Beginning today, August 12, Alexa Announcements are available on all Fire TV devices in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, India, and Japan. In addition, the official YouTube app is launching today on all remaining Fire TV devices worldwide—Fire TV Stick (1st Gen), Fire TV (1st Gen), Fire TV (2rd Gen), Fire TV (3rd Gen).
Alexa Announcements are automatically enabled on all Fire TV devices in supported countries—to manage this setting, customers can open the Alexa App on their smartphone, choose ‘Devices,’ select the appropriate Fire TV device, and they will have the option to enable/disable the feature. When enabled, simply press the microphone button on your Alexa Voice Remote and say “Alexa, announce that the movie is starting,” or “Alexa, announce dinner is ready,” and a short chime will play on all other compatible Alexa-enabled devices followed by the message in the announcer’s voice.
To receive an Alexa Announcement, the TV must be on and turned to the Fire TV input. Customers will receive audible and visual notifications to inform them of incoming announcements, playback will pause, and the audio will play through any connected external speaker. Once the announcement is finished, media playback will resume automatically.
Official YouTube app on all Fire TV Devices:
With today’s news, the Official YouTube app is now available on all Fire TV devices worldwide. Customers can find the new YouTube app tile in their ‘Your Apps and Channels’ row. The official YouTube app on Fire TV is better than ever with expanded Alexa voice controls that help customers find, launch, and control content (pause, play, rewind, fast-forward) using their voice.
When they open the app for the first time they’ll be automatically prompted to download the app—once installed, they can simply say “Alexa, open YouTube” or click into the app to sign in to their existing YouTube account and access their full library of content including subscriptions, playlists, and recommendations. Plus, they can play compatible videos in 4K HDR at 60 fps on supported TVs and streaming media players. The new YouTube app will be the default YouTube experience for customers using a compatible Fire TV device, effective immediately.