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In another Fire TV plot twist, Amazon’s web-based virtual remote for its Firesticks is making yet another comeback. And this time, it’s armed with more security to prevent anyone from potentially taking over your device.
First introduced in February, swiftly axed in April, and now back again in July, the Fire TV’s virtual remote control seems determined to stick around.
The web-based virtual remote allows Fire TV users to control their devices through any web browser, by scanning a QR code on the Fire TV screen, making tasks like password entry much less cumbersome.
However, the feature’s initial launch was short-lived. Security concerns quickly emerged when it was discovered that anyone who obtained the QR code could potentially access and control the Fire TV device indefinitely.
But this week – the feature came back.
A Rocky Start For The Virtual Remote
Cast your mind back to February, when Amazon first introduced this feature for its Fire TV streaming devices.
Although an app-based version of the Fire TV virtual remote has been around for a long time, the web-based virtual remote and keyboard allow users to control their streaming experience by simply scanning a QR code displayed on their Fire TV screen.
This grants access to a virtual remote via a smartphone’s web browser, bypassing the need for a physical remote or the Fire TV Remote app.
The feature can be handy for tasks like typing passwords or navigating the Fire TV interface.
It also proved useful when helping others with their devices remotely, as the unique URL generated by the QR code can be bookmarked for future use.
However – that bit brought up security concerns.
Goodbye, Virtual Web Remote
Just weeks after its debut, Amazon pulled the plug on the web-based remote due to alarming security vulnerabilities.
Tech firm Green Line Analytics uncovered a significant risk: if an unauthorised person acquired the virtual keyboard/remote QR code, they could potentially hijack the device and even install unwanted apps.
The problem lay in the fact that controlling a Fire TV device using the QR code didn’t require being on the same WiFi network or logging into any account.
This meant that anyone who managed to scan the QR code could, in theory, access the Fire TV device indefinitely, albeit with some practical limitations.
Faced with these concerns, Amazon swiftly disabled the feature in April, promising to review the research and bring back a more secure version in the future.
The Return of the Virtual Remote: Now with Added Security
As first reported by AFTV News, Amazon has now restored the virtual Fire TV web-based remote, but with security enhancements.
As before, when the on-screen keyboard is activated on the Fire TV, a QR code appears, which users can then scan with their smartphone to access the virtual remote on their smartphone’s web browser.
However, now, when a user scans the QR code displayed on their Fire TV, a new confirmation process kicks in. The Fire TV screen now shows a prompt, asking the user to verify the connection attempt.
To proceed, you’ll need to reach for your physical Fire TV remote and manually select ‘Yes’ on this prompt.
This step ensures that only someone with physical access to both the Fire TV and its remote can authorise the connection.
As an additional safeguard, a unique four-digit code appears on both the Fire TV screen and the mobile device attempting to connect.
This allows users to double-check that the connection request is legitimate and initiated by them, rather than by an unauthorised third party.
If you wish to deny access, selecting ‘No’ on the prompt immediately invalidates the scanned QR code. The system then generates a fresh QR code, rendering any potentially compromised codes useless.
The virtual remote is then accessible from any device with a web browser, including smartphones, laptops, and desktop computers (as long as you can scan the QR code and go to that specific web address – and pass the new security measures).
For now, the virtual keyboard and remote work well with the Fire TV’s web browser and a few specific apps – but support is still quite limited at this point (even the Fire TV’s own search screen doesn’t support this yet).
The problem seems to be that most apps (including streaming apps like Netflix, ITVX and others) tend to use their own custom keyboards – and the new virtual remote/keyboard only works with the Fire TV’s default keyboard.
Hopefully, this will be added to more parts of the Fire TV in the future.
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