In order to provide you with the “Amazon experience” Fire Tablets (previously known as Kindle Fire Tablets) come with “Amazon App Store” as the preferred and only source for downloading Apps. This means, you won’t be able to download Gmail, Google Maps and other apps, unless Google Play Store is installed on your Amazon Fire device.
Once Google Play Store is installed and made available on your Fire tablet, you will be able to download popular Android Apps like YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail and others on your Kindle Fire Tablet.
Install Google Play Store on Amazon Fire Tablet
Starting with a good news! – It is possible to Install Google Play Store on Fire Tablet, without jailbreaking your device. This can be done by downloading and installing four specific Google System Files (APKs) that are required to make Google Play Store effectively work on your Fire device.
The four Google System Files (APKs) that are required to install Google Play Store on Amazon Fire Tablet can be downloaded from any trusted APK (Android Package Kit) download site (like APKMirror).
With this understanding, let us go ahead and take a look at the following steps that are required to install Google Play Store on your Fire Tablet or Kindle Fire Tablet.
- Enable installation of Apps from Unknown Sources.
- Download and Install APK Files.
- Use Google Play Store on Kindle Fire Tablet.
Step 1 – Allow Installation of Apps from Unknown Sources
Fire Tablet does not permit installation of apps from sources other than Amazon, unless the option to allow installation of Apps from unknown sources is enabled by the user. Hence, the first step is to enable this option.
1. Go to Settings > Security & Privacy > enable Apps from Unknown Sources option by moving the slider to ON position.
2. You will see a pop-up, warning about the possible risk of using Apps from unknown sources, tap on OK.
3. After this Restart your device to implemented this change.
Step 2. Download and Install APK Files
The next step is to download & install the following four Google System Files (APKs) that are required to make Google Play Store available and working on your Amazon Fire device.
- Google Account Manager
- Google Services Framework
- Google Play Services
- Google Play Store
Important: For successful installation of Google Play Store, it is really important that you download and install the APK files one-by-one and in the same order.
1. Open the Silk browser on your Fire tablet and go to APKMirror website.
2. On APKMirror website, type Google Account Manager in the search box press the enter key.
3. On the download page, locate the APK File that matches the version of operating system (say OS 7, 8) and the processor (say arm64-v8a) on your Fire Tablet.
4. When you try to download the right APK file by tapping on the Download option, you may see “This Type of File can Harm your device” > Tap on OK to download the required APK file.
5. After the File is downloaded, tap on open to open the downloaded APK File.
6. Scroll down to bottom of the screen and tap on Install.
7. After the APK File is installed, tap on Done.
This completes the download & installation of the first required APK File on your Amazon or Kindle Fire device and there are 3 more APKs that are required to Install Google Play Store on your Fire Tablet.
8. Repeat the above steps to download & install the required versions of Google Services Framework, Google Play Services and Google Play Store APK files on your Fire Tablet.
Step 3 – Use Google Play Store on Kindle Fire Tablet
Once you have downloaded and installed all the required APK files, you should see Google Play Store App icon on the Home Screen of your Fire Tablet.
1. Tap on the Google Play Store App Icon.
2. When prompted, Sign-in to Google Play Store using you Gmail Address and Password.
Initially, you may experience problems and find Google Play Store being buggy and not working properly. However, it will eventually update itself (in background) and you should find it working properly.
You can speed up the update process by searching for Gmail, Google Maps or other Android Apps on Google Play Store and trying to download any Android App on your Fire Device. This should make the App that you are trying to download to direct you to Google Play Service page for an update.
Once Google Play Store is updated, you can expect it to work properly on your Fire device.
Install Button Greyed Out or Disabled on Amazon Fire Tablet
You may find the Install button greyed out or disabled just when you are trying to install the APK files, forcing you to cancel the installation.
If that happens, you can make use of the following workaround to get around this issue and install the APK files on your device.
1. When you find the Install button not working or greyed, simply Turn OFF your device.
2. Turn ON the device again
3. Next, scroll down to the bottom of the Installation screen and tap on the Install button.
This time you should see the Install button working properly.
Another workaround is to tap on the Recent Apps Icon and then select the App Installation page from the recent Apps list. This time, you should see the Install button working.