Interested in watching American Netflix on your Amazon Fire TV? You’re going to need a VPN. A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is the best way to make it appear as if you’re connecting from an American server, allowing you to access all of the content that American Netflix has to offer.
Unfortunately, Netflix has caught onto users using VPNs to access their content while they’re traveling abroad. Because of this, not all VPNs work with Netflix in 2018.
In this article, we’ll discuss your best options for watching American Netflix on Amazon Fire TV. We’ll go over how to set up ExpressVPN, our top VPN choice based on testing, and we’ll also discuss a few other alternative VPN services you can use to watch American Netflix on Amazon Fire TV. Let’s get started.
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ExpressVPN – The Best Option for Watching American Netflix on Amazon Fire TV
At Flixed, we’re big fans of ExpressVPN. This VPN service has some of the most advanced features on the market and is dedicated to unblocking American streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.
The biggest reason you should use ExpressVPN is that they will always have a server available which unblocks Netflix. As we mentioned in our intro, Netflix can detect when too many people are connecting from the same IP address.
When they detect this, they assume it’s a VPN and they add it to their “blacklist”, preventing you from accessing the site.
ExpressVPN has a number of servers dedicated to unblocking Netflix. Not only that, they have great customer support. If the server you’re using stops working, simply message them on their website to find out which server is the best for watching American Netflix on Amazon Fire TV.
Their service is also very easy to set up and install, even on the Amazon Fire TV. Unlike some other VPNs, it has a dedicated app for Fire TV, so you can use it without doing any complicated workarounds (like setting up a virtual router).
If you’re interested in ExpressVPN, you can get started today with the link below!
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Setting Up ExpressVPN on Amazon Fire TV – Your Step By Step Guide
Not sure how to install a VPN on your Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick? You’re in the right place. We’ll go over each step that you need to know. Even if you are not very tech savvy, you should be able to easily install and setup ExpressVPN on your Amazon Fire TV!
Step 1: Download ExpressVPN from the Amazon App Store
One of the reasons that ExpressVPN is an ideal choice for Amazon Fire TV is that the app natively supports the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. Unlike some other competing VPN services, you don’t have to download any third-party APKs, which makes installation safe, secure, and easy.
Your first step will to be to download the ExpressVPN app from the Amazon App Store. Scroll all the way up on your FireTV menu and enter “ExpressVPN” using the Search function. You can also use a voice search with Alexa if your Fire TV supports Alexa functionality.
Select ExpressVPN from this dropdown menu to go to the ExpressVPN download page. Next, press “Download”, and wait while the app downloads to your Amazon Fire TV. This could take a few moments, depending on the speed and quality of your WiFi connection.
Step 2: Sign in and activate ExpressVPN
Once you’ve downloaded the app, select it from the main Amazon Fire TV menu, and open it up. You’ll have to sign in and activate the ExpressVPN service.
Press the red “Sign in” button to get started. If you haven’t already gotten started with ExpressVPN, you also have the option to begin a free trial by clicking the “Start free trial” option.
You’ll see this screen. Simply enter the email address with which you signed up for ExpressVPN, and then enter your password. If you’re a new user, you can click the “New user?” button to create your login information.
If you forgot your email or password, just head over to ExpressVPN.com and reset it. The process is quick and easy. And don’t worry, you only need to sign into the ExpressVPN Amazon Fire TV app once. After you’ve signed in, the app will activate and you won’t have to sign in again.
Step 3: Configure the ExpressVPN App
You will have to complete some basic configuration steps before you can start using the ExpressVPN app. After signing in, you’ll see the following screen.
Simply press “OK” to begin configuration. Next, you’ll see the following screen.
In order to set up a VPN connection, ExpressVPN needs you to agree to monitor some network traffic. Don’t worry; your browsing traffic is protected by the ExpressVPN no-logs policy.
Press “OK” to continue to the next step.
Next, you’ll be asked if you want to share some basic, non-identifiable information about your connection in order to help ExpressVPN detect bugs and crashes. If you’re okay with that, hit “Allow”. If not, press “Don’t allow”. It’s your call.
After this, you’re done configuring ExpressVPN. It’s time to move on and establish a VPN connection.
Step 4: Connect to an American server
After you’ve successfully set up ExpressVPN, it’s time to connect to an American server so that you can watch American Netflix on Amazon Fire TV.
As you can see from the below screenshot, the interface for the Amazon Fire TV app is quite simple. You have three options — the “power” button, which turns on your VPN, “Smart Location”, which automatically chooses the best VPN server near you, and “Choose Location”, which allows you to pick a VPN server to which you’ll connect.
You’ll need to press “Choose Location” to choose a VPN location from the list.
ExpressVPN offers 8 American locations that you can choose from:
- New York
- San Francisco
- Chicago
- Washington DC
- Dallas
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- Seattle
Pick the server location to which you would like to connect. Then, close the list of available servers, and press the large “On” button in the center of the app.
After you press this button, you’ll be connected to the server you selected, and the center of the app will turn green, indicating that a connection has been established.
