit, subscription-based offerings like Netflix and Hulu (which offer shows both from other networks and their own original, acclaimed programming) to free applications that offer shows from, shall we say, less-than-standard avenues, there's a lot of places to get your media from today.
If you've decided to use a Fire Stick to watch your favorite shows and movies, you aren't alone. We're big fans of Amazon's $39 streaming stick too, and that's why we've found some of our favorite applications for watching television at home. From subscription apps to free streaming services, let's dive into some of the best apps for your Fire Stick.
There's a good chance you already know about these options, but it's well worth taking a look at some of the best streaming options on the market today. For a small subscription fee each month, you can gain access to thousands of TV shows, ranging from new releases and original content to old favorites and undiscovered gems. We don't expect everyone to pay for all of these services, but adding one or two to your Fire Stick is a no-brainer, thanks to the affordability and ease of use of all these apps. Let's take a look at five of the must-have subscription applications for your Amazon Fire Stick.
You probably already have a Netflix subscription plugged into your Fire Stick. The app comes preinstalled on your device, and the service is almost universally beloved for leading the trend of streaming services that we now live in today. Netflix has spent the last few years moving away from gathering as much content as possible for your streaming pleasure, and now serves as home to a ton of exclusive content. Though originally designed around the idea of allowing you to watch movies (thus the "flix" in "Netflix"), the truth is that the company that pioneered our current entertainment world has shifted to focusing a lot of their energy on television. Alongside streamng classics like The Office or Breaking Bad, Netflix has produced countless hits throughout television, including (but certainly not limited to) House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, Daredevil, 13 Reasons Why, and dozens upon dozens of others.
If you need to be sold further, Netflix has a major 2019 on the horizon for original shows. New seasons of shows like Stranger Things, Mindhunter, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Orange is the New Black are on the way, along with upcoming original shows like The Umbrella Academy, Turn Up Charlie, and an animated retelling of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. All that is in addition to all the other content, both original and acquired, that Netflix presents on their service, making it an easy choice for anyone with a Fire Stick.
Despite a move into carrying some high profile films, Hulu was created as a service primarily made for television, and it remains that way well into 2019. Hulu features a much better mix of acquired and original content for viewing, making it a great place for anyone who wants to watch some incredible programming. On the acquired side, you'll find plenty of current TV hits, including This is Us, The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and much more. And of course, Hulu has their own original lineup of shows, including the award-winning The Handmaid's Tale, the 11.22.63 miniseries, Marvel's Runaways, and the upcoming fourth season of Veronica Mars. Hulu is also cheaper than Netflix by $4 per month, making it an easy choice for anyone looking for a solid premium streaming service.
You own a Fire Stick, so it only makes sense to get Amazon Prime Video to go along with your streaming device. Amazon Prime is somewhere in the middle between Hulu and Netflix, offering original television and films and a pretty solid amount of streaming movies and TV shows, though the options you get are lesser than what you might see from Hulu or Netflix. Prime Video is included with an Amazon Prime subscription, though you can get it on its own for $8.99 per month if you'd rather skip the other Prime benefits. On Prime Video, you can find a decent amount of streaming television, including Spongebob Squarepants, Psych, The Americans, Doctor Who, and Friday Night Lights. When it comes to original programming on Prime, you'll find plenty of shows to pick from as well, including Emmy winners like Transparent and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
HBO is one of those companies that, even if you don't subscribe to the service through cable or through their Now streaming service, you've likely heard of most of their shows just through cultural osmosis. From mega-hits currently airing on the channel, like the soon-to-end Game of Thrones or Westworld, to their classic library of series like The Sopranos, Deadwood, and The Wire, there's plenty of content on HBO Now to be worth grabbing the app. Whether you're looking to dive into the HBO back catalog, or you want to watch one of their new streaming hits, we highly recommend checking out HBO for some great television content.
If you enjoy watching live television but you don't have cable, you might want to look into buying into an online streaming television service. PlayStation Vue is an online cable replacement, similar to Hulu with Live TV or DirecTV Now. The service allows you to stream your favorite channels online from $45 to $80 per month, depending on which lineup of channels you want to add to your subscription, making it easy to watch your favorite channels on your Fire Stick with ease. In addition to your local channels, you can get access to channels like AMC, BBC America, Disney, Cartoon Network, HGTV, ESPN, and plenty of other channels to watch regularly. It won't be for everyone, but if you'd rather have a cable subscription not limited to where you are at any time, PlayStation Vue is a no-brainer.
