How to Connect a Fire Stick to a Mobile Hotspot

Use your mobile data connection to stream on your Fire Stick

By
Jeremy Laukkonen
Jeremy Laukkonen
Jeremy Laukkonen
Writer
  • Shoreline Community College
Jeremy Laukkonen is automotive and tech writer for numerous major trade publications. When not researching and testing computers, game consoles or smartphones, he stays up-to-date on the myriad complex systems that power battery electric vehicles .
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Updated on April 22, 2022
Reviewed by
Ryan Perian
Ryan Perian headshot
Reviewed by Ryan Perian
  • Western Governors University
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

What to Know

  • First, enable the mobile hotspot on your phone, or turning on your mobile hotspot device. 
  • Next, on your Fire Stick: Gear icon > Network > Your mobile hotspot, then enter the password, select Connect.

This article explains how to connect a Fire Stick to a mobile hotspot device or a phone set up as a Wi-Fi hotspot.

How Do You Connect a Fire Stick to a Mobile Hotspot?

If your phone is capable of creating a mobile hotspot, or you have a dedicated mobile hotspot device, you can connect your Fire Stick to its signal.

While this is a good option if you don’t have any other internet access, or you’re traveling, your mobile hotspot will use a lot of data when connected to a Fire Stick. If you don’t have unlimited data on your phone or dedicated hotspot device, then make sure to monitor your usage closely when you're streaming or you could run out of data while traveling.

Here’s how to connect a Fire Stick to a mobile hotspot:

  1. Enable the hotspot on your phone, or turn on your mobile hotspot device.

    Not sure how to enable your phone's hotspot function? Here's how:

  2. Connect your Fire Stick to a TV, and switch to the appropriate input.

  3. From the Fire Stick home screen, select the gear icon.

    The gear icon highlighted on the Fire Stick home screen.

  4. Select Network.

    Network highlighted on Fire Stick.

  5. Select your mobile hotspot network.

    J's iPhone hotspot Wi-Fi network selected in Fire Stick network settings.

    If you don’t see your mobile hotspot listed, make sure it’s on and then select See All Networks.

  6. Enter the password for your mobile hotspot.

    Entering a password in Fire Stick network settings.

  7. Select Connect.

    CONNECT highlighted in Fire Stick network connection.

  8. Your Fire Stick will connect to your mobile hotspot.

    A Fire Stick connected to an iPhone hotspot.

Will My Fire Stick Work With My Mobile Hotspot?

Your Fire Stick will work with your mobile hotspot the same way it works with your home Wi-Fi network, with one exception. If your mobile hotspot connection isn’t fast enough, you won’t be able to stream, or you will experience excessive buffering.

If your mobile connection doesn’t provide consistent download speeds of at least 3 Mbps, it won’t work very well with your Fire Stick. If you want to stream in high definition, then your mobile connection needs to provide download speeds of at least 5Mbps. If your connection is faster than that, then your Fire Stick will work with your mobile hotspot.

Why Doesn’t My iPhone Hotspot Work With My Fire Stick?

Your iPhone hotspot should work with your Fire Stick as long as your connection is fast enough. If it is, but you see a connection error, then you may need to manually configure the Wi-Fi connection on your Fire Stick.

Here’s how to manually set up a Fire Stick connection to an iPhone hotspot:

  1. Enable the hotspot on your iPhone.

  2. On your Fire Stick home screen, select the gear icon.

  3. Select Network.

  4. Highlight the iPhone mobile hotspot connection, and press the menu icon on your remote to forget the connection.

  5. Select Join Other Network.

  6. Enter the SSID of your iPhone hotspot.

    The SSID is the name of the hotspot, i.e. (your name)’s iPhone

  7. Select Advanced.

  8. Enter 172.20.10.4 as the IP address.

  9. Enter 172.20.10.1 as the Gateway.

  10. Set the prefix length to 28.

  11. Enter 8.8.8.8 as the DNS.

  12. Leave the second DNS field blank.

  13. Select Connect.

    If you still see a connection error, you may need to update your Fire Stick.

FAQ
  • How do I connect a Fire Stick remote?

    First, make sure the Fire Stick you're paring the remote to is connected to a TV. Then, press and hold the Home button on the new remote.

  • How do I connect a Fire Stick to Wi-Fi without the remote?

    If you've misplaced your remote, you can still connect your Fire Stick to the internet and do anything else the remote would do. The easiest way is with the Fire TV app, which includes control functions.

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