How to Install the Google Play Store on an Amazon Fire Tablet

Once you’ve installed all four apps, it’s time to restart your Fire tablet. Press down on the power button until the Power menu comes up, then tap Restart.

4. Log In to Your Google Account

Once your Fire tablet has restarted, you should be able to open the Google Play Store, sign in to your Google Account, and start downloading apps. Again, not everything works, but there’s certainly a larger selection than what you get in Amazon’s Appstore.

Tips and Troubleshooting

If you want a more stock Android experience, you can install a custom launcher, which will let you hide all the Amazon apps you don’t need. I like Nova Launcher, but there are many others available.

Assuming you are done installing the APKs from unknown sources, it’s a good idea to go back and turn that option off. It’s in Settings > Security & Privacy. Toggle off the Apps From Unknown Sources option. It’ll prevent you from accidentally downloading malicious software.

If you run into problems installing apps from the Play Store, try clearing the app data. Head to Settings > Apps & Notifications > Manage All Applications. Look through that list and find the Play Store. Tap to edit the settings. The first step is to tap Force Stop to shut down the Play Store. Next, tap Storage, then Clear Data (or Clear Storage, depending on which version of Fire OS you’re running). Once that’s done, restart your device and try logging in to the Play Store again.

If that doesn’t work, you may want to punt: factory-reset and start over. However, be aware that a factory reset will erase all your data and files, not just the Google Play store, so make sure you have a good backup before you try that.

Advanced Options

Photograph: Amazon

If you’re comfortable using the command line you can go a step further and remove the Amazon software you don’t want. To do that you need to install a piece of software called the Android Debug Bridge. This is Google’s developer tool for interacting with an Android tablet from your PC, hence the name “Bridge.” You can grab the latest version of the Debug Bridge from Google. Once it’s installed you can run Android commands on your Fire tablet, from your PC’s terminal.