While it's absolutely worth keeping a subscription service or two on your Fire Stick, we'd guess that plenty of people came here to check out some of the best free applications you can get on your Fire Stick to stream television shows without having to charge a credit card. Luckily for you, our list of options for streaming free services online is even longer than our suggestions for paid subscription options, which means more options for you to watch your favorite shows without paying a dime.
Crackle is currently one of the only studio-backed free streaming services left standing, ever since Hulu left their free tier behind to focus on their paid content. Crackle is owned by Sony Pictures, which means you'll mostly see Sony-released content with a few other offerings alongside them. In our tests, Crackle had one of the better libraries of both original and non-original content available for free. Everything did include ads, unfortunately, but the inclusion of those pesky ads also meant that everything was above the board and completely legal. Crackle, like any other streaming service, changes their library every so often, so just because something is on there now doesn't mean it will be there permanently. When it comes to television programming, you'll find shows like Community, Startup, Married with Children, and a wide selection of anime all streaming on Crackle.
Showbox is a much-beloved app that effectively offers similar content to that of many Kodi add-ons and builds, but without having to deal with the bloat that comes with Kodi, which can often slow down under the weight of the installed apps. Showbox offers users new releases streamable right from their television, essentially mitigating the need to pirate content in exchange for the ability to pick right from a list, but it's not without a fair share of problems. The app has a habit of going offline frequently, with the app often being unable to be downloaded, movies and television shows disappearing from the service, and concerns over whether the app's reappearance after a shutdown in the fall of 2018 makes the app safe. Still, Showbox is a mainstay for a reason, and we can't help but to give it a recommendation. You should check out the app's subreddit for information on when the app is offline, however, since it has a habit of disappearing with time.
TubiTV has some seriously good content, and the site is organized in a cohesive, easy-to-use layout that makes finding content—especially good content you'll actively want to watch—pretty easy. The service routinely cycles content from their service, so it's easy to predict you won't often be seeing the same movie or show on the platform twice. There's plenty of ways to search through content in order to find the movie you want to stream, with categories like "Not on Netflix" and "Leaving Soon," it's easy to find something worth watching.
Not everything is perfect. TubiTV requires a login, which is disappointing to say the least. There are also a good number of advertisements, which can be frustrating if you're trying to watch your favorite shows at home home with your family or friends. The ads come in chunks of three to five ads, and the service isn't perfect at breaking up the content smoothly. Even worse, the web player doesn't show when an add is going to activate, unlike what we've seen in Crackle's user interface. Still, there are some great choices for every genre on here, and if you're looking for the best streaming service on the web that doesn't require using a VPN or protecting your data from your ISP, this is it.
Showbox is incredibly useful for a lot of people, but the app has a habit of going offline pretty often thanks to its role in piracy. Terrarium TV was a service that managed to get about as popular as Showbox, but it officially ended development a while ago. That said, the app lives on with unofficial community mods, and Terrarium TV remains a great replacement for anyone tired of the constant problems with Showbox. In addition to the fan-modded version of Terrarium, you can also get a number of spin-offs of the app, including our top pick, Tea TV. These apps all allow you to stream movies and new episodes of your favorite shows online easily, though you'll want to make sure you have Mouse Toggle for some of these apps, as they don't always support mouse input.
Cinema, or Cinema APK, is a video app designed specifically for Android that works similar to Terrarium, Tea TV, and Showbox. Despite their claim that Cinema is an app that doesn't use pirated content, the truth is a little more complicated than that. If you're using Cinema, you should probably be prepared to use a VPN like most other apps on this free list, just to be sure you're secure in using your app. Like Showbox, however, you'll have to keep in mind that Cinema requires the use of the Mouse Toggle app in order to properly work with a Fire Stick remote.
Pluto TV might sound like an app that sits next to Cinema, Terrarium TV, and Showbox, but in actuality, Pluto is a free, legal way to watch some great films and television shows. Known for their tagline, "It's free TV," Pluto is an odd app in that, while some content is available on demand, the app acts more like a free alternative to cable. Shows and movies air on a schedule, and you'll need to properly tune in to catch the films and shows you want to watch. It's all pretty unique, even in 2019, and the fact that you can find all sorts of content airing on the platform makes it fun to browse whether or not you have cable.
How do you watch television on your Fire Stick? Do you prefer to stick to Netflix and Hulu, or are you more interested in using apps like Kodi or Showbox? Let us know in the comments below what you're using to watch TV on your Amazon Fire Stick!