Amazon
Amazon doesn’t want you messing with the buttons on your Fire TV remote. After all, these buttons that connect users to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu are Amazon’s source of advertising revenue. The company recently issued an update to its Fire TV Stick 4K Max software that blocks the functionality of Remapper, a free app that allows users to reprogram the remote’s third-party app-launch button.
Buttons dedicated to specific TV streaming services like Disney+ and Peacock have been how streaming services have tried to drive subscriptions and viewership since Netflix launched in 2011. Companies like Amazon and Roku get paid for putting streaming service buttons on remote controls. Amazon hasn’t disclosed how much it’s making from the feature, but in 2019 Bloomberg said Roku would sell the streaming company for each remote control he sold with one of the service’s buttons. I reported that I was being charged $1.
Given that, Amazon’s apparent resistance to Remapper isn’t surprising. However, for example, a user without a Netflix subscription might want to reprogram the dedicated Netflix button on the Fire TV remote to launch a service to which they have a subscription.
Last week, Amazon issued a software update (7.6.2.4) that blocked the functionality of the Remapper app on Fire TV Stick 4K Max. AFTVnews’ Elias Saba, the creator of the app, said the block would only affect his Fire TV Stick 4K Max. They expect Remapper to be blocked from other Fire TVs as well.
“I don’t think we’ll find a new workaround to get the remapper working again,” Saba said.
Saba released Remapper two years ago. You can only reprogram the Fire TV remote button that connects to a streaming service such as Amazon Prime Video. Space is wasted if you don’t subscribe to the services accessible from the button.
Remapper works by mimicking the app that the remote launches. The caveat is that reprogramming will render the app unusable on Fire TV.
A year after its release, a software update temporarily stopped Remapper from working, requiring all apps launched via the apps button to be installed from Amazon’s Appstore. However, Saba was able to get around this by “adding a few steps during the setup process to make the Fire TV think the Remapper app was installed by the Amazon Appstore.”
However, the latest software update feels like we’re nearing the final nail in Remapper’s coffin. It “includes a more sophisticated way to detect if the app launched by the remote app button is the expected app.”
“App [app name] Not trusted. Abort the launch. It shows up in the Fire TV log file,” Saba explains.
Amazon released Alexa Voice Remote Pro in September. It has two programmable buttons with numbers 1 and 2 instead of stamped with the streaming service’s logo.
Remote Pro worked with Fire TV and was priced at $35 and Remapper was a free app. But while Amazon’s remote still has four third-party (non-reprogrammable) app buttons, rivals like Google TV and Android TV still reprogram their remote buttons, as 9to5Google points out. can.
Amazon seems to have gained more control over the Fire TV platform by limiting customization. A Fire OS update earlier this month reportedly disabled the custom launcher by default on Fire TV, which is riddled with ads. A move like this could help Amazon maximize revenue from its Fire TV business at a time when the Alexa hardware division is said to be “in danger.” In January 2022, Amazon announced that it has sold over 150 million Fire TV devices since its launch.
