Hello all, just thought I’d add some more in-depth comments on how I got the proper iplayer TV app to work. Side-loading gives you some horrible app that’s likely meant for a tablet or phone (hence the reason you need a mouse to operate it). To get the REAL bbc iplayer app meant for the TV that works with your remote control all you need to do is change your Amazon account region to the UK and then install it using a VPN. I’ll list the exact steps I used at the bottom here.
Note that not all Amazon Fire appliances seem to be capable of running BBC iplayer. There is a list on this site:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/questions/supported-devices/amazon
I have several Fire TVs (with Fire built in natively) that it won’t work on and several Firestick devices (all HD devices at the moment) that it does work on. The error I get on the TV is that iplayer is “unavailable” without any explanation that it’s just this model of device that it won’t work on. However the simple workaround is to add a Firestick (~$20) and you should be able to get this to work.
Steps to install the real app:
Change Amazon account to UK: Go to Amazon.com on a computer and log in (I don’t know if this is possible through a phone app). Hover mouse over ‘Accounts & Lists’ up in the top right, and from the drop down menu choose ‘content library’. Once that page loads up click on the ‘preferences’ tab. On this page you should see where it says ‘country/region settings’. Go ahead and click on that and it should show your current country/region with a ‘change’ button. When you click on the change button it brings up a dialogue box to enter a new address, where you’ll need to enter a valid UK address. Go ahead and enter that, and it will change your Amazon account region to the UK.
Restart Fire device: Next turn on your tv. You’ll want to restart your Fire device (whether its a stick or TV) by going to Settings, then Device & Software, and selecting ‘restart’. When it loads back up your TV should know that the Amazon region is now the UK.
Install a VPN: I installed NordVPN on my tv since I already had a NordVPN account. It’s a monthly subscription but if you buy a few years in one go it’s less expensive and their service has been good. So install whichever VPN app you want to use and then turn it on and select the UK.
Install BBC iplayer: At this point with VPN on you can search for and install the BBC iplayer. If your device is capable of hosting the iplayer it should be available in the app for installation. For me it worked on all my Firestick devices but not my FireTVs (on which the app was listed as ‘unavailable’ ). If you have issues then check your device model against the BBC approved list.
Launch BBC iplayer and login: For me there was a secondary check on my region where I had to go to a BBC webpage on a computer and get a code. Of course the computer also needed to have VPN running to get the code. This seems to be a one-time thing to double check your region.
Lastly I would just mention that from time to time the BBC seems to block certain IP addresses they believe to be VPN connections. It seems to go in waves, so occasionally I need to reconnect to a different NordVPN server in order to get the BBC to believe I’m in the UK. They’re clearly constantly working to block IP addresses and NordVPN is updating their addresses in a game of whack-a-mole.
Once you’re done installing all this you can go and change your Amazon region back to your normal actual region. The Firestick will change back its region but you’ve already got iplayer installed and that won’t be affected (PS I’m guessing you’ll need to go through this all again for any iplayer app updates though).
Good luck!