Once a secure connection has been established, you’ll be able browse other apps while your connection remains secure. You can safely exit the ExpressVPN app using the “Home” button on your Fire TV remote.
Step 5: Open Netflix, and start browsing
Now that you’re all set up with your ExpressVPN app, you can simply start browsing Netflix and watch all of the American content that you want. For all intents and purposes, it will appear to Netflix as if you are browsing from an American connection!
Note that you aren’t just limited to using American Netflix. You can change your connection using ExpressVPN and browse British, Canadian, or German Netflix as well, among many others. Due to licensing restrictions, there is some content that is not available on American Netflix but is available in other countries. Play around with ExpressVPN and you’ll be able to take full advantage of everything Netflix has to offer!
Are There any Alternatives to ExpressVPN?
Yes, there are! In fact, there are quite a few VPNs that we could recommend instead of ExpressVPN.
However, the reason we recommend ExpressVPN for Amazon Fire TV is that it has native app compatibility. Most other VPN services will require you to “sideload” the app onto your Amazon Fire TV, which may be tough if you are not technically-savvy.
VyprVPN
VyprVPN is a good choice for an alternative to ExpressVPN for Amazon Fire TV, as it’s the only other VPN service with native Fire TV compatibility which unblocks Netflix. While IPVanish does have an Amazon Fire TV app, it doesn’t currently work to unblock Netflix.
VyprVPN is a great choice for watching American Netflix because of the proprietary “Chameleon” protocol that the service offers. Chameleon obscures your browsing data, and blocks metadata from inspection by DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) services used by Netflix.
What does that mean for you? It means that VyprVPN always works with Netflix. It also has more than 700 servers with thousands of IP addresses, with plenty of them located in the United States.
It costs about the same amount as ExpressVPN, as well, though you have to pay extra to get Chameleon with the VyprVPN Premium subscription. You’ll pay $5/month for a basic VyprVPN subscription if you purchase annually, or $9.95 monthly. To get Chameleon, you’ll pay $6.67/month annually, or $12.95/monthly.
Overall, VyprVPN is a solid alternative if you are not interested in ExpressVPN, or would just like to try something different.
NordVPN
If you’re on a tight budget but want a VPN, NordVPN is going to be the best choice for you — full stop.
NordVPN has great features, and you can get a subscription for $11.95 per month for a monthly subscription, $5.75 per month for a year-long subscription, or a ridiculous $3.29 per month for a 2-year contract. With a 30-day money back guarantee, you can always cancel if you don’t like the service.
You can connect up to 6 devices at once using NordVPN, which is more than 3 connections allowed by ExpressVPN. You get a total of 4,400 servers worldwide, with more than 1,700 of these servers located in the United States.
The only real drawback of NordVPN is that there is no way to download the app directly on your Amazon Fire TV. You will have to “sideload” the app, which is a bit difficult and requires you to download the application using a third-party browser on your Amazon Fire TV.
However, if you’re willing to spend a little bit of extra time setting up your VPN, you can save quite a bit of money with NordVPN compared to IPVanish and ExpressVPN.
What’s the Difference Between American Netflix and Other Regions?
Simply put, American Netflix tends to have more content than any other region, because America is the biggest market for Netflix. As recently as 2017, American Netflix had more than 1,000 more titles, compared to UK Netflix.
Essentially, this means that you may be missing out on some great content if you are an American living in a different country, or you’re traveling for an extended period of time.
By using a VPN like ExpressVPN on your Amazon Fire TV to connect to American Netflix, you can get full access to all of the content that you are paying for, without worrying about geo-restrictions and licensing problems.
Why Should I Use a VPN Instead of a SmartDNS?
If you have every switched the IP address of your computer before — for example, to watch the BBC iPlayer, or watch American Netflix while abroad — you may have used what’s called a “SmartDNS”.
SmartDNS services route your traffic through what’s called a “Smart DNS Proxy Server”. This server changes your IP address to make it look like you’re connecting from the proper country.
However, your traffic is not encrypted. This means that it’s trivial for a company like Netflix to look at your original IP address and detect that you are using a Smart DNS service. If this happens, you’ll be blocked from viewing Netflix.
SmartDNS services were popular because many of them were quite inexpensive or even free, and they did not affect video quality or streaming speeds. However, services like Netflix have started blocking most of them.
That’s why a VPN like ExpressVPN is a better idea if you want to get American Netflix on Amazon Fire TV. ExpressVPN encrypts your entire connection. There is no way for Netflix to know where you are connecting from, so you are much less likely to be blocked.
Eric Liston is a content writer based in Columbus, Ohio. Since 2015, he’s been writing about technology, cord-cutting, and helping everyday people save money. He also has expertise writing about medicine, dentistry, insurance, and a variety of other industries. No matter what he’s writing, his focus is always on simplifying complex concepts and making them approachable for everyone. When he’s not slamming away on his keyboard at his home office, you’ll find Eric reading sci-fi novels, improving his disc golf game (he just hit his first 400-foot drive) and playing video games on his gaming PC.
