TikTok Arrives On Amazon Fire TV Devices In US And Canada

TikTok, a video app made for mobile devices, has added support for an unlikely platform: Amazon Fire TV. The new support, Amazon says, will allow "the whole family" to gather in front of the television to watch TikTok videos together, assuming that's something families are actually interested in doing.

Amazon announced the new support on its Amazon Fire TV blog, revealing that TikTok is available on all of its Fire TV devices in the US and Canada. TikTok is a vertical video platform, which would ordinarily result in large black bars on both sides of the video (when watched on a television).

This issue appears to have been addressed by showing an enlarged, blurry version of the video on either side of the content, filling in the otherwise black bars. That, at least, is what the two companies have demonstrated in their teaser video (above) for the new support.

Users in the US or Canada can add TikTok to their Fire TV stick, box, or smart TV by opening the Amazon Appstore through the device and downloading the TikTok app. From there, the user can either create a TikTok account or sign in to their existing account to watch videos, which are set to autoplay by default.

The TikTok app on Fire TV supports the platform's Alexa Voice Remote for controlling the content with commands like "pause." According to Amazon, TikTok will also be available "soon" on its Echo Show smart screen devices, though the company didn't provide a firm release date for that support.