www.androidpolice.com The ultimate guide for installing the Google Play Store on Amazon Fire tablets

Updated for the 11th Gen Fire HD 10 and HD 10 Plus

It's tough to find a good Android tablet these days, which is what makes Amazon's lineup so appealing. Not only does the company release new models at least once per year, but they're super affordable, priced as low as just $50 for the entry-level Fire 7. Amazon's tablets run Fire OS, a forked version of Android with a custom home screen, and, most notably, scraps the Google Play Store for Amazon's own Appstore. While it does contain some popular apps and games, there's simply no replacement for the Play Store — especially when you're looking for apps like YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, and more.

Here's the good news: getting the Play Store on your Fire Tablet is super easy, and we can walk you right through the process. This guide takes you through every required step for installing Google's own app store on your device, with instructions for models dating back to 2014. And if you're stuck, we also have some troubleshooting steps at the end of this tutorial.

If you'd rather watch a video how-to, check out the guide above to see how it works. Just make sure to grab the download links from the written instructions below.

Enable installation from unknown sources

The first step in this process is to enable apps to be installed from outside the Amazon Appstore. This action allows you to open and install applications from downloaded APK files, which is how we'll get the Play Store running.

First, go to the main 'Home' page on your home screen and open the Settings app. Then tap the 'Security & Privacy category (older models might just say 'Security'), find the switch for 'Apps from Unknown Sources,' and turn it on.

If tapping 'Apps from Unknown Sources' brings up a list of apps, you don't need to do anything. You may receive a popup when installing APKs, but you'll just have to tap the 'Allow' button when prompted. If you want to skip a popup, make sure this option is enabled for the Silk browser.

Now you're ready to download and install the APKs needed to get the Google Play Store running.

Install the Play Store

The next step is to download the proper APK files for the Play Store. You technically have to install four different applications — Google Account Manager, Google Services Framework, Google Play Services, and finally, the Google Play Store. The first three apps handle basic account services and add APIs, while the last app is the store itself.

Because different Fire tablets run different versions of Android with varying hardware, the exact APKs you have to install depends on what Fire tablet you have. If you're unsure which model you have, open the Settings app again, tap on 'Device Options & System' (it might also just be called 'Device Options'), and look at what is listed under 'Device Model. You also need to find out your Fire OS version — this is listed in the 'System Updates' menu of 'Device Options & System' (or just 'Device Options').

If you're not already reading this on your Fire tablet, open the Silk web browser and type https://bit.ly/apfiretablet into the address bar to jump straight to this post.

For the Google Account Manager and Google Services Framework applications, find the appropriate links for your device from the table below and tap the main 'Download APK' button on the linked page. Don't open the downloaded files yet, as we'll do that later. If you see a message about a newer version being available, ignore it — your tablet will keep the apps updated after the install process is over.

GOOGLE ACCOUNT MANAGER

GOOGLE SERVICES FRAMEWORK

For these last two applications, click the link for your device, then select the version closest to the top of the list which doesn't have "beta" in the name. Again, don't open the files yet, and ignore any messages about newer versions being available.

GOOGLE PLAY SERVICES

GOOGLE PLAY STORE

Now it's time to install the apps. Find the Files app on your tablet (it might also be called 'Docs' or 'Documents') and open it. Then, find your device's Downloads folder. On most Fire tablets, this is located in the side menu.

Finding downloaded APKs on a 2021 Fire HD 10

Finding downloaded APKs on a 2018 Fire HD 8

You should see all four APK files. If not, go back and see which one you missed (or just download all of them for good measure). Also, switch to the file list view if you haven't already, so you can see the full names of each APK.

Open the apps in the below order, and when the installation is complete, press 'Done' and not 'Open.' Installing the apps out of order will cause the Play Store not to work. If you have an SD card, make sure to take it out during these installations.

Once you've installed all four apps, hold down the power button, and tap 'Restart' to restart your tablet. Older tablets might only have the option to power off — if so, let the tablet shut down, then hold down on the power button to turn it back on.

Restart (or power off and back on again) after you finish installing the Play Store.

After your Fire tablet has booted back up, open the new Play Store app from the home screen. From there, the Play Store should ask you to log in with your Google account, after which you can finally download and install apps.

