Fire Toolbox is a free utility for Windows computers that makes it relatively easy to hack Amazon Fire tablets by doing things like installing the Google Play Store, removing Amazon apps and services, and other tweaks that make Amazon’s Android-based Fire OS software look a little more like… well, Android.
Version 11 of the Toolbox was released earlier this month and, among other things, it includes bug fixes and new features that should make the tool a little easier to use.
It’s still worth keeping in mind that Fire Toolbox is not officially supported by Amazon and there’s a chance you may break your device by using some of the more advanced functions, so proceed with caution. But if that doesn’t scare you off, you can find a download link for the latest version of Fire Toolbox at the xda-developers forum.
Here are some of the changes in Fire Toolbox 11:
- You can now connect more than one Fire tablet to your PC at the same time while using Fire Toolbox.
- The welcome screen now includes a recommended setup guide that may help you troubleshoot connecting your tablet to your PC the first time you’re running Fire Toolbox.
- There’s also a new Frequently Asked Questions area. You can find it by hitting the ? button.
- You can now use an ADB Input virtual keyboard to send text or button presses to the tablet if the on-screen keyboard and/or power, back, recent, and menu buttons aren’t working.
The latest version of the application also has some bug fixes for folks that want to change the look and feel of the home screen and app launcher by replacing the built-in Fire Launcher with a third-party launcher. There’s now an option to restore the Fire Launcher after it’s been removed in case you want to go back (this was previously available, but missing in the most recent release) and an option to enable support for widgets when using third-party launcher apps.
Another change since the last time I wrote about Fire Toolbox is that the “Manage Everything Amazon” tool has been renamed “Manage Amazon Apps,” which may be a little more clear. The user interface has also been tweaked, giving users a choice between “Standard” and “Complete” Debloat functions that will remove some or all Amazon apps and services in one go.
You can also still choose the “Manually Disable” option and just check the boxes for individual apps you may want to disable, which is what I’d generally recommend doing.
Fire Toolbox is compatible with most Amazon Fire tablets released since 2014, including Amazon’s current-gen Fire 7, Fire HD 8, Fire HD 8 Plus, and Fire HD 10 devices. You can find you can find more details about Fire TV Toolbox at the xda-developers forum.
Has anyone used this to jailbreak a Fire HD 8 Kids Edition tablet?
I love the case that’s included and battery life but FreeTime Kids+ makes this a much harder tablet to jailbreak.
A guide on how to do so would be much appreciated.
I have 0 everything
I inherited a Fire tablet and never used it until I applied the Toolbox. Why anyone would buy a Fire tablet is beyond me. They are cheap generic Android tablets rebranded as Amazon, then crippled with Fire OS which takes away most function and customization and adds, well, ads. Better to buy a cheap generic Android tablet and have all the function and Play Store access.
I generally agree, but Fire tablets have much better battery life.
I love mine with the Fire Toolbox. $68 for the 64 GB model with a trade-in of a 2012 Samsung tablet. I specifically bought it to use with Fire Toolbox. I think most users use it solely for media as general purpose tablets never really found a ton of success in the market.
What’s a good generic 8″ tablet that ships from the US with US warranty service and equivalent specs for that price?
Amazon pushed an update to the “Device Dashboard” app on my Fire 8 tablet that added a rather annoying dedicated Device Dashboard button to the black “task bar” (black bar at the bottom of the screen with Home, Back, and app switcher buttons) for lack of a better name. I did not think too much of it at the time, although I did find it rather annoying and pushy on Amazon’s part. However, I then used the Fire Toolbox to make quite a few changes to my tablet, including disabling the Device Dashboard, hoping that would remove the button. Turns out it did not. I have since read online that if I had uninstalled the update to the Device dashboard app BEFORE I disabled it with the Fire Toolbox, the button should be gone, then I could have disabled the app and never seen the button again. However, since I used Fire Toolbox to disable the app, even if a re-enable it via the Fire Toolbox, the option to remove the update is gone and I cannot roll the Device Dashboard app back to a previous version without the extra button. So, long story short, I now have NO way of removing the Device Dashboard button from the bottom of my tablet screen. I have turned on auto-hiding the task bar so I do not have to see that ugly, useless button all of the time, but every time I have to swipe up to bring up the task bar, I curse Amazon and their constant desire to shove their products down your throats, no matter how unlikely you are to use them or how annoying you find their tactics. I am hoping the Fire Toolbox team will release an update some day with a new option to remove the Device Dashboard button from the task bar because, I for one, find it very annoying! On a related note, constant minor annoyances like this will likely keep me from ever buying another Amazon tablet, I would rather spend twice the money and not have to deal with the constant annoyances!
You could probably do a factory reset and then use Fire Toolbox again… but that would wipe any apps and data currently on your device, so it’d be kind of a hassle to set everything up again.
I hear you on Amazon’s tablets not necessarily being the best choice… but they are often the cheapest choice, which is why they continue to be popular.
I didn’t think about a factory reset, seems like that might work. Not sure it’s worth the hassle to remove one annoying button though. I also thought if I could find the apk for an older version of the Device Dashboard app (might be hard as it’s an Amazon only app), maybe installing that might remove the unwanted button, but again it’s just not annoying enough to spend much time investigating.
I think I’ll just live with things as they are for now, I do appreciate the suggestion though, and as always, really enjoy the site!