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Summary
Amazon Fire Tablets are some of the most accessible gadgets on the market. For around the same price as dinner and drinks for two, you get a full-blown tablet. However, they’re stuck with the Amazon App Store. If you want some of the most popular apps, you’ll need to install the Google Play Store.
Big name apps like WhatsApp, Netflix, Spotify, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more are available on Fire Tablets. However, when scrolling through the Play Store charts, there are a few notable apps I noticed that are not available in the Amazon App Store. To get them, you’ll need tofollow our guide for installing the Play Store on Fire Tablets.
1Telegram
While the App Store does have WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, it does not have another hugely popular messaging app:Telegram. It’s ranked 7th for free apps in the Play Store. You could try to use Telegram in the Silk Browser, but a dedicated app would work much better.
2Gmail
Unsurpsiginly, there aren’t a lot of Google apps available in Amazon’s competing App Store—YouTube and YouTube TV are the only ones. You canuse Gmail on Fire Tabletswith the stock Email client or through the Silk Browser, but the expirience is severely lacking.
3Chrome
Chrome is an even worse situation than Gmail. Fire Tablets are restricted to Amazon’s Silk Browser or Opera (which you should not use), both of which are not great browsers. You’ll need to install something else if you want to do some serious browsing, and Chrome is the most popular browser.
4Cash App
I was surprised by a few apps that appeared in the Play Store’s Top Charts. One such app was Cash App, which came in at number 10.Cash Appis an easy way to send and recieve money, and it’s been downloaded over 100 million times on Android. The Amazon App Store is filled with spammy Cash App clones, but not the real thing.
5Snapchat
You’ve probably heard about Snapchat. While it may not be the darling child of social media that it used to be, it is still an immensly popular app with over 1 billion (yes,billion) downloads on Android. If you want tokeep your streaks alivefrom your Fire Tablet, you’ll need to install the Play Store.
6Tasker
Let’s talk about a fan favorite in the Android community:Tasker. This classic app is ranked 13th in the Play Store’s Top Paid chart, and it (or an equivalent) are nowhere to be found on Fire Tablets. If you love automating repetive tasks and doing some truly nerdy things with your devices, Tasker is a must-have.
7Life360
Life360 is a popular app for families that like to keep track of each other. The company hasgotten in trouble for selling precise location data on its usersin the past, but it’s still a popular service. The Amazon App Store has very few options for live location sharing apps.
8Fitbit
Fitbit is owned by Google, so it’s no surprise that you won’t find it in the Amazon App Store. That’s a shame because it’s a popular service for health and fitness tracking, and a tablet would be a nice device to use to review your activities and exercise programs.
9Dropbox
Cloud storage apps are a common thing to have on smartphones and tablets. However, your options are limited from the Amazon App Store. Dropbox is still a very popular option, but it’s not available for Fire Tablets. You’re stick with Amazon’s own service or Microsoft OneDrive.
10Canva
Another app I was surprised to find on the charts isCanva—it’s 38th on the Top Grossing Chart. Canva has become of the most popular apps for image and video editing on mobile devices. People use it a lot for posting to Instagram and TikTok. If you like editing on a touch screen, you’ll need to Play Store for Canva.
There you have it! While the heavy hitters are mostly available on the Amazon App Store, there are a few key players that haven’t joined the party. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of installing the Play Store to get these apps,sideloading is another option.
