You just have to love innovative and well thought applications that offer extensibility to products that you’ve already purchased. One such app definitely falls into that category where it offers basic Google Cast support for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick devices. The existence of such an app should bring some solace to those individuals who opted to purchase one of Amazon’s Android-powered streaming Fire devices over the Google Chromecast, and are living with just a small amount of regret.
Called YouMap Cast Receiver, it can be purchased and loaded onto any Fire TV or Fire TV Stick from Amazon, essentially turning the device into a good ol’ Google Cast receiver. This means that users will be able to interact with, and use any number of Chromecast enabled apps to wirelessly project to wirelessly project video and audio from a smartphone or tablet, directly to the installed Fire TV or Fire TV Stick. Amazon is trying to catch up with the popularity of Chromecast enabled apps by introducing the Fling protocol, but it’s nowhere near as widely adopted within apps just yet.
The developer behind YouMap Cast Receiver has clearly worked hard to support as many Chromecast enabled apps as possible. However, those looking to purchase the app should understand that it doesn’t turn a Fire TV or Fire TV Stick into a full-fledge Chromecast replacement, so before you part with $7.99 – the price tag – this is something you should take into consideration. Users can expect to receive compatibility with Google Play Music and movie trailers from Google Play, but it is limited in the fact that it doesn’t allow the playback of DRM protected media. Trailers are a go, but no movies and TV shows, well for now at least.
One nice little touch integrated into the app, is its support for mirroring opened tabs and webpages in the Chrome browser. This essentially allows for any web page, including media embedded within it, to be streamed directly to the Fire TV device running the application. If this sounds like the type of application you’ve been waiting for to extend the functionality of your Fire TV purchase, then there’s some good news. The developer is allowing everyone to test the app out for free until the end of August by side-loading the APK file. You can grab the file from: youmap.com/YouMapCastReceiver.apk
There may only be a few days left until this generous offer expires but it should be enough time to check if it fulfills your needs.
You can download YouMap Cast Receiver for Android devices on Amazon Appstore.
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