Use Bluetooth headphones with your Amazon Fire TV box

Last week, Amazon announced some updates for its Fire TV and Fire TV Stick streaming devices, including hotel-friendly sign-in for the latter and support for Bluetooth devices for the former.

Let’s talk Bluetooth. That update means you can now enjoy private listening with your favorite pair of Bluetooth headphones, a feature that was previously limited to the Roku 3 (which relies on wired headphones plugged in to the remote).

You can also pair a Bluetooth speaker, which could come in handy if you’re using your Fire TV box with, say, a projector that lacks speakers of its own. Or if you just want better or closer sound than what your TV speakers can deliver.

If you’ve ever paired a pair of headphones or a speaker to your smartphone or tablet, the process is fairly similar. Even so, here’s how to make it happen with your Fire TV:

Step 1: Power up your Bluetooth device and put it in pairing mode.

Step 2: Turn on your TV or projector and switch to the input that accommodates your Fire TV box.

Step 3: In the Fire TV’s main menu, scroll down to and select Settings > Controllers and Bluetooth Devices.

Step 4: Select Other Bluetooth Devices.

Step 5: Wait for your headphones or speaker to appear in the Discovered Devices list. Once it does, select it and wait for pairing to complete.

And that’s it! Now your Fire TV box’s audio will get routed to the paired device. If you want to disable the connection, just turn the device off.