How to watch Google Play movies and TV shows on the Amazon Fire TV

Google Play sells movies and TV shows on your Android phone or tablet. The Amazon Fire TV runs a version of Android. So surely you can watch your Google-bought content on it, right? Slow down a little. The answer is yes, you can, but not without a little workaround.

Google isn’t completely against putting its app on non-Android or Google TV platforms, or rather, it wasn’t. For many years there was a Google Play Movies and TV app on the likes of LG’s webOS TVs and Samsung’s Tizen-based platform, as well as streaming devices like Roku. But they have since been pulled and Amazon has never had Google’s apps and services officially on its own Android-based devices.

So what can you do? And can you buy content from Google through your Amazon Fire TV?

How to watch Google Play movies and TV shows on Amazon Fire TV

For better or worse, Google has decided to consolidate its video content on platforms it doesn’t control into the YouTube app. YouTube is so ubiquitous that it’s the one app that seems impervious to Google’s penchant for canceling things.

YouTube is also the only hint of Google content you will find available to officially install on the Amazon Fire TV. But only the TV, you can’t install it through Amazon on a Fire tablet, even.

The process then first involves downloading the YouTube app onto your Fire TV. You will then need to log in with the same Google Account you have purchased all your content with. Then, you can find your content by navigating to the Library section in the sidebar.

Here you can now stream any of your purchased Google Play movies and TV content on your Fire TV.

Can you buy Google Play movies and TV shows on Amazon Fire TV?

The short answer is no, you can’t buy anything from Google on the Fire TV. The reason? Likely the same reason recent battles and lawsuits have been fought. Google doesn’t want Amazon to get a cut of content sales on its platform, just the same as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon don’t want to hand over a cut to competing platforms.

The result is a poorer user experience for us. What you can do on YouTube is browse the content that is for sale. But if you try to buy anything, you’ll be prompted to go to a browser. So you’re better off just using your Android phone, honestly.

The overall experience isn’t as slick as having a dedicated app like the old days, but it does at least mean you’re not locked away from the content you paid for just because you bought an Amazon streamer vs a Google one. Apple doesn’t allow you to buy content on Fire TV, either, but there’s no denying the Apple TV application is a better way to consume than Google’s solution.