Yes, you can run the Apple Music app natively on your Amazon FireStick
By @edent
· android Apple · 400 words · read ~2,111 times.
Apple have an Android version of their Apple Music app. The Amazon FireStick runs Android. So you can run Apple Music on the FireStick, right? WRONG!
The official advice is to link Apple Music to the Alexa Skill - with its justifiably low review score. But we're hackers, we can do better than that, right?
Here's how to run the native Apple Music app on a FireStick so you can listen to some sweet tunes.
- Enable Developer Tool on your FireStick
- Install the Downloader app
- Using Downloader, download the Apple Music APK and install it
- Here's where things get tricky. Once you open the Apple Music app, there's no way to accept the EULA using the remote control - so you're stuck on this screen:
- Find your FireStick's IP address (Settings ➡ My FireTV ➡ About ➡ Network):
- Install ADB tools on your laptop / desktop (I use Linux).
- Open a terminal on your laptop and run
adb connect 192.168.1.123:5555(remember to use the correct IP address) - Install scrcpy and run it on the command line
- You can now control your FireStick from your laptop! Use it to type in your Apple Music username and password.
- And now you can listen to your Apple tunes via your FireStick. Sweeeeeeet!
Well, almost...
What Works
- Stereo audio playback
- The ⏯️ button on the remote
- General navigation
What Doesn't Work
- Navigation is a bit hit and miss as not every UI element gets highlighted when selected
- Text entry doesn't work - no virtual keyboard appears
- The ⏪ and ⏩ buttons on the remote don't skip tracks
- Spatial Audio - seems to be restricted to stereo only
All of the navigation can be controlled by scrcpy if you want to. Or you can try the remote.
Is it worth it?
Meh. I got a free trial of Apple Music. It's basically fine. It's not materially different from any of the music streaming apps. If you're super into the Apple Ecosystem, need it on your TV, can put up with the non-optimised interface, and don't want to cast from your phone, then it's just about acceptable.
