How to Connect an Amazon Fire Stick to Xbox 360

You may have a dedicated gaming TV for your Xbox 360, but you also want to use it to watch some TV shows with your Fire Stick. Fortunately, there is a way to combine these two great devices. Here is how to do just that, and how to optimize your setup with some very useful apps:

Why Connect the Devices?

It’s very convenient to do so if you have a dedicated TV for gaming because you can game and stream on the same TV. You can switch between them with a press of a button.

Since Fire Stick has Alexa as the voice-operated assistant, you can use it for your Xbox 360 as well. There are also plenty of apps that you can download on your Fire Stick that just aren’t available for the Xbox.

Your TV experience will become so smooth you will never want to disconnect the devices again.

How to Connect Them

You can connect the Fire Stick to your TV via an HDMI cable. Your Xbox 360 also has an HDMI slot, so connecting the two is pretty simple:

1. Access the back of your Xbox 360 and find the HDMI slot. There is a label above or below the slot, so it should be simple to find.
2. Plug the HDMI cable into the slot. It’s good to remember the slot you plugged it in, as you can find the input channel a lot easier.
3. Open OneGuide. Go to the bottom of the list of HDMI channels where you will find the Fire Stick app.
4. Press any button on your remote. This will activate your Fire Stick device. If you don’t do this you will not be able to continue the setup process.
   Note: You can use your Xbox 360 controller to adjust your TV’s volume setting.
5. Plug out any other device that may be connected to your Xbox 360. This will prevent the connection from malfunctioning.

Optimizing Your Experience

There are many apps out there for your Fire Stick device. Some of these will make your experience with Fire Stick and Xbox 360 combo a lot smoother. Some will give you amazing capabilities, like split-screening, so you can game and watch TV at the same time.

Laying the Groundwork

Since many of these apps aren’t available from the Amazon Appstore, you have to download them from their official websites. Before you can do that you will have to allow your Fire Stick to download apps from third-party websites. Here is how it’s done:

1. Access Settings from your Fire Stick device.
2. Click Device. A new menu will appear.
3. Click Developer options.
4. Enable Apps from Unknown Sources if disabled.

Note: Apps from this list are considered safe to download. You should be careful when downloading apps on your own, as they may pose a security risk. This means that you may contract some malware that could cause your device to malfunction. If this happens, perform a factory reset. Now, let’s move on to the apps.

ExpressVPN

No matter if it’s for your Fire Stick or your phone, you need a VPN (Virtual Private Network). With it, you can change your server location to any country and play restricted content without limits.

Many organizations will monitor your activity and that’s especially true for people who stream content.

If you want to avoid any legal issues or just enjoy some online privacy, a quality VPN is the way to go.

ExpressVPN is probably the best fit for Fire Stick devices, but there are many good ones out there if you want to experiment. It’s also very user-friendly and won’t affect your internet speed much.

Downloader

Downloader is one of the most useful tools you can get on your Fire Stick device. With it, you can download an app or a video from a 3^rd-party site, and it will be faster and more convenient than downloading via a browser.

When you download via browser, the download could get interrupted which can cause the file to get corrupted. With Downloader, you will completely avoid this problem, as you can stop and resume downloads at will.

Mouse Toggle

Since Fire Stick uses a modified Android OS, some apps that work just fine for Android simply can’t be accessed with your Fire Stick remote. This is because you are meant to control the apps with a touchpad, not a remote control.

With Mouse Toggle, you navigate any app for Android with a remote-controlled cursor. You will be able to use the navigation buttons on the remote to access any part of the app.

Mouse Toggle is a definite must-have for your Fire Stick device.

Browser

To access the internet the right way, you will need some kind of a browser. A browser is not just useful, it’s pretty much essential for your Fire Stick.

Whether you need to search some important info, download apps or visit your favorite sites, you will definitely need a browser to do it.

Using a browser can also reduce the clutter on your device, and give you more free space. This is because you won’t have to install apps for the services that you can access through your browser.

With a browser on your TV, you will be able to watch content from YouTube in all its glory, on the big screen.

Spotify

With Spotify on your device, you can access a ridiculous amount of song, and never listen to the same one twice. Just create an account and start listening.

There is also the option of using your phone as a remote for your Spotify App. Just pair it up with your Fire Stick and get grooving.

And if that wasn’t enough, you can download songs and listen to them offline.

So Good It Should Be by Default

The Xbox 360 and Fire Stick combo is extremely useful, especially with all the apps you can get. It’s so good that makes one wonder why don’t they come in one package.

Have you paired your Xbox 360 and Fire Stick? How did the setup go, did you have any hiccups? Do you like these apps? Tell us in the comments below.