Youtube app on Amazon Fire TV redirects to the browser

Google has said that removal of youtube from Fire TV will not take place until Jan 1st, 2018. However, many users reported that launching Youtube app from Fire TV gives message that you can choose to watch “YouTube and millions of other websites” by using a web browser. You can choose between Amazon’s silk or FireFox browser to launch the application.

The Tech website Techcrunch reported that — Google was not happy with Amazon about its anti-competitive nature when it comes to allowing rivals to sell their own hardware items – like smart speakers and media players – on Amazon.com. The retailer has long refused to stock devices that competed with its own, including Apple TV, Chromecast, Google Home, and others in an effort to promote its products like the Echo and Fire TV.

It was the October 2017 when Google pulled youtube from Amazon Echo show. Then, users commented that, without youtube Echo show is just a “Speakers with words”. But, later in November 2017 it returned back to Echo show.

Techcrunch also said that — The other issue at hand was that Amazon had launched its own version of Google’s YouTube player for its Echo Show device, without working with Google to ensure core features were accessible. There’s been quite a bit of back and forth on this matter, with Google pulling that player, only to have Amazon surreptitiously work around the block by implementing a web version of YouTube instead.

It is unclear that Google pulled youtube before its deadline or amazon itself redirecting to the browser just before the service stops but many users worldwide reported that.

However, it seems that some of the issues between the two giants are being resolved as Chromecasts are back on Amazon.com. So, we are hopeful that it will get resolved as soon as possible.