How To - Run an Adroid App (in a Child Profile) on a Amazon Tablet that is not in the Store App

Fire Tablets are priced very aggressively. Running 3rd party Apps in the child’s profile is almost impossible due to certain restrictions. 99% of the articles online that show you how to do this no longer work. To do this, you essentially need to know some advanced Android commands.

You will need to know everything that is on a previous post of mine. Please open it in a new tab as it will help you with this process. It has all the download link and some of the commands you will need to run.

Program you will need to purchase on FireTablet

The program name is:

• GoToAPP

You will need to give permission to your child to run this application that was bought from the Amazon Store. I will not be going over how to use this application in this post. It is fairly easy to use but maybe when I have a bit more time I will write one.

Parents Profile

You will need to install the APK file (application) in the parent profile. There are lots of websites that show how to side load apps on an Amazon Fire Tablet. Once you have installed the APK you will need to know the full name of the application on the tablet.

In my example I installed the game: Toca Boca Hair Salon for my daughter.

To find the name of the app on tablet I will need to run the Android Debug Bridge which will give you a terminal.

ON PC

1. Log onto the tablet as the parent.

2. Plug in the laptop while the parent is logged into he PC.

3. Open a command prompt and type:

adb shell

Show All Apps

In the adb shell type:

pm list packages

Find the application. I find copy any pasting the output of the command into a text file and then searching for a keyword works really well. Using this method I found:

com.tocaboca.tocahairsalon3

I searched for the name “hair”.

Now that we know the name of the installed application, we will need to log into the child profile on the tablet. Doing this will ensure the correct user will be able to see the application.

NOTE - Leave the PC turned on and tablet still pluged into the computer. Leave the terminal open as well.

On the PC

In the same Terminal window you typed the command to find the applications you will now type this command:

cmd package install-existing com.tocaboca.tocahairsalon3

The command should display something like this:

Package com.tocaboca.tocahairsalon3 installed for user: 10

NOTE - The Parent profile is normally user: 1. The first Child profile is normally #10.

This basically will install the existing application in another profile to the Child’s profile.

On the Amazon Fire Tablet

Now that the app is installed to the child profile and open GoToAPP. It should be able to see the program by showing all programs and adding it to the home screen of the program.

Going forward the child will need to open GoToApp and tap on the program shortcut.