Fixes for common problems

If the Play Store or other Google apps aren't working correctly, here are some fixes for common issues.

If you get the error "This account already exists on your device" when signing into Chrome or another Google app, or if the app doesn't detect your Google account at all, follow these steps:

In Chrome's case, you also have to open the browser, tap on the Settings menu, and tap the 'Continue as...' blue button at the top of the screen.

Troubleshooting

If you're having a different issue than the ones listed above, here are some generic troubleshooting tips.

To get everything settled, you'll want to restart your tablet. Hold down the power button, tap the 'Power Off' option, and turn your tablet back on by holding down the power button again. Once it has booted back up, open the Play Store from the home screen and see if it works.

If you're having trouble signing into the Play Store, try clearing the app's local data. This will essentially reset the Play Store app to its original state, and should fix most problems you might encounter.

Open the Settings app, select the 'Apps & Notifications' section (or whatever else has 'Apps' or 'Applications' in the name), and tap 'Manage All Applications.' Find the Play Store in the list of apps and tap it.

You have to perform two steps on this info screen. First, press the 'Force Stop' button to stop the Play Store from running. Then press the 'Storage' menu option and tap 'Clear Data' (it might also be called 'Clear storage'). Now return to the Play Store app and see if it works.

If that didn't help, follow the above steps again, but restart your tablet before trying to open the Play Store. If that didn't work either, try force-stopping and clearing data for Google Play Services in addition to the Play Store.

If you still can't get the Play Store to work, your best option is probably to factory-reset your tablet and try again. Make sure you don't restore from a backup when you're setting up the tablet again, unless the backup was made before you tried to install the Play Store.

Stuff to do afterwards

With these steps finished, you're ready to start using the Google Play Store to install whatever apps and games your heart desires. If you're looking for some places to start, here are a few things to keep in mind.

With a little bit of extra work, you can make your Fire tablet function much more like a regular Android phone or tablet. Setting Chrome as the default browser, adding Google Assistant, and even changing the home screen launcher is possible. See our guide at the below link to get started.

How to make your Amazon Fire tablet feel more like stock Android

Since the Play Store isn't a system-level application on Fire tablets, the install process only applies to the device profile you've been using. If you want to add the Play Store for other users on the same device, the steps are a bit different, because Amazon's Fire OS won't let you have different versions of Play Services and the Play Store installed on each profile — thanks to Florian Wolters on Stack Overflow for pointing this out.

This process is extremely tedious that will probably take longer than the original guide. Believe it or not, the below steps are still the easiest way to get the Play Store on other device profiles, with the fewest ways of screwing something up.

The easiest way to get the Play Store on another user profile is to extract the APKs already installed on the first profile and install them on the second profile. We only need to grab the files for Play Services and the Play Store.

On the user profile that already has the Play Store:

Now the two APKs have been saved to the 'ML Manager' folder in your tablet's internal storage. Because user profiles can't access the files from other profiles, you have to copy the two APKs somewhere else, log into the second profile, and copy them to the second profile's files. The easiest way to do this is using Swiss Transfer, an online tool for sending files.

Now you have everything you need, so it's time to switch to the other user profile.

On the user profile that doesn't have the Play Store:

Now, go back to the very start of this guide, and follow the instructions just like before. When you get to the steps where you have to download APKs, only download and install the first two items — Google Account Manager and Google Services Framework. Once you install those two apps, you need to install the APKs you just copied from the first profile.

Now reboot your tablet again, log into the second profile, and see if the Play Store works. If you encounter issues, take a look at the Troubleshooting section above.

Fire tablets aren't the fastest devices in the world, but you might be able to make yours marginally faster with a few easy steps. Check out our full Fire tablet performance guide for the instructions.

There you have it — the ultimate guide to installing the Google Play Store on Amazon's Fire tablets. If you run into any troubles, leave a comment, and we'll do our best to help. Your feedback might even help us improve this guide!

Thanks: Zampacto (Fire 10 2019 help), Trevor (Chrome login fix)

Corbin is a tech journalist and developer who worked at Android Police from 2016 until 2021. Check out his other work at corbin.io.