How To Use a VPN with an Amazon Fire Tablet

Lee Stanton April 1, 2023

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Do you want to know how to use a VPN with an Amazon Fire tablet? Before you start browsing various VPN providers to find your answer, it’s important to understand how the Fire OS works. The Amazon Fire tablet uses an OS derived from Android. Therefore it shares many of the limitations that Android devices have in regard to VPN apps.

The Amazon Fire tablet supports PPTP, L2TP, and IPSec protocols but not something like OpenVPN. There’s also a very small collection of valid third-party VPN apps listed on the Amazon Appstore.

VPNs

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is the leader in the industry, and for good reason. It will allow you to watch Netflix from anywhere, change your location to one of over 130 VPN locations worldwide, and also runs very smoothly due to a limited resource draw from your device.

ExpressVPN is very fast so you’ll appreciate it if you want to download movies while traveling or when you simply want to keep your taste in movies and music private.

This service comes with two subscription plans, a monthly plan, and a 12-month plan.

NordVPN

NordVPN is a solid choice if you’re looking for something a bit cheaper that still offers Netflix compatibility and a zero-log policy. The app is user-friendly and also uses Socks5 proxy locations if you’re in need of extra privacy when using apps like Flud or Skype.

It’s not as fast as IPVanish but it gets the job done nonetheless. The one true drawback is in terms of planning. If you want to get it for cheap you have to get on board for two years. That membership plan has the best discount.

Setting up a Third-party VPN on an Amazon Fire Tablet

Now, installing a non-Amazon VPN is a bit tricky but it can be done without a college degree in computer science.

You’ll need the following:

An active VPN subscription from the a provider like ExpressVPN
A download link or the APK file

Here’s how you sideload a non-Amazon VPN app.

Go to Settings > Security > Apps from unknown sources and toggle it to On.
Download the APK file from the VPN provider’s webpage.
Install ES File Explorer from the Amazon Appstore.
Locate the VPN’s APK file using ES File Explorer and click Install.

There’s an even quicker method to do this. Instead of installing the VPN directly, you could just install the Google Play Store app and then use that to install any other non-Amazon store-related apps, including VPNs.

To install the Google Play Store app, you have to toggle the Apps from unknown sources option to on. Then you download the four different APK files needed to make the store work.

Google Account Manager
Google Services Framework
Google Play Services
Google Play Store

Always get the latest version and you can easily find each one on the APKMirror website. Use ES File Explorer to install them and make sure you do so in the same order they’re listed above.

Once you’re done with this, all that’s left to do is to power off and restart the tablet. The next time you log in, the Google Play Store app will be good to go. If you don’t mind spending some extra time, this last method is surely the best one to use if you plan on installing more than one non-Amazon Appstore app.

Setting up a VPN on an Amazon Fire Tablet with the Amazon VPN

One way to use a VPN is to use the built-in VPN that comes with your Amazon Fire tablet. To set it up, you have to follow a few simple steps.

Swipe down on the notification bar to reveal the Settings icon in the right corner.
Select Wireless & VPN from the Settings menu.
Now, select VPN.
Locate the + sign in the top right corner and click on it to add a new entry
Name your VPN connection and edit all the fields according to your information
Save and return to step 4 where your new VPN should now be showing
Click on it and enter your credentials. Press connect.
If all the required fields were correctly filled your notification bar should now feature the traditional key symbol which signals that your data is going through the VPN.

To check if it’s actually working, you can type ‘what is my ip’ on Google. If you see an IP address that doesn’t match your real one then everything is in order.

Of course, if you’re looking for something that has a better track record, you should use a third-party VPN app. There are plenty of better choices outside the Amazon Appstore, they just require a little more set-up.

VPNs and Fire Tablets

There are many VPNs available to choose from when using one on your Amazon Fire tablet, we’ve made a few suggestions to get you started. However, keep in mind that you might have to sideload the VPN app, which is a little more involved.

See Also: The Best VPN Service

Were you successful in setting up s VPN on your tablet? Let us know in the comments below.