Firestick – HowTL

The Google Chromecast and the Amazon Firestick are direct competitors with one another, easily two of the most popular media streaming sticks on the planet and hardware that anyone with an HDTV should have plugged into an input for sure. And while both of these pieces of hardware share a lot of similarities there are definitely things that one does better than the other (and vice versa). This has led to plenty of people wanting to run both a Chromecast and a Firestick on their TV – or, at the very least, find a way to share or clone all of the features from one device to the other. Truth be told, though, lots of people are looking to know whether or not it’s even possible to learn how to use Chromecast with Firestick hardware. Can these devices “talk to one another”? Can they work synergistically? Or are you going to be stuck picking one or the other, hopefully finding ways to make them operate as close to a carbon copy as the other as possible without sacrificing their own unique benefits? Let’s dig in and find out right now! Will a Chromecast Work with a Firestick? Right out of the gate we should tell you that you are not going to be able to use a Chromecast and a Firestick at the same time, except in very rare (and unique) circumstances. You see, both of these media streaming solutions are going to take up an entire input slot on your HDTV. If you have your TV tuned to the input that your Chromecast is running that it won’t matter if your Firestick is running in the background. Nothing’s going to show up and you wouldn’t even know that your Firestick was on in the first place. The same is true if you have your Firestick with your Chromecast running in the background. Really, the only way you’re going to be able to have both of these inputs showing at the same time is if your television or monitor supports Picture in Picture screen technology – and it allows PIP to work with two different input sources on your television. Tracking down a TV with this kind of technology isn’t always easy and it’s definitely not universal just yet. Unless your TV has those capabilities you’re better off settling on either the Chromecast or the Firestick. https://youtu.be/9T7snq8q01c How to Turn Your Firestick Into a Faux Chromecast? Of course, the reason that so many people love the Google Chromecast is because of how easy it is to mirror or extend their screen onto a television or monitor just by using the cast or mirror technology. Amazon Fire TVs (the larger precursor to the Firestick) used to have this capability built right in to the main menu, but recent versions of the Firestick haven’t included it there for one reason or another. Luckily, though, casting to your Firestick after downloading a simple application (especially if you are running iOS on an iPhone or an iPad) is pretty straightforward. Grab an app like the free version of Airscreen from the App Store, enable display mirroring on your phone, and connect to the application directly. You’re good to go! Casting from Android devices to your Firestick is even easier. Simply go into the Settings of your Firestick, navigate to the Display ; Sounds section, and then drop down to the Enable Display Mirroring option. Click that and then use your phone to connect to your Firestick, casting and mirroring whatever it is on your Android device. If you want to use your Chromecast with iPhone, you must check our article "How to use Chromecast with iPhone?" Troubleshooting This Connection If the casting connection between your mobile phone or tablet (running iOS or Android) is anything but stable and reliable you may need to fiddle with your phone settings or even power cycle the Firestick itself. First, make sure that Bluetooth is on the device that you are looking to cast from. If that doesn’t fix the problem, consider turning Bluetooth on, then off, then on again. You can also power cycle the Firestick by pressing down on the home button as well as the play button simultaneously for a couple of seconds, waiting until the on-screen prompts lets you know that your Firestick is restarting. That’s usually enough to shake out any of the bugs that may be plaguing the casting connection!