Amazon Extends Alexa Announcements Feature And YouTube App Support To All Fire TV Devices

Amazon has just announced the release of Alexa Announcements for all Fire TV devices in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, India, Germany and Japan. Additionally, the official YouTube app is also launching today on all the remaining Fire TV devices worldwide. The list of devices to receive the support for YouTube app includes- Fire TV Stick (1st Gen), Fire TV (1st Gen), Fire TV (2rd Gen), Fire TV (3rd Gen).

The YouTube app support on the entire Fire TV lineup is rolled out in phases. The app support will continue to populate on devices over the next several weeks.

On the other hand, Alexa Announcements will automatically be enabled on all Fire TV devices in supported countries. With the feature now being available on the Fire TV enabled devices, customers will start receiving audible and visual notifications of incoming announcements. Upon receiving a notification, the playback will pause, and audio/video will play through any connected external speaker. Once the announcement is finished, media playback will resume automatically.

Here are some steps that you can follow to enable the settings

Open the Alexa App on smartphone
Choose 'Devices,' and select the appropriate Fire TV device
Select Enable/disable to switch on/off the feature

How Amazon Announcements Work On Fire TV Devices

Once you have enabled the Alexa Announcements on your device, press the microphone button on Alexa Voice Remote to give a command. For instance, you can simply say "Alexa, announce that the movie is starting," or "Alexa, Tell everyone to assemble in the lobby. A short chime will play on all other compatible Alexa-enabled devices followed by the message in the announcer's voice. You must note that the TV must be on and turned to the Fire TV input.

Official YouTube App With 4K HDR at 60 fps Support

If you have a Fire TV at your home, you can simply look for YouTube in 'Your Apps and Channels' row. Amazon claims that the official YouTube app on Fire TV will offer a better experience than the native YouTube app on Android TVs.

The Alexa voice controls will allow viewers to find, launch, and control content (pause, play, rewind, fast-forward) via voice commands. You can simply say, "Alexa, open YouTube" or click into the app to sign in to their existing YouTube account and access the full library of content including subscriptions, playlists, and recommendations.

Most importantly, the YouTube official app on Fire TV devices can stream videos in 4K HDR at 60 fps on supported TVs and streaming media players. If you have a 4K TV at your place with Amazon Fire TV installed, you would be able to stream high-resolution videos natively on YouTube via voice commands.