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If you’re wondering if you can watch YouTube on an Echo Show, then you’ve come to the right place.
Watching YouTube on an Echo Show is certainly possible, but still requires a workaround, as there’s no official app or Alexa Skill available on Amazon’s range of smart displays.
While built-in functionality may be coming, it’s not here yet: Amazon and Google have resolved their differences enough that the YouTube app is back on the Fire TV, but as of now, it’s still not officially available on all Echo Show devices. at least through a dedicated application.
Unless you have the Echo Show 15 or Echo Show 21. These models have Fire TV modes so you can have the YouTube Fire TV app running.
However, as we say, it’s not impossible to watch YouTube on the smaller-screen Echo Show models.
To do so, you just need to take advantage of the web browsing capabilities that come with the second-generation Echo Show devices and launch Firefox or Silk browsers.
Read on for the step-by-step guide.
How to watch YouTube on Echo Show
The first thing you’re going to have to do is identify if you have a first-generation Echo Show – which shouldn’t be difficult because it looks like a kitchen TV from the 70s – or a second-generation Echo Show. Echo Show 5, Echo Show 8 or Show 10.
If you have something other than the first-generation model, great; Go to the next section. If you have an older Echo Show, you’ll need to make sure your Show is updated with the latest software.
Open YouTube in Echo Show Silk browser
You have two ways to watch YouTube on the Echo Show, and our preferred method involves Amazon’s Silk browser.
All you have to do is say, “Alexa, open Silk” and the web browser will come to life.
You will be greeted with a screen showing some bookmarks and if you look at that, it turns out that YouTube dot com is the first bookmark. Tap it to load the site.
Using YouTube is actually quite simple. It works just like any other mobile web browser. You can even log into your account and have all your subscriptions and playlists ready to go.
The big downside here is that you can’t control YouTube with Alexa; you will have to use your finger and tap, swipe and type. It’s a bit of a pain and definitely not what the Echo Show is designed for, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
You can ask things like, “Alexa, play Oasis on YouTube” either “Alexa, play Wonderwall on YouTube” but Amazon’s digital assistant will simply do a web search based on that command.
The good news, obviously, is that you’ll get a decent YouTube results page to select the video you want.
Frequently asked questions
Unfortunately, there is no direct way to download YouTube videos on an Echo Show. However, you can try using third-party browser extensions or apps on your computer or phone to download videos and then transfer them to your Echo Show.
As of now, there is no official announcement from Amazon about a dedicated YouTube app for the Echo Show. However, given the growing popularity of smart displays and the widespread use of YouTube, Amazon may consider adding official YouTube support in the future.
You can officially watch videos on your Echo Show using apps like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Hulu… although different models may be missing some options.
Yes, as the Echo Show 15 and Show 21 models have built-in Fire TV user interfaces.
