Amazon just rolled out a new feature to its Fire TV devices that lets you check the footage on your smart home security camera. But that’s not the entirety of what the feature actually does.
While this is certainly useful, Amazon sought to make things even more convenient for Fire TV users. Worth mentioning too, is that checking your security camera on your Fire TV device appears to be limited to just a few different devices in total.
You’ll need the latest Fire TV Cube, or one of two different TVs with Fire TV baked in. Those TVs include the 2020 model of the 4K Toshiba Fire TV and the 2020 model of the 4K Insignia Fire TV.
Check your security camera feed on Fire TV without pausing your shows
Just imagine. You’re sitting there on the couch 20 minutes into the first episode of The Expanse season 5. You love this show, so you want to keep watching.
But just then you get an alert that your outdoor security camera has picked up movement. You could check the security camera feed on your Fire TV, but then you’d have to pause the show. Right? Wrong.
As of today Amazon is starting to roll out a feature to the three devices mentioned above that lets you check the feed without pausing the show. It will place the feed in a picture-in-picture mode. And pin that PIP video to the top right corner of the screen.
This way you can continue watching the show and see who might be at your front door. Or wherever the camera is that picked up movement and saw fit to alert you.
The feature is compatible with multiple devices
If you have a compatible Fire TV device, make sure you check to see if you have the update that ushers in the new UI. As this feature is part of that.
You’ll also need to have a compatible security camera for the feature to work. The good news though is that it works with multiple device types. For example, you can utilize the feature if you have a Ring Video Doorbell. Or a video doorbell from another compatible brand.
But it works with smart home security cameras that aren’t part of a doorbell too. Including cameras from Ring, Wyze, Nest, and Logitech. And likely others, though none were specifically mentioned. Naturally interaction with the picture-in-picture feed is possible by voice through Alexa.