Do You Need a Fire Stick With a Smart TV?

Smart TVs are becoming increasingly popular nowadays because of their ability to stream music and movies over the internet. They have most of the streaming apps pre-installed in them and so you can stream movies from popular networks such as Netflix and the like. However, many smart TV users, oftentimes, find themselves in a dilemma when the issue of Fire Stick pops up. They wonder whether or not they should get an Amazon Fire Stick for their smart TVs.

So, as a smart TV user, do you really need a Fire Stick with your smart TV? Well, it depends. Fire Stick offers many useful apps that you’ll ordinarily not find on your smart TV. You’ll need the Fire Stick in order for you to access streaming services that you have subscribed to but can’t find their apps on your ordinary smart TV. If you prefer to watch cable tv on your smart TV or do not have an Amazon Prime subscription, then you do not really need a Fire Stick for your Smart TV.

The use of a Fire Stick with smart TVs is a matter of viewing preference except that the Fire Stick has a little edge over the ordinary smart TV in terms of the streaming services you can have access to. There are quite a few other advantages though like the friendly user interface. I’ll be discussing the details on this subject below, so read for more information.

What is The Purpose of Fire Stick?

First of all, the Fire Stick is an Amazon device that allows you to stream music and movies from streaming services like Netflix and Hulu on your TV. You’ll need to plug the device into your TV before you can access all the streaming apps.

Think of it as a flash drive that has all the streaming apps installed on it.

Before smart TVs came on the scene, there were ordinary TVs or “non-smart TVs”. These “non-smart TVs” did not and do not have apps installed in them. You’d typically use them for cable tv viewing and that’s the best they could offer.

The introduction of streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, etc, and smart TVs was a huge disadvantage to these non-smart TVs because they really do not have any app on them to access these streaming services.

Fortunately, devices like the Amazon Fire Stick bridged the gap between the non-smart TVs and the app of streaming services.

With a Fire Stick, you can access Netflix, Hulu, etc on your traditional TV by simply inserting the Fire Stick into the TV and connecting the device to the internet. This simply turns the traditional TV into a smart TV.

Do I Need a Fire Stick If I Have a Smart TV?

This may seem like a rhetorical question since the purpose of the Fire Stick is to turn your traditional TV into a smart TV so that you can use streaming apps on your TV.

If you already have a smart TV that has streaming apps pre-installed in it, why then would you need a Fire Stick?

Well, considering the fact your smart TV comes with the most popular streaming apps pre-installed, there will be no need to use a Fire Stick with it. So if you are satisfied with the TV shows and movies that you get from the pre-installed apps, then there is no cause for alarm.

However, using the Fire Stick with your smart TV can also come with great benefits.

Some of these benefits include:

More apps or content
User-friendly interface
Easy remote control

Faster processing speed
Faster app updates

User-friendly Interface

Besides offering you tons of content, Fire Stick also provides you with a user-friendly interface where navigation becomes seamlessly easy.

This is one important aspect that makes Fire Stick very useful in your TV-watching experience.

The goal of Fires Stick is to basically make app navigation easier for the end-user. With the Fire Stick, you can arrange your favorite TVs and service on a single platform and easily have access to them.

The smart TV on the other hand does not prioritize app navigation and the interface can be a little difficult to use.

Easy Remote Access to Apps

Talking about easy navigation, Fire Stick goes the extra mile to provide you with customized remote controls so that you can easily access your favorite streaming service.

If you consider a typical remote for a smart TV, you’ll realize that it has several buttons, some of which you may never even use. These buttons can be confusing sometimes and can take you a long time to navigate to your streaming service.

For a Fire Stick remote, you’ll have just about a few buttons on your remote that is uniquely dedicated to specific purposes.

For example, the Fire Stick remote has a button for Netflix, which when you press it, will take you straight up to Netflix without going through any hassle.

Similarly, other buttons for the other services will also take you straight to those apps without going through any lengthy navigation.

Faster Processing Speed

The truth is when it comes to streaming movies and music, the smart TV will usually have slower processing speeds than the Fire Stick.

If you stream movies and music on your traditional smart TV, you’ll encounter lagging situations most of the time. Meanwhile, if you stream the same content on a smart TV with Fire Stick, you’ll find out the streaming process is seamlessly smooth.

For a well-known streaming device like Fire Stick or Roku, developers actually put in a lot of work to streamline the streaming process, thus giving you an optimal streaming experience.

With the smart TV, the primary focus of the manufacturers is not really on the streaming apps but on the hardware.

Faster App Updates

When it comes to software development, there is always room for development. So, the apps on your smart TV or Fire Stick need to be constantly updated to counter bugs and minor glitches.

Streaming devices like the Fire Stick have a good reputation for providing updates of the apps on time when you compare them to the ordinary smart TV.

Since the primary focus on Amazon Fire Stick is to optimize streaming apps, you can be sure that much attention is given to the app development and the latest updates so that consumers enjoy nothing but the best from their services.

Do All Smart TVs Work With Fire Stick?

If you have a smart TV and you want to couple it with a Fire Stick, you should have reason to worry because all smart TVs work with Fire Stick.

Usually, for a TV to work with Fire Stick, the TV must have an HDMI port and must be HD or UHD. Since almost every smart TV nowadays has these two features, you can be sure that all smart TVs are compatible with Fire Stick.

If you are looking for an app on your smart TV but you are unable to find it, just get yourself a Firestick and it’s almost certain that you’ll find it on the Fire Stick.

Certain brands of smart TVs like Insignia have even gone the extra mile to install the Fire Stick software in their smart TVs, so you only have to buy a single TV and you’ll have both the smart TV and Fire Stick features all-in-one single unit.

Final Thoughts

The smart TV experience is undoubtedly an improvement on traditional cable TV viewing. Smart TVs allow users to stream entertaining content on their TVs via apps.

However, in terms of apps and content optimization, the smart TV is a bit limited. With streaming devices like the Amazon Fire Stick booming on the market, you can get a whole lot of apps and shows on the Fire Stick that you would have otherwise missed out on your smart TV.

This makes it reasonable for you to use a Fire Stick on a smart TV. However, if you are satisfied with the apps or content on your smart TV, then you can leave out the Fire Stick.

For Amazon Prime subscribers, the Fire Stick will offer you the benefit of getting more channels and content that non-Amazon Prime subscribers can’t get on their smart TVs.

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Josephine

Josephine is a home theater and tech enthusiast who is curious about electronics and how they are interconnected to produce beautiful sound and images. Beside coding, I also write about technology.